Dogs and owners will work tails off at trials

University Elementary School is going to the dogs.

But only for the weekend.

And only in the name of sport.

The Spokane Dog Training Club will hold a weekend of agility trials at the school today and Sunday, beginning at 8 a.m. each day.

Regular viewers of Animal Planet will understand the drills – obstacle courses set up for dogs to run in competition.

“We use two rings, one of which is set up for what is called the standard agility course, and includes many of the obstacles that are frequently seen – a bridge or dog walk, teeter-totter and an A-frame,” said Mary Jane Shervais, president of the Spokane Dog Training Club and trial secretary for this weekend’s event. “The second ring is set up for what is called jumpers with weaves. In this ring, there will be many more jumps than are present in the standard ring, and none of the obstacles except for the tunnel.”

This fast-growing sport already has three national governing bodies – an easy-to-read sign of burgeoning popularity for those who haven’t already found the sport on cable television.

The North American Dog Agility Council, one of the three governing bodies along with the American Kennel Club and the United States Dog Agility Association, offers a concise reason for the sport’s existence on its Web site:

“The purpose of (an) … agility trial is to demonstrate the ability of a dog and its handler to work as a smoothly functioning team. With separate class divisions for Veterans and Junior Handlers and a variety of games, NADAC dog agility offers something for everyone!”

Those who think the sport is just about watching Skippy run around an obstacle course have obviously missed the boat – owners have a tendency to work just as hard as their canine contestants.

The event begins this morning in the jumpers ring with dogs classified as excellent jumpers with weaves – dogs working toward a master title.

“After the excellent jumpers class is finished, we will move to the standard ring and run the novice standard course,” Shervais said. “This will be the least experienced dogs – the ones just starting their agility careers. We then go back to the jumpers ring for the open jumpers. These are dogs who have finished their novice titles, and are competing in the ‘middle’ level group. Then back to the standard ring for excellent standard, then back to the jumpers ring for novice jumpers, and then finally back to the standard ring for open standard.

“We will do a similar alternating pattern on Sunday, starting with excellent standard.”

The event is free, and there will be information available for those interested in joining the Spokane Dog Training Club.