Livingston dog wins at national level

JASMINE HALL

The Livingston Enterprise

LIVINGSTON — “Go downstairs and get my pants from the bed,” Crystal Young said gesturing to her dog, Durango.

Durango, a silver-grey Weimaraner, eagerly ran down the stairs with his short, docked tail wagging. He quickly returned to drop a neatly folded pair of pants in Young’s lap, then sat and waited for his owner’s approval.

Fetching items, putting away laundry, turning off light switches and shutting bedroom doors are just a few things 6-year-old dog Durango can do, but even more impressive than his unusual everyday abilities is his award-winning career as an agility dog.

Approaching 7 years old in March, Durango has ribbons, trophies and sashes “up the wazoo,” which span his five-year agility career, said Livingston resident Young, 42. His most recent awards, from the North American Dog Agility Council’s 2016 Championships, covered Young’s living room couch as the handler recalled the team’s competitive success.

A Champion

Young said NADAC competitions include dogs from all over the United States, Australia and Canada. She said NADAC’s competitions are different from other agility competitions because courses are done with dogs and handlers at a great distance. Trainers issue verbal commands from a designated square as far as 100 feet away from their dogs, she added. During the NADAC Championships held Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 in Utah, Durango took home numerous awards including the titles of highest scoring Weimaraner, highest scoring dog from Montana and highest scoring dog-sporting group.

In addition, Durango nearly achieved the impossible and was one of two dogs in his level eligible to compete for a 2016 NADAC achievement cup.

“He had to be completely flawless, he had to be clean,” Young, a Gray Ghost K9 Academy trainer, recalled. “ … The cup our venue classifies as ‘impossible, don’t even dream about it.’ Durango was within five points.”

What makes Durango special among his agility competitors is there are only a handful of Weimaraner dogs in the nation who compete, Young said.

“Sporting breeds usually don’t do this,” Young said. “It’s usually your border collies and Aussies and stuff. To have a dog that gets out there, and wants to do it, and isn’t a herding breed is unheard of.”

What makes Durango an award winner is that he enjoys competing, Young said. She added Durango is “imperfect” since he is 27 inches tall and 25 inches long and not a “standard box,” but said despite his disproportionate size he “consistently comes out 75 percent on top.”

“He loves the sport, he loves the job,” Young said. “... There are two different types of agility dogs — there’s the agility dog that’s doing it because they’re told to and there’s (Durango).”

Competition history

Durango and Young became interested in agility after testing the sport at a Bozeman agility demo. When Durango was 1, the team began training with GotDog? Agility Trainer Jeannie Biggers who took them “under her wing,” Young said. At 17 months old, Durango made his competitive agility debut, taking second place at a Gallatin County Fair open demo.

“When he was a crazy year-and-a-half-old pup, running around, barking at everybody and reacting at everything,” Young said, “(Biggers) was the only one who truly believed in him, that truly believed we could do it.”

Participating in several competitions a year, Durango and Young finally made it to the NADAC Championships in 2014 but did not take home any awards. It was a learning experience for the team, Young said.

“It was a very rude awakening of how much we lacked,” she said. “We came back and hit the drawing board.”

And learn they did, returning two years later to the NADAC Championships and taking home numerous achievements.

“He ran flawlessly, he did everything he was asked to do,” Young recalled of the first 2016 NADAC rounds. “And as he completed the last obstacle, I had chills, goose bumps and burst into tears.”

Owner-pet bond

The duo’s bond goes far beyond competition, spending most of their time lounging around the house, Young said, adding Durango follows her everywhere.

Known as a “Velcro dog,” Weimaraners are “very into their people” and “stick to you,” and Durango is no exception, Young said.