Podcast: Surviving the Agility Desert
A few weeks ago, Sarah said, “Agility Desserts would be a great podcast. Maybe we could post in the VIP FB and see who considers themselves to be in an agility dessert.”
In spite of this initial confusion, we had a great discussion on the podcast. When people talk about living in an agility desert, they usually mean one thing: you’re far from the sport. But there are really two different versions of that problem, and they are not the same.
The first kind is a training desert. There’s no facility near you that offers agility, no club, no instructor, nobody to train with in person. If you want to learn the sport, you’re starting from scratch on your own.
The second kind is a trial desert. You might have a great facility nearby, regular classes, maybe even a strong local community, but the nearest trial is a hundred miles away or more. You can train all you want, but every weekend of competition means a long drive, a hotel, and a real commitment of time and money.
So which one is worse?
Twenty-five years ago, I would have given you a different answer. Back then, being cut off from in-person instruction was a serious problem. There was no real substitute. You needed someone who knew the sport to show you how it worked, watch you run, and give you feedback. If you didn’t have that, you were stuck.
Today, online training has changed the picture. You can take courses from some of the best handlers and instructors in the world without leaving your living room. You can submit video for feedback, work through structured programs, and learn at a high level without ever stepping into a local facility. The training desert is still a real problem, but it’s a much more solvable one than it used to be.
The trial desert is harder. You have to show up, in person, with your dog, and you have to do it often enough to season a young dog, work through problems, and build experience. When every trial is a six or eight hour drive, you trial less. When you trial less, you usually progress more slowly, regardless of how good your training is.
Of course, the answer depends on who you are and what you value. If you love the sport for the training itself, for the puzzle of it, for the daily work with your dog, a trial desert might not bother you much. In fact, the stay-at-home period during COVID led to a proliferation of online/at home trialing that probably reflected a spike in time spent training. Still, if you live for competition, a trial desert is the harder place to be.
For me, in 2026, the trial desert is worse. The tools to train have never been more accessible. The need to actually compete has not changed at all. If you live in an agility desert, I’d love to hear about your experience!
Listen to the full conversation here: Episode 394: Surviving the Agility Desert
New Tool: AKC Trial Density Map
How many agility trials are near you? Sarah created this very cool tool while researching for the podcast on agility deserts. You can see where AKC trials are across the United States, and you can enter any zip code to find the distance to the nearest trial along with how many trials fall within a 30, 60, or 100 mile radius.
The closest facility to us, still 53 miles away, also appears to host the most shows of any facility in the country. Dog Gone Fun Agility in Magnolia, TX logged 123 trial days in 2025, more than one out of every three days of the calendar year. Second place is Bella Vista Training Center in Lewisberry, PA at 103.
If you want to find the most trial-dense corner of the country, move to Landenberg, PA (zip code 19350). That small community in Chester County sits within reach of 18 different venues inside a 100 mile radius, pulling in southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, northern Delaware, and northern Maryland. The Mid-Atlantic agility scene is hopping.
On the other end of the spectrum, the most isolated zip code in the continental United States for agility purposes is 58833, Ambrose, North Dakota. The nearest trial from there is 332 miles away.
The tool covers 4,236 trial days across 319 venues in 2025. Pull up the map, type in your zip code, and see if you’re in a desert, an oasis, or something in between.
Click here and put in your zip code.
Junior Agility Open Team Practice
We all know Jennifer is an overachiever. In addition to making a new junior handler from scratch (baby Savannah is not yet a year old), she has taken on the coaching role for the 2026 AKC/USA Junior World Agility Team, with longtime head coach Susan Cochran moving into the assistant role to help ease Jennifer into things. This weekend, scores of young handlers will descend on Ohio for a team practice.
The Junior Agility Open (JAO) is the junior counterpart to the FCI Agility World Championship. This year’s event takes place July 10 to 12 in Mannheim, Germany, the same city hosting the senior AWC. Junior handlers compete in the same four height divisions as their adult counterparts: Small, Medium, Intermediate, and Large.
The 2026 team spans all four height divisions with 27 total entries. Several juniors earned spots in more than one division: Leanne Hofmann and Evelyn Lively each qualified in both Medium and Intermediate, and Priscille Lescure will run two dogs in Intermediate. Sadie Beale qualified in both Small and Large.
The full roster is below.
Team Members
Small
- Sting & Ethan Bauchmoyer
- Hazel & Eliana Kubacz
- Ryuk & Finya Logan
- Kiwi & Finya Logan
Medium
- Dodge & Ari Beaudoin
- Zelda & Cristiana Crespo
- Kudos & Isabella DeSchaaf
- Godzilla & Sarah Ford
- Fidget & Evelyn Lively
Intermediate
- Zen & Baylee Bales
- Nike & Chloe Bales
- Roya & Priscille Lescure
- Petra & Priscille Lescure
- Liri & Evelyn Lively
Large
- Grayson & Veronica Alberti
- Cooper & Addison Connolly
- Chief & Maya Fuqua
- Nim & Elizabeth Kolath
- Molly & Anabel Kubacz
- Breck & Bella Quist
- Neo & Sarinah Landowski
- Prytania & Annalise Wilson
Living in a desert, an oasis, or somewhere in between? We’d love to hear about it at team@baddogagility.com!
Happy Training,
