If you've ever watched dogs weave in and out poles during agility time trials, you'd be amazed at the speed those four furry legs go.
This coming Sunday, more than 20 dogs and their handlers will take part in a series of friendly competitions during the Rendezvous 2011 picnic.
Expect to see 12 different breeds including beagles, shepherds, Great Danes, retrievers, labs, collies and assorted mutts.
The picnic is planned to stretch the length of the Sturgeon River, from the Kinsmen grounds to Kingswood Park. The dogs will be beetling through a series of obstacles south of St. Albert Centre on a grassy knoll by the footbridge over the river.
Expected to be a major crowd draw, dog agility has been wildly popular in North America in the last 10 years. "They'll be doing timed runs, but it will be more for fun," says Makin' Trax owner Sharon Fleming, the event organizer.
Dogs will explode over a full agility course that ranges from a dog walk and A-frame to tunnels and chutes. At the end, their owners' praise will be the big prize.
But Fleming has also organized a parade of breeds as an introduction, along with scenting trials where select pooches will locate specific articles in cardboard boxes.
Every-bunny in
But, while everyone is familiar with dog agility, bunny agility is almost an unknown quantity in North America. In fact, Calgary's Canadian Rabbit Hopping Club is the only bunny agility club in Canada and it will also be providing demonstrations at the picnic.
Odd as it may seem, the rabbit is a natural jumper. "We use the same equipment as dog agility – a pause table, A-frames, hoops, teeter-totters and tunnels," says organizer Rosemarie Greening.
The obstacles are just smaller and modified to a rabbit's ability and size. "Good agility rabbits love to be around people. They enjoy being petted and they love to explore the outside of their cage."
The club was started in 2005 after the Greenings' two daughters, then attending 4-H, did not want to raise animals for slaughter. The family found a book on an American club and modelled their activities on it.
Soon, the family project attracted 18 members and they have since been invited to perform at the Calgary Stampede, Spruce Meadows and as far away as Hong Kong. "It was a two-month quarantine when the rabbits returned to Canada and so we had to refuse," Greening explains.
About 30 super-bunnies are slated to arrive at the picnic, with about half that number of trainers. The first thing trainers do is set up a fence and lay the equipment on a run in a rectangle.
And while some rabbits only take a couple of hours to train, they won't get any treats.
"You don't want a fat rabbit. If they're fat, they can't run," Greening says.
Several breeds that won't be competing are the heavy Flemish Giants, the meat producing Californian and the long, floppy-eared English Lop.
For more an in-depth overview on the club, visit www.canadianrabbithoppingclub.com.
