Plano Profile March 2010 : Page 56
high profile Judy J all the right moves UDY IS BELIEVED to be half dachshund and confirmed all heart. Owner Adrienne McLean explained that someone’s cross- breeding efforts resulted in an undesired “breeding accident,” and little Judy was left at an animal shelter. The only thing Adrienne knows about Jimmy is that his mother was a Chihuahua, and he was promptly dumped at an animal shelter covered with ringworm and other maladies. Despite their inauspicious starts in life, Judy and Jimmy have taken center stage in the life of their adoring owner…and in the action-packed arena of agility competitions. “As far as we know, Judy is 8. She was my very first dog. I never had a dog before, not even as a kid,” Adrienne shares. As Professor of Film Studies at the University of Two rescued dogs are at home in the exciting world of agility competition. 56 PLANO PROFILE MARCH 2010 Texas at Dallas, Adrienne is accustomed to research projects and applied these skills to her quest for the perfect canine companion. “I knew what I wanted: a small, short-haired mixed breed dog.”
High Profile
Cindy Boykin
Judy is believed To be half dachshund and confirmed all heart. Owner Adrienne McLean explained that someone’s crossbreeding efforts resulted in an undesired “breeding accident,” and little Judy was left at an animal shelter.
The only thing Adrienne knows about Jimmy is that his mother was a Chihuahua, and he was promptly dumped at an animal shelter covered with ringworm and other maladies.
Despite their inauspicious starts in life, Judy and Jimmy have taken center stage in the life of their adoring owner…and in the action-packed arena of agility competitions.
“As far as we know, Judy is 8. She was my very first dog. I never had a dog before, not even as a kid,” Adrienne shares.
As Professor of Film Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, Adrienne is accustomed to research projects and applied these skills to her quest for the perfect canine companion. “I knew what I wanted: a Two rescued dogs are at home in the exciting world of agility competition. Small, short-haired mixed breed dog.” She also decided that adopting one from a shelter would be the best option.
After searching the Internet and talking with friends, Adrienne found herself at the Richardson Humane Society expecting to check out a couple of new puppies. Then she noticed 6-month-old Judy.
“There she was,” Adrienne says kindly. “She had a big patch of mange on her side and she was very quiet, but very sweet. She had been kept back from adoption because her spaying wound had opened up.” Adrienne was inexplicably drawn to Judy, and her love at first sight blurred the obvious imperfections of this unassuming dog. This was her pick of the bunch.
“After I had her for about three months, she started to limp,” Adrienne continued.
“It turned out she had a heredity condition, almost certain from breeding for smallness, called Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, or !"#.” The recommended treatment for the 8-month-old pup was to remove the head of her femur, causing a “false joint” to form by scar tissue and muscle.
Following the surgery, Judy started using three legs, which she was perfectly happy to do, but the vet suggested finding an activity that would force her to use all four legs.
Adrienne decided to give agility a try.
Trusting and eager to please, Judy walked into an enclosed countryside field dotted with all kinds of poles, tunnels and wood planks scattered about. “I never had any thought of competing at first,” Adrienne McLean leads Judy and Jimmy in drills preparing for another run at national titles.
In 2009, Judy finished “on the podium” in third place in the Performance Speed Jumping class in front of a cheering crowd.
Adrienne said, “It was one of the most thrilling moments of my life!” Adrienne acknowledges, “I was just trying to get her to use her leg. But then it turned out that I really enjoyed it—and she did, too!” Judy lives for two things: playing ball and pleasing her beloved master.
With each new skill she attempted and perfected, she was lavished with play and praise. To Adrienne’s delight, this little mystery dog with an indomitable spirit was a natural.
“Judy started competing a couple of months before her second birthday, and she did really well at her first trial,” Adrienne states. “She just ended up being good, fast, and very biddable.” Unfortunately, Judy’s problems were not behind her. After enjoying success in agility, she began experiencing spinal problems that caused pain and slight paralysis of her back end.
The treatment for this ailment?
PLDA or Percutaneous Laser Disk Ablation. “Basically they vaporized eight of her spinal disks. It was very Low impact in terms of surgery and she came out of there ready to play. She’s never looked back!” To this day, little one-hipped Judy is not intimidated by bigger dogs or pedigrees.
She confidently bolts up soaring ramps, walks on tall beams, runs through tunnels, and weaves through poles. She does it quickly and expertly.
Judy has been such a fine competitor that through the years she has earned championship titles in all the agility organizations in which she competes: United States Dog Agility Association (USDAA), Australian Shepherd Club of America (ASCA), and North American Dog Agility Council (NADAC). When Judy was 4, Adrienne brought home a new puppy, Jimmy. Also discarded at a tender age, Jimmy’s ancestry is undocumented, but his legacy is a work in progress.
He was introduced to agility first as a spectator … an impatient spectator.
Adrienne smiles, “I took him to Judy’s lessons when he was a puppy and he would whine and whine! I think he did get a little competitive watching her.” Once he was well-behaved enough to begin agility training himself, he took to it immediately. “He was not tentative,” Adrienne recollects. “From the very first time he went into a tunnel, he was banking off the side. He’s not afraid of any of the equipment.” That’s saying a lot. Dogs four times his size balk at the teeter-totter device That points straight up, then all of a sudden slams down in the other direction when the dog’s weight hits the fulcrum. Adding difficulty to trepidation, at least one paw must touch the bottom portion of the teetering board on the way down. No launching off!
Jimmy has laser focus when he zips down the high beam and dashes through the curvy tunnel.
A particularly interesting obstacle has a round opening, similar to a tunnel, but then a heavy fabric covering extends flat on the ground for several yards. The dogs must push their way through the yards of material, sight unseen, to the end. It’s almost comical to see Jimmy and Judy, who are mere bumps in the flowing material, emerge from the challenge and bound toward the next skill or to an approving Adrienne.
On this day at Best Friends Fun Farm, there are five other owners and their dogs going through the paces.
Each pair waits side-by-side for the signal to begin. At the starting moment, they dash in unison from one skill to the next.
Every movement of the owner is important.
If the person turns the wrong direction, it confuses the dog. If the person hesitates, the dog loses focus.
This is very much a team sport. Done right, it looks easy and effortless. In reality, it is neither.
“When somebody asks an agility person how often we train, we answer ‘24 hours a day.’” Adrienne says.
“Training a dog to sit for his dinner is the same as training him to sit for the start. Tricks that you teach for fun are also useful for training.” Dogs aren’t the only ones who must learn the ins and outs of agility. The onus is on the dog’s owner to lead the way to a successful performance.
Adrienne explains, “In a competition, you are usually given seven to ten minutes to learn the course. Then you get your dog and run it as fast as You can without making any errors, performing all the obstacles correctly, and cross the finish line in a faster time than anyone else.
“When you do it right, it seems like you are doing it in slow motion. You’re in the right place at the right time. It just feels amazing—like you’re connected with a string. You pull them in, then you set them out in a wide arc and meet them at some other place.
When you have that connection, there’s no feeling like it.
“People who do it, love it. We live our ordinary lives, go about our business, function in the real world ... but this is so much fun!”
Up until now, Judy and Jimmy have competed in USDAA, ASCA, and NADAC events.
And this year, something exciting is happening in the competitive world: The revered American Kennel Club (AKC) begins allowing mixed breeds to compete in April 2010. Judy and Jimmy will proudly represent dogs who defy classification.
“Dogs are wonderful companions,” Adrienne muses. “If people have trouble with them, it’s usually because they can’t spend enough time with them, which I understand. But dogs are willing to do anything for you, and all you have to do is find the thing that makes them happy.” More often than not, that’s you.
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