Halloween Costume Contest Winners
Congrats to the top 3 Halloween Costumes as judged by our daughter Hannah! We loved sifting through all the pictures and seeing your creativity on display!
Washington Huskies
This article was sent to me by a non–dog agility colleague who has two kids at the University of Washington, and it turned out to be a really fun and interesting read. I’ve known for decades that the mascot at the University of Washington is the Husky, but the real story of UW’s mascots is full of surprises, starting with the fact that the university’s very first mascot wasn’t a dog at all.
In the early 1900s, fans rallied behind Sunny Boy, a wooden figure carried to games before the school embraced its northern heritage and adopted a live sled dog. The first of those was Frosty I (pictured below), an Alaskan Malamute who became the face of Husky spirit in 1923.
Here’s the twist: many of UW’s “Huskies” weren’t actually Huskies. Over the years, the school’s live mascots included Alaskan Malamutes, Malamute-Husky mixes, and other northern breeds chosen more for heart and temperament than pedigree. As UW Magazine points out, the goal wasn’t breed purity but representing the enduring spirit of the North: strength, loyalty, and resilience.
The result is a 100-year tradition of incredible dogs who have greeted fans, traveled with the team, and embodied the kind of partnership every dog sport competitor can appreciate.
And it turns out, they may have been ahead of their time when it comes to canine sports. Check out this early photo that looks suspiciously like agility in the 1940s:
Today’s mascot, Dubs II, keeps that tradition alive, continuing a lineage of fourteen live dogs who have carried the Husky name with pride.
You can see them all and enjoy some fantastic old photos by reading the full article here: Celebrate the UW’s 14 Live Mascots
Podcast: Burnout in Dog Agility
When I was relatively new to the sport, just a few years in, I met a nice older couple at a show in Texas and introduced myself. I thought of myself as the old-timer and them as newcomers, but they told me they’d actually been there from the very beginning of agility. They had taken a break for a few years after getting burnt out, and now they were back. I remember thinking, How could you ever get tired of agility? I couldn’t get enough of it back then. Twenty-five years later, my perspective has definitely changed.
In this week’s podcast, we talk about burnout in dog agility—what it looks like for handlers and dogs, why it happens, and how to recover in a healthy, sustainable way. We share what decades of research in human sports can teach us about overtraining, perfectionism, and identity, and how to rebuild joy and balance in this sport we love.
🎧 Listen to this week’s episode: Episode 373: Burnout in Dog Agility
Subscribe on iTunes, Follow on Spotify.
AKC Invitational Prep
Sarah here! There’s 38 days until the AKC Agility Invitational and we know just how you should spend them! Join the Bad Dog Agility Invitational Prep Course for course map analysis, judging scouting reports, and small space exercises. We’ve been preparing teams for this event since 2014! If you’re competing in December, this is a MUST HAVE course!
“Love the prep courses for both NAC & Invitationals. The prep work is taken out of finding judges courses & the tricky parts to work. The scouting reports were a great addition this year. We saw every pattern mentioned. As a result we were very prepared for the event. “
But at least half of our course participant are NOT attending the Invitational, they just love having some great exercises with demonstration and explanation to work on this winter.
“Definitely worth the money and time even if you are not planning on competing at Invitationals. Invitational judges are generally pretty popular and you will likely see them at a trial near you; insight into their take on course design is always valuable. Plus the small space exercises are great practice on sequence patterns used by all judges.”
Click here to learn more and join us! https://baddogagilityacademy.com/join-the-2025-invitational-prep-course/
You can reach us at team@baddogagility.com.
Happy Training,
