Jock dogs to have their day

Lily, an athletic 4½-year-old bichon frise, didn't let anyone choose her sport for her.

The spunky little dog slipped away during obedience training, and owner Karen Short found her giving the agility training equipment a go. She loved maneuvering the obstacles, slipping through the tunnels, jumping through hoops and over hurdles, and weaving between poles.

"Her love for it is something you don't see in bichons," Short says. "Usually border collies are the stars of the show in agility."

Lily gets her chance at stardom Saturday during the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge in St Petersburg. The competition, in its 13th year, includes about 70 dogs in events such as diving, freestyle flying disc, head-to-head weave poles, Jack Russell hurdle racing and agility training.

It's preceded Friday by an owner-dog Purina Incredible Dog Swim Race Biathlon.

Also on Friday, local dogs can qualify to participate in two events: dog diving and freestyle flying disc. Top qualifiers participate again Saturday with the possibility of qualifying for the National Championship in St. Louis in October, says Jim Allen, brand manager at Nestle Purina PetCare.

The contests at Spa Beach and Spa Beach Park are open to the public and free to watch. Videotaped coverage will air in May on a date to be announced.

Dog competitors in all but the two open-qualifying events were preselected from their strong showing in previous competitions.

"We like (the open qualifiers) that we get other real people with real pets involved," Allen says. "They are people who may have been sitting on a couch, watching TV and saying, 'My dog could do that.'"

Allen, speaking by telephone recently from St. Louis, says some competitors are purebred and some are mixed. The only category where only a specific breed is eligible is the Jack Russell hurdle racing.

"What makes it a challenge is we don't specify a breed. We get a diversity of dogs - but all are happy dogs," Allen says. "They don't know if they came in first or not. To them they just know they did something special."

Short, 49, says Lily is happiest when she's running the agility course. Most bichons are primarily lap dogs, she says.

"The breeder got her back from her first family because she was a little too energetic," Short says. "She's a little girl who turned out to be a real tomboy."

After Short discovered Lily's fondness for agility equipment, they enrolled in agility training classes. Lily has been in local and three state competitions. In May, she's scheduled for her first national competition.

Lily practices about an hour a week during an advanced class at the Dog Training Center of Tampa.

"We never thought when we brought this little muffin home she would be an agility dog," says Short, a nursing student.

Other dogs from the Tampa Bay area invited to participate in the Purina challenge are Tali, an Australian shepherd owned by Jack Fahle of Dade City, and Blazing Jacks Slick, a Jack Russell terrier owned by Terry Lawrence of Lakeland.

PUPS ON THE GO

Purina Incredible Dog Challenge

WHAT: National canine competition with waterfront biathlon for dogs and owners; agility skills; dog diving and other events

WHEN: Qualifier registration at 2 p.m. Friday with events at 3 p.m.; dog challenge from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Spa Beach Park, 544 Second Ave. N.E., St. Petersburg

ADMISSION: Free

INFORMATION: www.petcentric.com