As seen at the Crufts Dog Show 1978

Ever wonder about the early days of agility? In his book How to Judge Agility, Peter Lewis, one of the founders of the sport, claims that in the beginning no one had a clue about developing the art of agility. For the first official year, they floundered through but had a lot of fun doing so.

Initially all the handlers did was run around a course with their dog with little thought of anything else. Quickly people realised what time savings could be made by a completely different style of handling and started working their dogs on either side, in front or behind. Some people did not feel able to change an existing dogs style of handling; that is until they trained a new dog.

Originally the course at Crufts was in the shape of a figure eight with the table at the cross over point (See below) That was also where the dog started and finished. If only they were so simple now...

For more recollections of the first days of agility, see review of Peter Lewis book.

Source: How to Judge Agility by Peter Lewis (£8.00 incl. p&p)

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