Dutch goes the Photo!

Dogstar Thursday – vol. 4

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This week, I am going back to one of my many agility photos and am picking one of my favorite obstacles to photograph, the A-frame.

20101022-Agility_14E3864
Whoooaaa!

This image was taken in October, 2010, at the Cape Cod Kennel Club AKC agility trial in Falmouth, Massachusetts.  It was a beautiful day with great light and a pretty good breeze, so the dogs were ready to run!

Clearly, this pug had a good head of steam, when cresting the A-frame, which, for this jump height, stands at 5’0″ (apps. 1.52 m).  For a small dog, that is quite a height; if we’d scale this for the average human, it would be 4-5 times as high!  Luckily, these dogs are well-trained and quite used to it, but it is still a feat of courage for them to fly over this A-frame at speed.

Out of curiosity, have any of you run your dogs in agility or other competitions?

22 responses

  1. Miriam Avatar
    Miriam

    What a champion. My dog Harry loves agility and used to be brilliant at it. He’s slowed down quite a lot in his old age though. Now he just likes chasing rabbits.

    Reply
    1. jansenphoto Avatar
      jansenphoto

      They do slow down in their old age, but they have so much fun doing agility that I believe it extends their life. Our oldest Cardigan, Darwin is 14-1/2 and likes resting and barking while he is chasing the other dogs; he competed until he was 11 and still would love to go out and do more.

      Please pass my regards on to Harry!

      Reply
      1. Miriam Avatar
        Miriam

        Thanks for making me smile. Your dogs sound wonderful. And Harry sends a woof, he is currently sleeping beside me!

  2. susurrus Avatar
    susurrus

    I wish! Getting my sweetheart’s old rescue dog to do anything much on command is a challenge.

    Reply
    1. jansenphoto Avatar
      jansenphoto

      Our first dog, Tonka, was a shelter dog, who never wanted to do anything, but love and protect us. We tried to introduce her to agility, but she had no interest; her obedience was something else entirely, as I inadvertently left her in a down stay in one room, went to another room, only to find her still in her original stay 20 minutes later. She was a wonderful dog, who we still miss.

      Reply
      1. susurrus Avatar
        susurrus

        That’s a lovely story – I’m glad you soon went back!

  3. bikurgurl Avatar
    bikurgurl

    Nice!

    Reply
    1. jansenphoto Avatar
      jansenphoto

      Thank you!

      Reply
  4. snowsomewhere Avatar
    snowsomewhere

    Great pic! 😉

    Reply
    1. jansenphoto Avatar
      jansenphoto

      Thank you!

      Reply
  5. WhimsicalWyvern Avatar
    WhimsicalWyvern

    Great photo! I love the pug’s face! He’s so excited! Ha ha ha!

    Reply
    1. jansenphoto Avatar
      jansenphoto

      Yes, he is indeed, which is what drew me to this particular shot.

      Reply
  6. Poor Robert Avatar
    Poor Robert

    We raise (not breed) Cocker Spaniels and one of them is a champion jumper (top ten). She is small and feisty and actually did well in all agility events when she was younger. ___ Now the rest of the story: at age three she developed genetic blindness and could only see shadows out of her left eye and nohting out of her right. At age ten she still competes, love it and does quite well even on the walk and the A-frame but can not work away as well as she could. She does it by walking the course (allowed because of her disability) with my daughter once and her sense of smell. Agility is a wonderful sport for a dog who really loves to work.

    By the way, I really love this blog!

    Reply
    1. jansenphoto Avatar
      jansenphoto

      Thank you very much for the love!

      Your champion Cocker sounds like many Cockers that I know, as they are nothing, if not feisty and full of fun and joie de vivre! I have had the pleasure to photograph a lot of Cocker Spaniels, both in agility action and in support of a local rescue organization. They are wonderful dogs who all deserve great homes like yours clearly have! It sounds like you have a marvelous family of Cocker Spaniels and enjoy them, as they enjoy being with you.

      Thank you again for reading my blog and the wonderful feedback!

      Reply
  7. Chronicles of a Blogaholic Avatar
    Chronicles of a Blogaholic

    Love this shot.

    Reply
    1. jansenphoto Avatar
      jansenphoto

      Thank you!

      Reply
  8. chape Avatar
    chape

    That face is very funny!
    Answering your question, no because my dog doesn´t obey 🙂

    Reply
    1. Poor Robert Avatar
      Poor Robert

      You sound like me. I failed miserably training my dog Tori, but she has done a fantastic job of training me.

      Reply
      1. jansenphoto Avatar
        jansenphoto

        Our dogs do train us well, as we shelter, feed and care for them on demand 🙂

      2. chape Avatar
        chape

        Exactly! She tells me what she wants and I comply 😀 We´re doing something wrong LOL

  9. AngelAmbroseArt Avatar
    AngelAmbroseArt

    I am laughing. The look on the pugs face is priceless!

    Reply
    1. jansenphoto Avatar
      jansenphoto

      It is a rather tall obstacle for the little pug 🙂

      Reply

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