From the suggestion box

I have received several great emails from dog owners/lovers over the past week in response to the blog and petition (450 signatures and counting...).

I know nothing about dog agility training, but you DO learn something new every day. Take this email from Shreveporter Kathryn S. Bloomfield:

"I am a huge advocate of having dogs participate in dog agility--I admire those who compete, but I am even more impressed with the sport for fun. It'll bring a shy dog out of its shell, give an OCD dog something to focus on, burn productively all that energy that builds up from all day naps, help to socialize dogs to other dogs and to people, and forge a bond between owner and pet that is unbreakable.

I am not a trainer, but for years, participated in agility with two mutts, both rescues, and both with "issues." Agility was perfect for their very different personalities and just an absolute hoot. One of my rescues had little to no obedience on her and we got it all through agility. There are locals who do compete and whom we could contact to ask for help. I have a friend on the west coast whose more than willling to come visit to help with classes at the beginning. Ray, the adoption coordinator at the shelter, would really appreciate having the opportunity to help the shelter dogs. And, there is a local television reporter who is very interested in doing a story on agility for shelter dogs, if we can ever get it off of the ground. A safe fenced in space is a first step . . ."

It would be interesting to see how my mutt would respond to something like this. He would probably LAUGH at me upon my suggestion, but perhaps not.