BadRat Agility

09/21/2026

Looking to the future. The double digit only, not raining and humid future specifically. I am planning that in October we should be ok to open up availability to accommodate new and returning students.

I have current availability at my field near Tucson Estates in Southwest Tucson weekday mornings and limited availability afternoons at Leo's Place Field Northeast Tucson across from the Gregory School.

Both locations are outdoors, fenced with lights.

If you are interested in classes or have questions please feel free to reach out.

09/12/2026

Registration is open for our upcoming seminars this Fall. We will be hosting Stacy Goudy on November 7-8 2026 and Jean White December 9 2026.
If interested you can learn more and register using the links below

Payment is due at time of registration.

Stacy Goudy https://form.jotform.com/242356504819157

Jean White https://form.jotform.com/262526597000152

07/22/2026

Hi to all. Tomorrow is the day of the first lecture class Before we Walk: Reading and Remembering course maps

It will be held at A Loyal Companion, 4758 E. Grant Road, SE corner of Grant and Swan by Trader Joe's.

The class will start right at 8:30am. When you walk in the door, there's a reception desk and we will lead you back to the gym where we will be meeting.

Please remember to say thank you to Kate and her staff for allowing us to get out of this heat and humidity for a little bit and still talk Agility.

06/30/2026

06/29/2026

Upcoming classes and seminars:
Wednesday July 15 and July 22 8:30am-9:15am Indoor Lecture series at A Loyal Companion on Grant and Swan. Before you Walk: course maps. How to read and remember the course, course analysis, pathing and how to make the best of your time. No need to obsess.

November 7 - 8 Seminar with Stacy Goudy. We will have 2 sessions each day, 4 sessions total. These will be held at Kynn's grass field on Lambert near La Cholla on the north side.

Jean White has also offered to teach a distance seminar. Tentatively we are shooting for Wednesday December 9 and maybe the morning of December 10. This is the weekend before the NADAC trial here in Tucson. But we will need enough interest to make this happen.

08/18/2025

But did you Q?
A few years ago I was talking to a student about taking the E to support their dog. Our discussion was mostly about as soon as they felt their dog was disconnected to immediately go pet their dog and physically reconnect with them.
Touching your dog during a course will get you eliminated every time in agility. It's unfortunate because I think for a lot of teams, a physical reconnect, a supportive hand on your dog, a grounding, is an incredibly important tool to use, especially in a difficult environment like a trial. But that's for another stream of consciousness at another time.

The bottom line was a decision to physically touch your dog in the middle of a run at a trial will get you eliminated, and you lose all hopes of being able to qualify on that run.
My feeling was I'd rather a happy E than a rough Q, but the point they made to me was that it was easier for me to say that because I was coming from a position of qualifying on a lot of runs.

That was valid.

Gram has always been an amazing teammate and we've had a lot of success so that could have skewed my perception. But I said that I hope that in the future, when I'm in a position where I'm not qualifying very much that I still feel the same.

Well, that time came with a vengeance. Three weeks, two venues, two states, nearly 2500 miles and so much gas, and I think between all of them, maybe 5 Qs?

Coming from a teammate like Gram there is a part of me that feels maybe incompetent? Inadequate for sure, sometimes frustrated and certainly humbled running the baby fools. But I'm also very lucky. I'm lucky they physically and mentally can handle it. I'm lucky they seem to love the game. I'm lucky they keep trying even when I fail them.

And I'm thankful to take the E. Sooo sooo many of them.

08/05/2025

Ending strong.
If I had to choose for any given trial weekend, I think I'd rather my last run of the weekend be the best run. There is something to be said for starting strong and setting the tone for the weekend, but all in all I think knowing my team can improve is best for me. It's also the hardest to for me to achieve. As the weekend goes on, the anxiety that follows me with normal life and being around people hits a maxout. My handling gets looser, my timing later, all while my expectations of my dogs get higher..which is not fair. Ya ya, I'm working on it.
But it's really nice when it all comes together at the end.

02/25/2025

Sometimes weekends are rough.

Sometimes all you have to give is to go out and try and remember the course. Sometimes you fail at that too.

Thats ok.

10/07/2024

Agility, on a budget?
Agility is wild isn't it? Last week I was camping in Wyoming, in a travel trailer I would have never wanted, being hauled by a truck I would have never needed. I was sitting between a Class A camper that was bigger than my last house, and a girl sleeping in her Toyota. I was across from a small pop up trailer on one side, and an A frame hauled by a BMW on the other.

I remember the first year I went to champs I flew with Gram and stayed at a very shady hotel. The one-armed driver, of the budget taxi service I contracted to drive me back and forth made a comment that there was a lot of money siting in the parking lot. And all I was thinking was about the frozen burritos I brought with me in my luggage to eat for the 5 days I would be there.

I never use to buy things like pictures and videos. It's expensive and I'm not one to print out pictures and hang them. But as I've gotten older, as she has gotten older, I realize how important it is for me to have something to remind me of these big moments and I have started to budget for it. It's not like I can't remember them without pictures, but sometimes I forget to look back without a prompt.

These pictures, popping up on my work station background, gives me a moment.

Memories are in my agility budget now.

08/21/2024

Don't forget to get out of the heat this afternoon and come join us in celebrating Susan Luzader, new starts, and Wine!

*There will be cheese!