Quote Originally Posted by Jacqueline View Post
What kind of allowances do they make for the owners? Taffy runs like the wind. I can barely do a slow trot.
People can get a time handicap...prob. again need a note from the dr. That is an extra 5 seconds on each run. Which doesn't sound like much but most runs are less than a minute and 5 seconds is quite a bit.
But a whole lot of people can't run very well. Then it's a matter of training...so your dog can run at a distance from you and be "steered" from behind or with voice commands. There are people in CPE "running" with artificial knees, braces on their knees....agility is hard on the knees due to the twisting when you run I guess. And the front crosses (pivoting 180 in front of the dog in order to change sides) Some people never do a front cross and do all rear crosses though. More common with a faster dog but I do almost all rears with Salsa as she drives ahead very well and sees the lines between obstacles herself it seems.
One woman runs her dog from a motorized cart thingy. Seriously.
Some venues, like teacup, don't require much running cuz the course is so small and the times are generous. UKC also rates accuracy more than speed and the times are really high. The handler runs a shorter course than the dog of course-running inside the curves and not having to do the obstacles of course. So being in prime physical shape isn't a necessity.
I do run multiple dogs at the same height which sometimes gets tiring. But even then...all in all it's running less than 3-4 minutes! But I do work out at home-tai-bo and shape boxing and other aerobic things.