Boxer Agility In The United States

Mike & Claudia Clifton

Semper Fi Boxers

Fayetteville, Georgia

http://www.semperfiboxers.com

Dog agility in the United States has caught on like a fire out of control! It keeps getting bigger and bigger every year. Each year, more and more people discover how much fun agility is. People here, like people in many other countries around the world are building the bond between themselves and their dogs through agility. And Boxer people are no different!

Even as more American Boxer owners discover the fun and excitement of agility, Boxers are still a minority on the agility field. Even though Boxers were ranked number seven by the number bred in the United States in 2002, our guess is that less than 2 percent of the dogs that compete in agility trials here are Boxers.

Unlike the rest of the world, here in the United States, the Boxer is not taken very seriously as a working dog. Only for about the last ten years, has the national breed club, The American Boxer Club (ABC), even begun to take the Boxer seriously as a true working breed.

When we participate in all-breed agility trials, we are many times the only Boxer entry out of hundreds of entries. The most Boxer entries that we have ever seen, other than the ABC’s National Specialty, was about five Boxers. At the ABC’s 2002 national specialty, there were nearly 100 entries in the American Kennel Club (AKC) Boxer only, agility trial.

We feel that the Boxer is perfect for agility. They love to run, jump and explore new things. They are happy when they can run the course, jump all the jumps, climb the A-Frame, Dog Walk and Teeter. They love to explore the open and closed tunnels. It’s just a big adventure for them.

Many Boxer owners find standard obedience training and trials repetitive and monotonous. They will do agility so that they can spend more time with their Boxer and have fun at the same time. The main problem that we see is when they do agility, INSTEAD of obedience.

We have seen quite a few Boxers with great potential in Agility. There are some very good Agility Boxers in The United States. There are some that could be GREAT agility Boxers if they had a better obedience foundation. When someone has done agility training with their Boxer INSTEAD of obedience training, it shows up on the agility field.

Without a good obedience foundation, you have a fast dog that can do the obstacles well, but is out of control. They are like a speeding automobile with no brakes or steering wheel!! Boxers are full of energy, which is good. But, that energy needs to be channeled and controlled.

Many of our Boxers here in The United States do not have the control that is needed to be good in agility. This is part of the reason why, at most of the obedience and agility trials, Boxers are known for being the clown of the show.

They are known for providing the daily entertainment by running the course in the order that they want instead of the way that their owners would like for them to run.

We have been competing in agility for about four years now with our Boxers. We have many people ask us how we are so successful in such a short time. Our answer is our secret. Obedience. Obedience. Obedience.

The number of Boxers running agility is growing each year. More people who used to show their Boxers only in the conformation ring are looking for something fun to do with their retired Champion. They want something that will get them and their Boxer off the sofa and outside doing something as a team. Many more of them each year are coming over to agility.

Since the American Kennel Club began holding agility trials in this country, we have had one Boxer to earn her Agility Championship. There are a couple of others that are getting closer to it every day.

You must maintain a good sense of humor when you do agility with a Boxer. No matter how well trained they are, they are also comedians who will sometimes play jokes on you to make you angry. All you can do is just laugh and enjoy it.

In a sport that is dominated by Border Collies in this country, it is still fun to run agility with a dog that we enjoy so much. A Boxer. Sometimes we win. Many times we do not. But win or lose, we always have a good time. And you should too!

Semper Fi Boxers

Michael & Claudia Clifton

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