A Viral Reddit Post About Dogs In Competitive Agility Prompts Redditors To Share Videos Of The Goofiest Competitors

Smart or goofy, we love them all...

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• November 5, 2022

Dog agility is an interesting sport, and a chance for dogs to shine. In this sport, a handler guides a dog over a series of obstacles in a race for both speed and accuracy.

Without food or toys as rewards, dogs run loose, and neither the dog nor the obstacles may be touched by the handler. Voice, movement, and different body cues are the only controls available to the handler, necessitating extraordinary animal training and handler cooperation.

In an area of a certain size, a judge will set up a series of standard obstacles according to a design of his or her choosing. The floor might be made of rubber, grass, mud, or specialty matting.

The barriers may be identified with numbers indicating the difficulty level depending on the type of competition.

However, there are many things about the sport that are not commonly known. One Redditor was so surprised by his finding that they simply had to share it online.

They posted:

"TIL that the dogs in competitive agility don’t rehearse the course ahead of time. The courses are randomized at each competition, and the trainers (without their dogs) only see the layout beforehand on the same day. When the dog runs the course they are literally seeing it for the first time."

Take a look at this interesting story that perfectly shows how smart dogs actually are:

Dog agility is a dog sport in which a handler directs a dog through an obstacle course in a race for both time and accuracy. Dogs run off leash with no food or toys as incentives, and the handler can touch neither dog nor obstacles.

The post prompted people to share videos of the funniest animals entering agility contests, and they are adorable. We have to say that it is impressive to watch incredibly smart and agile animals going over the obstacle course like it's nothing, but our heart goes to goofy dogs who simply want to play and have fun. While the serious competitors mean business, these pups just want to goof around. Take a look at some of the funniest videos:

Kratu The Happy Dog:

The difficulty of the courses prevents a dog from successfully completing them without human guidance. In a competition, the handler must evaluate the course, choose handling tactics, and guide the dog through the course with equal emphasis on precision and speed.

There are several ways to account for the inherent differences between human and canine speeds as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the different breeds of dogs and handlers.

Hilarious Mastiff:

Take a look at this Golden Retriever:

Handlers are permitted a brief walk-through before the competition begins (varying from 5 to 25 minutes on average), as each course is unique.

All handlers participating in a certain class are given the opportunity to walk the course without their canines during this time to assess how they may best position themselves and direct their canines to take the most precise and efficient route around the numbered obstacles.

The handler can occasionally spend a significant amount of time planning for what is often a brief run since the handler typically runs a path that is very different from the dog's path.

Damjan