Last
year will stay in american agilitysts’ memories. For agility
fans, AKC promises: 2002 will be as or even brighter than
2001
2001 was a special year for
american agilitysts. In last World Championship, held in
Porto, Portugal, standard and mini teams won 1st and 2nd
places. Also, Erin Schaefer and Jag (sheltie) won 6th place
in mini individual and Linda Mecklenburg and Awesome (border
collie) got 8th in standard individual. This
double team win has no precedents in history.
The Coach, Dan Dege, Senior Field Rep and the World Team members.
had one of the most thrilling wins possible in the sport
of agility. The AKC agility program proved itself the best
in the World by the full 10 second lead over all the other
teams in the 26" standard class and the Mini team at
16" jump height was first until the Finland team ran
just a second and a half faster than the AKC team.
This trip abroad to represent the USA was especially meaningful
in the time when many chose not to travel, but the need
to represent our country was strong enough for 78 Americans
to be present in Portugal. There were 28 countries, 4 continents
represented with England, Argentina and South Korea attending
for the first time. The playing of the National Anthem and
27 countries chanting USA left not a dry eye on an American.
The past year for AKC Agility has been very exciting with 112
different breeds earning MACH points, a very successful
National held in Denver, Colorado, an Agility Advisory Committee
meeting that looked to the future of Agility and it's growth.
The upcoming Agility scene is also very bright, with 2 Regionals
that combine agility and obedience competitions for 2002,
a new agility class called "Preferred" that will
offer lower jump heights and slower course times to meet
the needs of veteran dogs and those that wish to enter this
class. The Denver Nationals kept the same tradition of excellence
by offering many perks for the exhibitors and had 390 dogs
that met the very high requirements to attend the 2001 event
that was filmed by Animal Planet. The five new champions
represented the outstanding growth in teamwork between dog
and handler and gave all who watched a very exciting experience.
The honor of Top Mach Dog of the Year 2001 has been earned
by Chris Yankowski and her Shetland Sheepdog, MACH 2 Kevin
A Litl Bit O Heaven, CD from Manchester, Ct. This outstanding
team earned 34 Double Qualifying scores and 2,502 speed
points. The Iams Dog Food Company will give them an all
expense paid trip to the AKC Agility Nationals in Houston,
Texas to receive this top award.
The year 2002 will offer the 7th AKC Agility Nationals to be
held in Katy, Texas, just outside of Houston. The event
will be held at the Southwestern Equestrian Center and will
offer a full dirt arena and many vendors and plenty of room
for all exhibitors. There will also be the World Team Agility
Invitational. This event will be held on May 18, 19, 2002
in Minnesota and run on carpet to prepare for the World
Championship. The winners of this Invitational will be on
the World Agility Championship Team that will travel to
Dortmund, Germany on October 4,5,6, 2002.
Iams Dog Food Company have continued their support of the AKC
Agility program by sponsoring the World Team, AKC Agility
Nationals, World Team Invitational, Regionals and a number
of agility trials throughout the year in different states.
Sharon Anderson, Agility Director is happy to say the future
looks bright for the agility program with more to come to
keep the exhibitors involved.
Top
Mach Dog of The Year 2001
The American Kennel Club announced Christine Yankowski of Manchester,
CT and Shetland Sheepdog, Kevin, AKC Top MACH Dog of the
Year 2001. The award, sponsored by the Iams Company, will
be presented at the AKC National Agility Championship at
Katy, Texas in November.
MACH 2 Kevin A Litl Bit of Heaven CD, the sheltie's more formal
name, and Ms. Yankowski accumulated 34 Double Q's and over
2,500 speed points to earn the Master Agility Champion award.
The Double Q stands for perfectly completing (qualifying)
on both a Standard Agility course and a Jumpers with Weaves
Agility course on the same day at the same show. The speed
points are earned by each second the dog and handler complete
the required course in less than the expected time. The
MACH preceding Kevin's name indicates that he has the AKC
Master Agility Champion title and the CD following his name
indicates he also has earned the AKC first level obedience
title, Companion Dog.
"This is a phenomenal record. Qualifying with perfect
scores in two classes on the same day shows the level of
teamwork between this dog and handler. Doing so with such
speed indicates a real commitment to training and efficient
strategy on the course, I look forward to congratulating
the team at our AKC National Championship," said Sharon
Anderson, AKC Agility Director.
Close behind for second place is MACH Dunade Can't Catch Casey,
also a Shetland Sheepdog, with 17 Double Q's but fewer speed
points at 2138. Casey and his owner Karen Gaydos, are from
Havre De Grace, Maryland.
Third in the ranking is Maureen Waldron from Norristown, Pennsylvania
with her Keeshond, MACH 6 Molly. They accumulated 48 Double
Q's with 1,980 speed points.
From:
www.akc.org
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