At the recently held Westminster Dog Show, a small mixed breed dog named Nimble turned in an amazing performance in the agility event.
Stephen Colbert showed the clip on his show and said that the reason the dog ran so fast was that he saw that Kristi Noem was one of the judges.
And unlike horse racing, you know the dog is having fun.
Nimble is such a joy to watch! I’ve been involved with low-level, recreation-type dog agility for a couple of decades. If the dog doesn’t love it, it’s pointless to do. Even if the dog does love it, not every dog will be good at it. My current dog is quite an athlete, but would rather run the course he imagines, not the course he’s being cued to do.
Matt G @ 1
I agree! The awful part about horse racing is, some horses literally die.
Also, we have all seen those videos of sheepdogs doing their thing and having fun doing it. Full afterburner!
Like Mano Singham I like to watch Stephen Colbert, and also Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers, each with his own take on the same major news.
The way Nimble jumped into Cynthia’s arms at the end showed how much they both enjoy this.
The dog is a she, just for the record, and the first mixed-breed dog to win the event.
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/14/1251373647/nimble-westminster-agility-mixed-breed
Thank you, Mano.
Yes, thank you Mano for this refreshing video. The dog loves what she’s doing, the owner loves what she’s doing, and the audience loved their performance. This was a joy to watch.
More agility info: a lot of the top-performing dogs get routine massages and care to keep them in top physical shape. A lot of owners play a game with their dogs before the run that looks like patty-cake (a game where two people slap hands with each other in rhythm) that stretches out the dog’s front legs through range-of-motion while feeling like play to the dog.
Also, a lot of high-performing agility dogs get chiropractic care. The owners swear it relaxes the dog and keeps the dog’s muscles limber. I have often wondered about this, but ultimately it doesn’t matter to me because my dogs have all been “neighborhood rec program” level and not “see on tv” level. I’m fine with this, especially since in competition, you might be on the field for 14 hours and get in 3 runs. The boredom is real.
The thumbnail is not Nimble, who’s performance has to be seen to be believed. 😉
Mano has cued up the video.