Agile dogs compete in Vancleave

If you're a dog lover, or perhaps a more apt description would be dog aficionado, you just may want to take a trip over to the Vancleave Horse Arena Saturday or Sunday.

That's where the Gulf Coast Chihuahua Club, a fledgling South Mississippi organization boasting about 22 members, is hosting its first-ever North American Dog Agility Council dog agility trial from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. each day.

Now, these days most people's knowledge of Chihuahuas comes courtesy of weekly mags like People or US Weekly, in which sleek heiresses and actresses sport the requisite accessory canine, usually in a handbag or carried by a personal assistant. But according to Gulf Coast Chihuahua Club member and proud Chihuahua owner Deborah Delgado, there's a lot more to the breed than meets the eye.

"I just love everything about them... .They're saucy. They're spicy. They have a little attitude. They're willing to please. They're little dogs, but they don't know they're little. They think they're big Great Danes," explains Delgado, who, when she's not training her Chihuahua, Little Man, works in the kitchen at Mary Mahoney's in Biloxi.

Owners who compete in the agility trials spend about two years training their canines, and often travel the South to compete in various agility events.

(As a hunter who enjoys working with my own dog in the field, a black lab/pitt bull mix who absolutely loves to retrieve ducks, maybe I'm a little biased. But there's something about watching man and animal work together that's satisfying on an almost primal level, the way one can communicate with the other with just a glance, a flick of the hand or a soft - or not so soft - word.)

And lest you think this weekend's trial is limited to Chihuahuas, think again.

"We're going to have a lot of breeds there. We'll have border collies, golden retrievers, miniature poodles, we'll have papillons, Yorkshire terriers, Australian shepherds, a Bedlington terrier. We have 71 dogs - one from Vermont, others from Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, a couple from Georgia. And local folks here in Biloxi," said Delgado. "The dogs run an obstacle course where they go over jumps, go through weave poles, go up ramps, go through tunnels. Owners usually have eight to 10 minutes to walk the course (prior to the competition), but the dogs never see the course until they compete. We go out there and run with our dogs. We give them verbal commands, and body language. The dogs really follow body language... .Some dogs just blast through super fast. Others take their time."

Pete Tattersall can be reached at ptattersall@sunherald. com