Four teams represented Merritt at the 10th annual Agility Association of Canada National Championships at Spruce Meadows in Calgary, Alta on Aug. 6 and 8. All four teams did well, putting in clean rounds. According to Maureen Sanderson, the team's coach, the competition was very stiff.

The teams are: Lisa Babcock and standard poodle, Lexus; Robin Brodie and border collie, Ricky; Debbie Taylor and her standard poodle, Sadie; and Maureen Sanderson with standard poodle, Jazz. Three of the teams, the standard poodles, competed in the 26-inch division. The Babcock/Lexus team placed 40th, Sanderson/Jazz team placed 43rd, and the Taylor/Sadie team placed 49th against a total of 61 other teams in their division. Brodie and her border collie Ricky, a retired stockdog, placed 20th in the 16-inch veterans division against 40 other dog/handler pairs.

All four train at the Iron Mountain K-9 Agility Center, owned and operated by Sanderson, who is also the human side of one of the teams. Maureen is proud of the performances put in by the teams, and she says, “all our dog/handler teams were well prepared and did an awesome job. I am proud to say they were my students." This is the first time that any Merritt teams have made it to the nationals.

The best and most experienced dog agility teams from all over North America attended the nationals, almost 700 dog and handler teams.

In order to qualify for the Nationals, the teams needed to earn 350 points at the regional competitions, which were held in Abbotsford in June. Each dog/handler team ran six different courses and the points earned on each one were added toward the goal of 350 points.

Dog agility is a rapidly growing sport in which dogs and their owners can simply enjoy the challenges of training or compete in local, regional, national and international levels. Any dog may compete as dogs need not be purebred or registered when competing with the Agility Association of Canada.