The fur was flying at the three-day North American Dog Agility Council (NADAC) sanctioned trial in Whitehorse last weekend. 

The Whitehorse Woofers hosted the event at the enclosed field behind Takhini Arena in Whitehorse. 

The Star spoke with Woofers vice-president Carol Foster and past-president Val Loewen about the event Tuesday.

Foster said they’ve been running agility trials since the year 2000. The club began in 1996. 

The trials consisted of nine different types of courses. 

There were classes of Weavers and Tunnellers on Friday, Grounds, Jumpers, Gamblers and Regular classes on Saturday, and Regular, Touch n Go and Chances classes on Sunday. 

The same course was run twice in each class. 

The agility equipment included jumps, hoops, tunnels, barrels, and A-frame dog walks. 

Jumpers included leaps and sometimes a tunnel. 

There are different height categories and levels that dogs compete in. 

Dogs can start in a category called intro, which Foster said people can enter if they’re really new or have an older dog “just to get out there and do it”.

Categories of the competition included Novice, Open and Elite. 

The level of categories is based on a point system. 

“We have dogs of all levels in our club,” said Foster. 

The regular courses included all kinds of equipment.  

“You’re testing everything the dogs learned,” said Foster. 

She said they start with the Elite category, which can have up to 22 obstacles. 

“There’s a path, and they’re numbered obstacles, so you have to go in there ahead of time and cement the course in your head,” related Foster. “When you get up to 22, it can get pretty twisty.” 

The goal is to run a clean course in the time allotted, which depends on the size and level of the course. 

The Tunnellers course had eight tunnels set up for the dogs to crawl through. 

“Each tunnel has at least four forty-pound tunnel bags on it,” said Foster. “So we had 1200 pounds of tunnel bags out on the field plus eight tunnels that are mostly 15 feet long with one twenty-footer.” 

All three levels – Elite, Open and Novice, ran that same course. 

Novice was allotted the most time, with Open and Elite having less time. 

Foster said, “the judge has a lot of work before she comes here.” 

The judge designed the course and applied to NADAC for approval before the event. 

The courses are then laid out to the judge’s specifications. The judge for the event was Liane Bitinsky of Saskatoon. 

Foster said Bitinsky did a really good job. 

“Her courses were fabulous. She was just so nice. Just a wonderful person.” 

Foster and Lower said the trails went “great. 

“It was fun. The weather was a bit hot on Saturday and a little windy on Sunday, but Sunday was better because it was cool.” 

A cloth with vent holes called Aluminet was used to cover the kennels to keep the dogs cool. 

“People had rechargeable fans, and lots of water and cooling jackets or cooling mats,” said Foster. 

She said it was great to see some of the new people display their dogs’ skills that they’d been working on at the trials. 

“Some of the dogs are really calm and some of them are out of control. It’s really hard to get them to focus.” 

“Dogs are sensitive creatures and a lot of them have issues with confidence,” related Loewen, who spoke about one dog and its owner who has made a lot of progress, and it showed at the trials. 

“The dog was into it, the dog was running and the dog was having fun.” 

“It’s really neat to see that progression,” said Foster. 

Foster added, “everybody does everything in this club. The judge that was up from Saskatchewan (Bitinsky) made a point several times of saying how willing everybody is to participate and volunteer and we couldn’t do it without everybody.” 

Anyone interested in getting involved with the Whitehorse Woofers, including getting your dog on the waitlist, can email whitehorsewoofers@gmail.com