History-making 3-legged dog paving the way for others at AKC National Championship
LONG ISLAND (WABC) -- History will be made next week at the AKC National Championship thanks in part to a trailblazing dog on Long Island who continues to pave the way.
We first introduced Rascal, a 3-year-old Norwich Terrier in 2021 who became the first 3-legged dog to compete in AKC agility events after losing a leg to cancer.
Rascal is now 5 and a half with an impressive resume.
"In agility, he's now in the masters level, master preferred level of AKC agility. He has his master jumper preferred title, he has his master the standard preferred title he needs one more queue for his time to beat title," Lark Shlimbaum, Rascal's owner said.
Rascal helped pave the way for other 3-legged dogs including Ari, a Golden Retriever from Delaware.
She is set to make history at the AKC National Championship next week as the first 3-legged dog to compete in obedience at that event.
"I can't even tell you how excited I am. When I got the invitation I didn't even believe it was an invitation. I was going to delete the email," said Carolyn Baynes, Ari's owner.
But some restrictions remain.
While tripods can compete in agility and many other AKC events, and they're allowed to take part in obedience, they haven't been cleared to "jump" in AKC obedience events.
"I'm new in obedience and rally, for example, in obedience, I think at the next level he would have three jumps and he would jump 8 inches in the air, which he can jump 8 inches in agility," Shlimbaum said.
"That's the frustrating part for us and for me is that my dog can do agility but she can't do one directional jumps or two directional jumps in rally or obedience," Baynes said.
The AKC said this is a safety precaution that involves assessing all 201 breeds. But it's something they are looking at and it is evolving.
"What's good for one may not be good for all, so if a 3-legged Norwich might be able to do agility but a 3-legged old English cheek dog might not," Brandi Hunter Munden said.
