Agility
Dog agility is a sport in which a handler directs a dog through an obstacle course composed of jumps, tunnels, and contact obstacles in a race for both time and accuracy. Dogs must run off-leash with no food or toys as incentives. The handler can touch neither dog nor obstacles. These pictures show Reba and Doug on a typical course composed of tunnels, weave poles, teeter, A frame, dog walk, and jumps. Dog agility is the fastest growing canine sport.
A Dog Show is not a beauty contest but an evaluation of how close a dog comes to the ideal standard of its breed. The breed standard defines the physical characteristics and behaviors and is written to improve the dogs movement and performance.(for more information on the Sheltie Breed Standard go here http://www.assa.org/standard.html). A Champion Sheltie for example must have an athletic body, good front and rear angulation,balance, and most of all good movement. Take a look at the reach and drive on our Ch Apple Acres Amira, show here in a flying trot around the show ring and then stacked to reveal her great angulation and athletic body.
If you want a dog that can compete at the upper levels in agility you need know about dog conformation.!! I have seen many backyard agility breeders who are are selecting for hyperactive dogs and know nothing about conformation. An agility dog is an athlete that needs a good body. Take a moment to imagine a 4 foot basketball star with little short legs or a 110 pound football star with tiny shoulders and you will see what I mean. I have listed some of the main things to look for in a good agility dog beside the behavior and brains issue (in my mind the most important).
The Sheltie Breed Standard also has rules about percent of white color present, twisted or gay tails, head planes, wedge shaped head, finish of under jaw, bumps on the skull, ear placement, eye shape and color-many of them don't matter in the agility ring but will keep an otherwise great dog out of the show ring. Here is where you can get a dog with a great body from an outstanding breeder without paying a show dog price!!! We have a couple of puppies in every litter that will be available to performance homes. If you have put an agility or obedience title on a dog and want one of our dogs talk to us. We will put you on a waiting list and let you know when we have a puppy that has what it takes in both mind, body and spirit to be a champion agility dog. Doug and I like nothing better then to see our puppies excel in the performance ring as well as the show ring.
Good Agility Dog Conformation
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Make sure the dog has good length of leg, especially below the elbow or it won’t be able to jump. If it is too up on leg (too long) it will be unstable in jumps because its center of gravity will be too high. Some lines of shelties are sort of short in the leg. I have seen some that look like corgi’s.
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A good rear end powers the dog. Fortunately Apple Acres Odyssey Armani Rom is famous among sheltie people as having had and passing on a great rear. All of our dogs have good rears, but so do many shelties, so don’t look at a sheltie with a bad rear. According to the standard " The thighbone should be set into the pelvis at a right angle corresponding to the angle of the shoulder blade and upper arm. Stifle bones join the thighbone and should be distinctly angled at the stifle joint." The main thing to watch for here is having a hock that is perfectly perpendicular to the ground when the dog is standing properly (feet stacked not stretched out back or under the dog). Rear toes should not point out or point in! A line drawn perpendicular from the ground should form a 45 degree angle with the stifle bone.
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A good front is important as it is what takes the weight as the dog jumps on and off of obstacles and when landing a jump. The chest should be broad and the front legs should not be spaced too close together, you should be able to put about 3 fingers (depends on the size of your hand and the dog) in the space in an adult. This gives room for the heart, lungs and other organs. Also you want the front toes pointed forward not out or in. The sheltie standard talks a lot about 45° angles which are actually anatomically impossible for the dog (there are several articles on this but the standard has not been changed), however these angles should be around 30-38 ° and the withers’ should lay back towards the rear of the dog and should not be on the neck of the dog. The shoulder bone should not be vertical but should point back to the rear of the dog. The length of the upper arm should equal the length of the shoulder. This trait is very rare in shelties today, and most shelties will have an upper arm that is a little shorter. If a dog feels flat between the front legs and the neck then the dog has a flat front (insufficient post sternum). I can tell you as a breeder that a good front is very hard to get in a sheltie line that does not already have one and very easy to lose in a single breeding!! Many of us feel that a bad front is the most common fault seen in shelties today. We are fortunate to have had very good breeding stock to start with through the generosity of our breeder friends/mentors.
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The front and rear of the dog need to be in balance with each other and the dog should not be long in the loin area. These are Shelties not dachshunds. The hipbone (pelvis) should be set at a 30-degree angle to the spine.
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A word about drive and disposition: You do need a dog with brains, drive and a stable personality that can take the stress of competition. That being said a sheltie is not a border collie. A sheltie performs out of heart, because it loves you more than anything and will do anything in its power to serve you. If you want to sit on the couch and watch TV it is fine with that. It does not really care about the show ring or the agility course-IT CARES ABOUT YOU!!! Form a strong bond with your dog and it will move mountains for you on love and its faith in you!!
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Good Books to Read About Structure
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If you don't already have a copy pick up "The Illustrated Shetland Sheepdog Standard" By Jean D. Simmons http://home.earthlink.net/~carmylie/guide.html
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Dogsteps: What to Look for in a Dog by Rachel Page Elliot is also a very good book on canine movement.
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