Dogged Pursuit: My Year of Competing Dusty, the World’s Least Likely Agility Dog

by: Robert Rodi

Published by: Hudson Street Press

Reviewed by Beth Cummings

Dogged Pursuit was a tremendously fun book to read. Satirist and novelist, Robert Rodi, has captured all of the pain and glory that comes with training a dog for agility competition. I have done this myself and every part of his book rings true.

Agility competition for dogs is a sport where the dog and handler work as a team – dog running and handler directing the dog over a series of obstacle such as a teeter-totter, an A-frame, bar jumps, broad jumps, tunnels and a table. The object is to correctly maneuver each obstacle on the course in the right order and the shortest amount of time.

Rob Rodi and his partner Jeffrey Smith live in Chicago and decided after buying a large Victorian home that they needed a dog. Their first Shetland sheepdog (Sheltie), Carmen was a lovely little dog that drove them crazy with her excess energy. Finally a friend recommended training her for agility. She loved it and Rob became hooked on the sport. Unfortunately, Carmen developed hip dysplasia – a painful degenerative condition that took her permanently out of agility competition.

Rob decides to get a second dog and chooses Dusty, another Sheltie, but a funny-looking shelter dog who needed a home. The shelter people felt he might make a good agility dog. So Rob takes Dusty home with visions of ribbons and titles dancing in his head. However, Dusty is not like Carmen. He is skittery and shy, afraid of almost everything. This is the start of Rob Rodi’s eventful year of training and then beginning to compete with Dusty.

Anyone who has ever enjoyed watching an agility trial or who has trained and competed with a dog will love this book. Robert Rodi has truly captured the essence of the sport. More importantly, he obviously loves his dogs –a crucial factor in successfully working with and writing about them.

Armchair Interviews agrees this is a most interesting memoir.

Author’s Web site: http://www.RobertRodi.com