Westside Santa Cruz is know for many things. Surfing. Skateboarding. City Council meetings featuring citizens of other realms of space and time. Really expensive real estate. Surfing. Did I mention surfing? Farmer’s markets where people wear unusual garments. I may have already mentioned surfing.

So I started counting people on my fingers, and realized that the Westside is now an agility hatchery. Residents of the Westside doing dog agility used to total exactly 2. Me and my dog agility pal who is also a famous professor that writes books that I can’t read. Last book she wrote she gave me a copy but told me not to even try to read it until Chapter 8. And I have a Masters Degree. In our whole county there were just a handful of us.

Now, just on the Westside, we have me, Donna, Mary, Kim, Marion, Michael, Deirdre, Deb. Most of us within walking distance of eachother’s houses. With all our dogs, 4 DAM teams worth of Westside is the Best Side. Not to mention a little contingent of beginners who are patiently teaching contacts and working on weave poles. We have beaches galore, organic peaches, and hemp lip gloss, yet no one has a backyard big enough for a dogwalk. I believe you are all familiar with the term coined here, Driveway Agility.

And cross the river or drive up through the forest into the valley, holy smokes. Agility folk everywhere. Is Santa Cruz the new hotbed of dog agility? Surf City gone to the dogs?

Just remember. You heard it here first.