Agility
Agility Trial July 23-26, 2026
Recap by Trial Chair Marty Abair & VP Cassy Lamothe
And - BOTC’s 2026 July Agility Trial is a wrap!!! What a great time we all had! Mark Rudd’s courses were fun and challenging. We were finished at a decent hour each day thanks to a great course building crew, a full slate of workers for each class, and Mark keeping things moving. We were finished up and breaking down the ring before 2 PM on Sunday!
I can’t thank my official event team enough – Cassy Lamothe (who was also Volunteer Coordinator), Laurel Macy, and Maria Karunungan (who was also Assistant Trial Secretary) and Carol Perkins. Forever grateful to the rest of the team - Chief Course Builder Elliot Kaplan, Runner Mary Wilmuth, Volunteer Raffle Coordinator Eva Fraser-Harris, Hospitality Coordinator Lauren Hupp and so many others. It truly takes a village and that village ran like a top all weekend.
Many thanks also to our Trial Secretary Doris O’Brien who kept everything at the official score table running smoothly and got the scores out so quickly and to VMO Tom O’Brien.
Congratulations to all of you with new titles:
Deb Newell-Robinson and Aurora – Excellent JWW
Emily Tiralla and Ginny – Excellent Standard Preferred
Marcy Birmingham and Poppy – Novice JWW Preferred
Lauren Hupp and Olive – Excellent JWW and Open FAST
Jonie Silva and Juice – Novice JWW
GM King and Makana – Novice FAST
Steve Conrow and Mystic – Open FAST
Allegra Cords and Phelix – Novice JWW
Mike Dabrowski and Hali – Novice Standard
Sharon Pica and Shine – MACH 3
Laurel Macy and Quick – Open JWW Preferred
Lisa Cox and Gidget – Novice JWW Preferred
Joan Fox-Cota and Bebette – Novice JWW
I hope you all had as good a time as I did. Hope to see you at our April 2027 trial (April 16-18, 2027) at The Field House in Shelburne!
~Marty Abair, BOTC President & Agility Trial Chair
Cassy’s notes - I started doing the volunteer coordinator job back when Janet Induni recruited me. I have done quite a few, this weekend was the best! I did not have to beg for workers, many people worked several classes happily, and I only had to work one! That’s pretty much unheard of! The workers raffle seemed to tickle people. I heard several friendly rivalries for prizes happening. Thank you Eva for organizing and all your helper elves that kept the drawings fun and entertaining.
I am going to try and thank everyone, if I miss you it is not intentional, just the results of a scattered brain. Thank you to Marty for chairing the trial, she never let anything be too much. All the little fires were taken care of before they became big fires. Thank you Doris for being trial secretary and Maria for assisting, the results were out so fast a couple competitors were shocked. Thank you Amy for the little touches of organization, the treat table and the volunteer sign up board made things a little easier. Thank you Lauren for doing hospitality and every job that needed to be done. Thank you Laurel for being everywhere all the time :) it was really nice to have you jump in wherever was needed, Thank you to Mary W. For getting lunches on the days Mark would eat them :) Thank you to Ilene Morgan for coming and volunteering to work last classes of the day and thank you to Nancy S. For coming to help and deliver t shirts. Thank you to Barb Fitch, Martha Friedman and Pam Loeb for coming to help with taking things down.
Thank you to non club members Eliot,Trent, and Diane for lightening fast course builds and being so sweet to competitors who wanted to help but weren’t sure how. You all set a lovely example of how to get it done!
Lastly, thank you to my students who came and helped unload and load the equipments and my car. Matt and Joplin came early Thursday morning to unload the heavy stuff. On Sunday Maggie, Olivia and baby K, came and loaded trailers and dragged my crates out while I hobbled around.
This trial was a success in hosting competitors and giving them a good experience. Mark Rudd came from Michigan on rather short notice to judge for us. Our original judge had a conflict and after contacting 30+ judges, Mark was the first one who could come and wanted to be here. We do have judges lined up for 2027-2029, April and July. We do hope to see you all at the April trial! If you have comments or concerns please let the trial committee know, we value the feedback so we can continue to grow and keep dog sports local.
~Cassy Lamothe, BOTC Vice President, Agility Trial Volunteer Coordinator
April 17-19 2026 Agility Trial Recap
by Trial Chair Marty Abair:
And - BOTC’s 2026 April Agility Trial is a wrap!!! What a great time we all had! Elane Rice’s courses were fun with just the right amount of challenge. We were finished at a decent hour each day thanks to a great course building crew, a full slate of workers for each class, and Elane keeping things moving. I think we finished by 4:30 on Saturday and a little after 2 on Sunday!!!
I can’t thank my official event team enough – Cassy Lamothe, Kim Luebbers (who was also co-Hospitality Chair), Fran Stanford, and Lauren Hupp (who was also Volunteer Coordinator) – all of who had to be there from the beginning to the end each day. Forever grateful to the rest of the team - Chief Course Builder Steve Conrow, co-Hospitality Chair and Runner Alison James, Ribbon Coordinators Maria Karunuñgan and Martha Friedman, Volunteer Raffle Coordinator Eva Fraser-Harris and so many others. It truly takes a village and that village ran like a top all weekend.
Many thanks to our Trial Secretary Doris O'Brien who kept everything at the official score table running smoothly and to VMO Tom O’Brien.
Congratulations to all of you with new titles:
Melissa Kiefer and Kenzi – Master Jumpers Bronze
Ptarmigan Abbott and Max – Excellent Standard Preferred
Steve Conrow and Mystic – Excellent JWW and Excellent Standard Preferred
Alison Webb and Zane – T2B2
Sterling Moffat – T2B
Cassy Lamothe and Pink – Open FAST
Nicole Montague and Ziggy – Novice Standard Preferred
Barbara Fitch and Juno – Novice JWW, Novice FAST and Novice Standard
Kate Basedow and Bruni – AX
Jen Chiodo and Luna – Novice JWW Preferred
I hope you all had as good a time as I did. Hope to see you at our July trial (July 23-26) at The Field House in Shelburne!
BOTC Agility Trial Results
BOTC Agility Course Maps
About Agility
Agility is one of the fastest growing canine sports in the United States. It is especially popular in New England where there is at least one competition every weekend during the entire year. In many cases there are 2 to 4 competitions in a single weekend in the New England and Eastern New York region.
In Agility, a dog and human handler team attempt to properly negotiate an obstacle course within an allotted time. The number and type of obstacles varies as does the arrangement of the obstacles and the resulting path. Dogs compete in groups based on height of the dog and the level of accomplishment the dog and handler have achieved. Dogs of all types, sizes and breeds can participate. Humans of any age can participate and it's not unusual to see retirees competing against teenagers. It's a sport that the whole family can enjoy!
While there are ribbons and other prizes for the fastest dog/handler teams at each height and skill level, teams which might not complete the course as quickly still earn points and advance from the Novice level to Excellent level. In fact, a dog/handler team that runs at an average speed with few mistakes can often advance more quickly than a fast team that makes more mistakes. It's one of the great attractions of agility - every handler and their dog can participate and all can excel. For experienced dog/handler teams, agility is a fast-paced activity that is equally fun to watch. Competitors regularly cheer and applaud a good run by a fellow competitor. People new to the sport regularly remark about the friendly environment and the help and advice that is freely offered by experienced handlers.
History of Agility at the Burlington Obedience Training Club
BOTC held its very first first AKC agility match in April 2000 and its first full agility trial in April 2002. Since that time BOTC has sponsored a 3-day agility trial every April. In July 2013, BOTC joined with another local AKC club to assume sponsorship of 1 day of their 3-day July agility trial and added a fourth day to the annual event. In July 2017, BOTC assumed sponsorship of the full 4-day event. In conjunction with our agility trials, BOTC offers an Agility B Match - a low-stress, friendly event for club members and friends to run an agility course under near-trial conditions and facilitation by other club members.
BOTC’s annual agility trials attract competitors from all over New England and eastern New York State to compete and renew friendships made in past years. BOTC's reputation for running a smooth and well-organized event with friendly, warm club members makes the BOTC agility trial a popular weekend for many competitors.
While BOTC members enjoy the competition and comradery of our annual agility trial, we also see agility as a year-round activity that promotes a stronger bond between us and our dogs and provides tangible benefits to our other training activities with them. BOTC members participate at all levels in agility. While some may only compete once or twice per year, others attend trials throughout the year including qualifying for and traveling to Regional and National competitions. BOTC members and their dogs have achieved awards at the highest levels excellence in AKC agility. One of BOTC's members has been an AKC Agility Judge since 2010, officiating at agility trials across the Unites States, while another became an Agility Judge in 2024 and has already begun judging AKC agility trials. BOTC sponsors regular agility practice for its members.