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Jumps, Weaves, Tunnels, and More

How Dog Agility Became a Hobby for CU Nursing Professor

by Molly Smerika | January 7, 2025
chai and splash Portuguese water dogs

Imagine two athletes.

They practice almost every day.

They’re fast and agile, ready to run and jump in front of a crowd.

And, they’re ready to compete.

There’s just one thing…these athletes aren’t humans. They’re dogs.

Chai and Splash are Portuguese Water Dogs that compete in dog agility. Their owner is Gail Armstrong, PhD, DNP, ACNS-BC, RN, CNE, FAAN, a professor and faculty development coordinator at the University of Colorado College of Nursing at Anschutz Medical Campus.

Gail-Armstrong_Expert

CU Nursing's Gail Armstrong, PhD, DNP, ACNS-BC, RN, CNE, FAAN, and her dogs compete in dog agility.

Armstrong first became interested in dog agility after watching her sister and her dog compete in dog agility.

“Every time I watched her and her dog, I became more and more intrigued. It’s very fun to watch and engaging because when you watch dogs in trials and competitions, there are different breeds, and the dogs jump at different heights.”

The only problem: Armstrong didn’t have a dog.

“I was like ‘I want to do that’, but my sister told me I had to get a dog first,” she says.

She got her first dog, a Portuguese Water Dog named Chai, 12 years ago, at nine weeks old. A week later, the two were in their first dog agility class.

“He knew from the very beginning that he’d be doing dog agility,” she says. “I got him into puppy agility class, and then we progressed to more advanced classes.”

Then, a few years later, Armstrong got her second dog, Splash, who is now four.  

“I run what's kind of considered non-traditional dogs because the most common breeds are Border Collies,” she says. “There's a lot of Australian shepherds that do agility, but not a lot of Portuguese Water Dogs.”

What is Dog Agility?

Dog agility is a sport where a handler (a human) directs a dog through an obstacle course as quickly – and accurately – as possible. Courses can have several obstacles, including tunnels, weave poles, teeters (a seesaw), and jumps.

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Armstrong's dog, Splash, jumps during a competition.

“It’s really fun to train with your dogs,” she says. “They have to learn certain aspects of the dog agility course, so we break it down for them. The training builds on itself. First, they learn each obstacle, and some are easier than others.”

The easier obstacles are the jumps, but others, like the weave polls, can be more challenging. And, depending on the size of the dog, they compete in different classes (so a small dog like a terrier has smaller jumps compared to a Border Collie).

“Then, dogs have to learn the sequence of the course, and sometimes you’re working on harder courses,” Armstrong says. “And you’re trying to go fast so you and your dog are also working on speed.”

Ready to Compete

During competitions, dogs enter the ring on one side. Handlers take off their leashes, and then a timer counts down to “READY” and, if the first obstacle is a tunnel, electric eyes will light up to signal a tunnel is ahead. Then, the dog takes off.

“Your job (as a handler) is as soon as your dog crosses those electric eyes on that first obstacle, you run the course with your dog,” Armstrong says. “And at that point, it’s not about the dog knowing the course, it’s about the dog following you.”

Armstrong uses commands to teach Chai and Splash when to jump, weave, or stay, and when to change directions on a course. The dogs run in American Kennel Club (AKC) trials, where dogs must be perfect to earn a score. If a dog drops a bar on a jump or takes an incorrect obstacle, they don’t earn any points and get what’s called an NQ, or non-qualifying score.

“It’s a hard sport because you have to be perfect,” she says.

Armstrong competes one to two weekends a month, usually in the Denver Metro. Sometimes she’ll take her dogs to regional competitions or dog agility “boot camp” seminars in Wichita or Phoenix.

“It's a hobby for me. I am not as skilled as other competitors, and there are some people not as skilled as me,” she says. “I’m inspired by the people who are more skilled than I am. That’s what's great about this sport, it’s very accommodating to a wide range of abilities, and I love that.”

Armstrong trains with her sister (and her sister’s dogs) and tries to attend competitions or seminars together. There’s a lot of waiting around during competitions, so it gives them time to talk and spend time together.

“A lot of times, we’ll crate our dogs next to each other and I’ll film when she runs the course with her dogs, and she’ll do the same for me,” she says. “And sometimes, we’ll sign up for training sessions together because I want to watch her run and she wanted to watch me run.”

Training, Training, and More Training

Training dogs takes a lot of work – Armstrong says you train dogs for about two years before they’re ready for competition. She has her dogs in two dog agility classes per week and trains with them every day, keeping some equipment in her backyard.

“When a dog starts to compete, they’re in novice classes, which is the easiest level, and they move up from there,” she says.

Dogs should never be surprised by anything on the course, so they need to be trained for what to expect, like a teeter-totter going down and when to jump off.

“It’s important to teach dogs the obstacles individually so you can build off what they’ve learned,” she says. “You want to make sure they’re comfortable with every obstacle before you have them do it in competition.”

Dog vs. Dog

Armstrong says she’s had Chai for so many years, that he was used to being the only one running in a competition. But Splash also runs – and the dogs do get competitive.

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Armstrong's dogs, Splash and Chai.

“I only train one at a time, so if one of my dogs sees the other training in the backyard, it gets them very interested in what’s going on,” she says. “When I swap them out, the dog that’s been waiting is like “Put me in, coach’.”

Armstrong doesn’t run the dogs together in competitions, since they are in different classes and levels of competition.

“In one class, I had both dogs with me even though I was mostly running Splash in the class, but she was being lackadaisical and wasn’t really into it so I thought, why don’t I run Chai instead,” Armstrong says. “I put Splash back in her crate and when I took Chai out, you could see she was like ‘Wait a minute, what’s going on?’” Then on my next turn, I took Splash out again and her energy and effort went up 100%.”

Being Regular Dogs

Despite Chai and Splash being very competitive with each other – they do get along and act like regular dogs when they’re not training and have “off switches.”

“They are a working breed, so they really want a job, and I think dog agility is a form of mental stimulation that they both like, but they know the difference when it’s time to train, compete, or rest,” she says.

Armstrong says Chai has no plans to end his dog agility career, even though he’s 12. Chai wasn’t competing for a while (because Armstrong was running with Splash), but Armstrong decided to have him run in trials back in August.

“His enthusiasm was 100%, he was so happy, and he ran really well,” she says. “It’s a balance of when they start slowing down, and for me, what’s really important is that he’s still having fun. If he gets reluctant or if he’s not interested, then I’ll retire him. For me, the dog gets to say when they’re done."

Topics: Faculty