Agile Dogs

We headed out to Sussex, the Dairy Town, on Saturday with friends Lynn and Dale to check out the National Agility Championships, being held for the first time in the Maritimes. The dogs were taking a break when we arrived, so we checked on the merchandise on display in various little tents. My favourite was a fridge magnet that declared "In this kitchen, dog hair is a condiment" but there was an unimaginable variety of doggie items available.

There were 6 rings in action and dogs compete in various size ranges. We watched Steeplechase with dogs from 16 to 22 inches high - the dogs have to go through a series of jumps and tunnels in the correct order, with no physical contact with the handler. Scoring is based on a combination of speed and successfully completing all of the elements. It was the second day of the competition so most of the dogs were really good and it was interesting to watch the various approaches and signals the handlers use. Then we watched an event for senior dogs, with a course that includes jumps, tunnels, teeter totter, wooden ramp and various other elements. Points are scored for the number and complexity of these completed in a given time. The third event we saw was the agility championships for larger dogs.

There were, of course, lots of border collies and shelties competing, but lots of other breeds as well, including some we couldn't quite figure out, because the dogs don't have to be purebreds to compete in agility.

After we'd had our fill of exuberant, well trained dogs (and concluded that while our dogs could do this, we weren't quite obsessive enough), it was time for lunch. The possibilities on the grounds were limited to burgers and fries type offerings, so we headed to downtown Sussex to see what we could find. We lucked out, with a delicious lunch in the shady backyard courtyard at the Broadway Cafe, which has been included in Where to Eat in Canada. Sussex has also commissioned a growing series of murals on downtown buildings and has lots of attractive older houses.

A short side trip out into the countryside to see the farm where Dale spent summers as a boy, and a shopping stop at Frenchy's completed our expedition. We had the odd experience of driving back into Saint John into the sunshine; it's much more typical to come out of the sun in the valley into a bank of fog as you approach our fair city.

Wendy