Katie's Agility Career

Out of hundreds of agility runs, each dog leaves you with a couple of awesome courses you will always remember. One such run for Katie was in Savannah, Georgia in November 2003. In a Standard run, there was a sequence that looked like this:
When I looked at the sequence, I thought it would be faster to do it this way:No one else seemed to share in my enthusiasm. One guy in particular who runs very nice whippets, but always has something negative to say, went on and on and on about how hard that would be for a big dog. Others were saying that you would incur a refusal because you would likely pass the plane of the second jump. I asked the judge and he said that it was doable even though he had not planned on it being run the second way. I stuck with my original plan and Katie did it beautifully, got first place, and was the only 24" dog to qualify!
This is basically all of the video I have of Katie doing agility. It was filmed 6 - 8 years ago. Unfortunately, it does not contain the memorable run mentioned above or Katie's MACH runs, but it is all I have.

After becoming the first Master Agility Champion greyhound, Katie and I continued a busy agility trial schedule. In the spring/summer of 2004, I noticed that Katie was starting to have problems. Weave poles got slower and slower and then she began refusing them. More than just the occasional jump rail was coming down. It became evident that she was having some back pain.

At the time, Katie had already earned her Open obedience title (CDX) and we were working Utility level. I decided to retire Katie from agility and concentrate on obedience, but I wanted to compete her in one more agility trial - the AKC Agility Nationals. Katie was the only greyhound to qualify to go that year and only the 2nd ever. She also had several months to rest.

Hindsight, we should have stayed home. The 2004 AKC Agility Nationals were a huge disappointment. They were held at the Tampa Florida Convention Center in the middle of the city. Concrete was everywhere and only patches of sod for our dogs to pee on. Thank goodness Katie peed on cue ("go tee tee"). The agility was run on very thin mats.

Before our first run, I got in line to do the practice jump positioned on a small square of matting. It was ridiculous. Then suddenly I saw my number flash up on the screen before I had warmed Katie up. I raced over and found out that I had already been skipped over. I was very flustered. This was my first big event and it was not running anything like the trials back home. They throw Katie and I in next. This was my first experience with electronic timers. I should have been watching the electronic timer screen, but was looking at the timer person instead. A woman finally screams at me to go. Katie does not even do the first jump and we leave the ring. I was so embarrassed and disappointed, but I certainly understood that Katie was not 100% nor had she even warmed up. We tried again the next day with a proper warm up, but after a few obstacles, she was ready to leave the ring. We packed up our things and left early. I hate that the Nationals were our last agility trial, but it was probably a good lesson for me.

MACH Katie

Katie was very easy to run in agility. Like a "push button horse", she was easy to direct and never wild like Riley is at times. Katie was always listening and close by. As a result, Katie quickly earned her Novice, Open, and Excellent titles in just six months of competition.Katie's claim to agility fame is that she is the first greyhound to earn a Master Agility Championship (MACH). At that time, no other greyhound had even come close. This was very exciting for me because it can never be taken away. Other greyhounds may rank higher or earn multiple agility championships, but Katie will always be the first.
A Master Agility Championship is earned with 20 double qualifying scores and 750 MACH points. A double qualifying score is when you qualify in the standard class and the jumpers class in the same day. MACH points are speed points. For example, if the time allowed is 68 seconds and your dog runs the course in 50, 18 MACH points are earned. At the time, no other greyhound had broken 100 MACH points so Katie significantly raised the bar. And she did it in just three years... meaning she retired from racing, was adopted, trained, competed, earned Novice, Open, Excellent, and Master agility titles, and became the very first Master Agility Champion greyhound in just three years.
One side note, once Katie and I had reached double qualifying score #19 and only one more to go, I got pretty nervous. As a result, I would do something to botch one of the runs each day. Finally, we were in North Carolina for an agility trial in January 2004 and we had already run clean in Jumpers. During our Standard run, Katie got up on the table and laid down. Back then the dog had to assume a designated position on the table. She popped up early and had to lie down again which restarts the judges five second count. I thought to myself "That is the slowest counting judge ever." We finished the course cleanly and my friends cheered. Complying with MACH tradition, I grabbed the top bar of the last jump and together we did our victory lap. The photographer took lots of photos and I was so happy. And then.... I was told that we did not make time and therefore did not qualify. In my almost 12 years of running greyhounds in agility, that is still the only instance I did not make time.
A month later on February 27th, 2004, Katie and I secured double qualifying score #20. We got to do another victory lap while our friends cheered. As a memento, you get to keep the top bar of the last jump and all of your friends sign it with well wishes. In true MACH fashion, we had cakes for everyone to enjoy.
An added bonus later on, all of our friends chipped in to pay for an ad bragging about Katie's accomplishment in a popular agility magazine. My sister, Denise, did an excellent job designing the layout.

Early Training

After adopting Katie in February 2001, she presented me with some challenges I had never dealt with before. Number one, she was aloof and unaffectionate... a perfect example of a dog that does NOT work for any praise. She was constantly on the hunt for squirrels, cats, and crumbs (note the prong collar in the photo above, it was a shoulder saver). Katie had no use for human beings. She was busy.

Katie quickly discovered that I was a cookie source. I used to have my agility equipment in my backyard and the squirrels would taunt us. Katie would break away from training to pursue an unattainable squirrel high in a tree or safely on the other side of the fence. I never tried to stop her. I always let her go because I did not want to chance having her ignore one of my calls. One day, she just looked over at the squirrels and then picked me instead. Katie was intensely focused from that point on and ridiculously easy to train.

Distractions were never an issue. I was truly spoiled with Katie. I never had to worry about people, noises, or other dogs. I was Katie's everything and she became immune to the environment.Katie was an excellent demonstration dog for the greyhound obedience classes I teach. She would walk in and all the other greyhounds would surround and sniff her, but Katie paid them no attention. She was working and did not want to miss any cues from me. She was so cool and confident ignoring any posturing or exuberant behavior. Most of the time she laid out of the way while I helped students individually. Once, I was helping someone with sitting their greyhound and I looked over at Katie sitting on her bed (instead of lying down).

Agility training progressed quickly. Katie did not have any problems with any of the obstacles and quickly mastered the weave poles. She was confident and fearless. She competed for the first time eight months after I adopted her (Travis took almost two years, Riley took a year and a half).

This is Katie's very first agility trial run on October 7, 2001.

Memory Lane

Thank you for all of the positive thoughts, concerns, and well wishes for Katie. You guys had so many suggestions and questions, I thought I would address them here.

Regarding having a powerful sedative on hand, my vet did not like the idea. I guess in a traumatic event, blood pressure can drop significantly. Adding a sedative to the event could kill your pet. If I were trying to take Katie to a vet, I would be trying to save her. If she was suffering and needed to be euthanized, I would call a mobile vet or my own vet to come to the house (and, yes, I think he would). I am lucky that I have an excellent (but not my preferred) animal hospital not even 1 mile from my house and the emergency vet is actually no more than 3 miles away. I would just have to risk the stress if it comes to that.

My vet recently consulted with a behaviorist and she suggested switching her from Prozac to Buspirone and Gabapentin. She felt it was a better fit for seniors. We shall see how it effects my senior.

I do not think Katie is refusing to load due to pain. She still eagerly fetches her toy, does cavaletti work, and hops over low agility jumps. Also, she was loading just fine until a few months ago.... but for nearly a year has been clearly distressed once the van was moving. So I do not think a ramp would help.

I think it is possible that the noise sensitivity and car phobia are related. Since Katie is a 11, I would guess that there is a physical or pathological reason for it. There is just something going on in the brain.... is my guess.

However, on a happier note, I have learned how to use DVD rip software that takes files from a DVD and converts them to computer files.

I am pleased to show you Katie's very first agility trial run - October 7th, 2001. Please forgive the handler, I have improved a lot over the last 8 years. Katie is 3 years old. This was back when Novice courses were easy.

Cool Old Dog

I would really love to have this crazy, old greyhound (age 11) by my side. Katie would be so much fun to take to dog shows, class, and training sessions. I would love to enter her in practice agility run thrus at a reduced height, compete her in the veteran obedience classes, practice my heeling footwork, and feed her lots of treats. Socially, she is perfect. She would be so wonderful to.... blah, blah, blah.... I know you have heard this complaint before.

As you know, Katie has developed a phobia/fear of riding in our van, so most of the time she stays home. Well, I decided to make her go to my training field last Saturday to burn some of her energy. So here is a video clip of Katie practicing some of her obedience and agility. Rusty, but I am always amazed by how much they remember.

And then it started to rain and RAIN and RAIN! Well, I had already tortured Katie with riding in our van..... we were going to maximize her time away from the house. Rain or shine, Katie was coming home tired! Many greyhounds won't potty in the rain much less fetch a toy. Katie is just so awesome! I placed the camera under my agility table so everyone could see.

Remember Katie is 11 years old and had already worked in obedience and agility before fetching her toy. Just so much energy.

Slimmest Waist

Can you believe this greyhound won "Slimmest Waist" at Greyfest on Saturday? Reagan probably would not have won the contest on the day she looked like that (above pic). This was a picture of Reagan at the farm in February. They fasted these pups on Sunday and this was the after picture of her Monday morning gorge. Fasting them one day a week keeps them sharp and eating well when its hot during the summer. Now she is a full grown, fit and trim, 46 pounds.

All in all, the demonstrations went well. I even used Riley for a brief demo on early training.

Reagan was perfect. This was her first public performance and she ran like she always does.

And Katie showed how young and fit 10 years old can look. She really is in fantastic shape.

Credit Is Due

Katie has been retired for almost a year now. With no training goals, no shows, and no traumatic events (knock on wood!), there just isn't much to report on Katie. Its been said that Reagan has some serious paw prints to follow in, but almost everyone is referring to Travis when they say that. Recently someone said something to the tune of "even Katie will be tough to follow" and it got me thinking that she needed a little credit because Katie IS in fact a tough act to follow as well. She isn't as flashy or as soundly put together as Travis was, but she will always be the first agility champion greyhound. Unfortunately, she developed back problems that caused her to have issues with jumping and weaving and I retired her from agility soon after. If she had no physical problems, she would probably have several more MACHs by now. Travis was always little faster, but Katie was smooth, handy, and efficient and still holds a hard to beat record as the #2 greyhound in AKC agility.

Retiring from agility ended up not being such a bad thing. It switched our focus to obedience. Katie already had her novice and open obedience titles (CD and CDX), so we began training for the highest level of obedience, Utility Dog. It is the toughest thing I have ever trained. The dog has to do difficult exercises independently and often away from the handler. Katie is so much NOT like a hound. She is so good at letting me pick on the details and doing lots of repetitions. She is a work-a-holic due to her food addiction..... thank goodness she doesn't have the free will to feed herself :-). Katie finished her UD last May (luckily... before the spinal stroke).

Although Katie is retired from competition, she would probably die if I stopped working her. Plus its good for Reagan to have to share the attention. Katie and I mostly run through her obedience exercises and do some agility. The jumps are lower and we avoid the narrow plank obstacles (teeter and dog walk), but otherwise she takes her work as seriously as she always has.

Lastly, there is a hound only obedience trial in Atlanta on Friday, September 19th. They are offering non-regular classes, so I have entered Katie in the Wildcard Utility and Wildcard Open. The classes don't count for anything, but I'm allowed to pick the jump height. So now Katie and I have something to practice for. Competing in obedience (especially Utility) makes me so much more nervous than agility, so I like getting all of the ring experience I can get. It will be fun to get back in the ring with no pressure and to support the Hound Club of North Georgia.

Katie is just such a doll. She was quite the aloof hunter scanning the horizon as she would drag me along behind her when I adopted her over 7 years ago. When she realized I was the keeper of the food and toys, she looked at me and hasn't turned away since. Her focus is perfect. She is perfect. She has done everything I have ever asked of her. I could not ask for more. Thanks for letting me give props to my "Lil Pumpkin".

Famous!

I was asked to write an article about Katie being the first Master Agility Champion greyhound and a little about agility greyhounds in general. It was published in the Summer 2007 edition of Celebrating Greyhounds. It was fun to brag about Katie and to see beautiful photos of her in the magazine and back cover.