contact agility club - putnam county, new york
Our History
Contact Agility is one of the original East Coast clubs,dating back to the early days of agility before NADAC,AKC, CPE, or DOCNA made their debuts. Only USDAA and Bud Kramer’s agility organization existed when Contact Agility was born.In the late 1980s Anne Smith, then living in England,was introduced to dog agility at the UK finals at Olympia, a Christmas horse show. She returned home in l989 and watched one day as a young boarder of hers began jumping her mixed breed dog, Sid, over horse jumps.Anne says, “I thought, YES! Agility! I contacted Ken Tatsch, the head of USDAA, and he invited me tocome down to the demos at the Radnor 3 day event. While I was there, he came up with the name of Lori Ward, who had just moved to Ridgefield, CT.” Says Lori, “I almost refused to be involved in the formation of Contact Agility Club. I had just moved to Connecticut from Arizona and had a 4-year-old son, a baby under a year old, and was pregnant again! I had started agility in 2 clubs in Arizona, taught agility classes there and had hosted, I believe, the first Arizona USDAA agility trial/ qualifying event for the USDAA Nationals. I was rather exhausted and didn't want to think about starting over! But Anne convinced me. I printed flyers and took them to local vet offices and dog clubs. People showed up to our first meeting and were so enthusiastic about learning agility! So the club was formed and we were off and running.”
Lori and Anne trained in Anne’s horse arena with Anne’s horse jumps and Lori’s obstacles. The club members consisted of a handful of people, each of whom had agreed to build an agility obstacle based on Ken Tatsch’s plans. Lori trained the club members all winter. The following Spring, the club held its first trial. Says Anne, “Three dogs -- Betty Hahn’s Ruffy, Jackie Pariseault’s Reba, and my Sid -- got the first Contact titles. Only one leg was needed then. There were 22 entries, all starters except for a couple of teams in advanced from NH. Those were exciting, pioneering days... At trials we put up club canopies and hung all of the club ribbons. We all watched and supported member runs, stayed at the same motel, and had dinner as a group until the club grew so popular that there were too many people for one canopy and one dinner together!”
Since Anne and Lori founded Contact, the sport of dog agility has evolved to become highly competitive and technical. Many of those who compete strive for more and more titles and ever faster times on increasingly difficult courses. To people like Anne and Lori, however, their days of agility adventures and club camaraderie are more precious than any title. Anne says, “I will always look back to those early days with a great sense of fun/purpose/achievement that will always be very special for us and the dogs who were then our partners.”
George
Bennett’s Spanky
