Tents and RVs cluttered campus as hundreds of dog lovers gathered Saturday and Sunday on the intramural fields west of Maple-Willow-Larch to compete in the sixth annual Cyclone Country Kennel Club Agility Trials.

Hundreds of competitors came from all over the Midwest to compete, socialize and spend quality time with their dogs at the trials, which are comparable to an obstacle course for dogs.

“Most people are very good about having it be for fun and being upbeat with their dogs even if they don’t qualify,” said Tracy Kittrell, a competitor from Iowa City. “It’s a lot of fun and helps your dog relate to you better — very self-rewarding.”

Handlers ran their dog through courses consisting of 15 to 20 obstacles ranging from jumps and tunnels to teeter-totters and weave poles. There are two types of classes — standard and jumper — and three class levels: novice, open and excellent. Deb Owens, trial secretary, said there were 206 competitors in jumper and 204 in standard.

“The courses get progressively harder with more obstacles, theoretically as the dogs get better,” Kitrell said. “Once the dogs know the obstacles, it’s mainly the handler’s job to get them around the course.”

In order to qualify, the course has to be completed within a certain time and with fewer than the allowed number of mistakes.

To qualify for excellent, the course has to be completed under time and with no faults, while in the novice class you are allowed two faults, Kittrell said. Faults include refusals, going off course and dropping a bar in jumps.

Competitors said when things do go wrong in the ring, they don’t blame their dog — they take it out on themselves.

“When things don’t go well, it is rarely the dogs fault,” said Korey Kay, a competitor from Minneapolis. “This is a team sport — they are the accelerator and the steering wheel and you are giving directions. You are in control.”

She said attending trials is like a mini-vacation.

“These are the nicest people to spend a weekend with,” Kay said. “It’s a social event.”

Many competitors said agility trials create an adrenaline high and become addictive.

“We are agility junkies,” said Ginny Hayes, a competitor from Minnesota. “It’s an adrenaline high and the camaraderie is tremendous.”

Kay said she works in emergency medicine and compared competing to that.

“It’s like medicine because things happen fast. You have to make decisions quickly and constantly re-adjust,” she said. “There is the thrill of danger without the worry. Danger because there is a huge unknown, even though you’re prepared, you never know how it will go.”

Michelle Persian, a competitor from Minnesota, said she competes in at least 24 or 25 shows a year.

“It’s an expensive hobby,” she said. “But it is something fun to do other than a regular job.”

Several Kennel Clubs have begun teaching agility classes in response to the sport’s growth over the last couple of years.

Connie Apling, a competitor from Waterloo, has been competing for nine years and teaching agility classes for 10 at the K9 Playhouse, a dog daycare center. She teaches five different agility classes — about 40 students — and also trains some privately.

“This sport is continuing to grow, we are literally at a show almost every weekend,” Apling said.

Kelly Montgomery, president of the Cyclone Country Kennel Club Of Ames Inc., said the sport has been growing “by leaps and bounds.”

“In all the sporting, obedience and confirmation shows, this is the one where you always see the dogs happy and having fun,” he said.

Many of the agility competitors said they got into agility after taking their dogs to obedience training.

“We started in regular obedience because I wanted a dog to come when called, walk without ripping my arm off and stay when told,” Kay said. “Now I’ve been competing for 11 years.”

Competitors said failing is much more common in this sport than passing, but having fun is what this sport is all about.

“The competition makes it fun,” Hayes said. “The dogs are having fun and the people, too, considering all dogs are working off-leash based on hand commands and voice commands, its amazing.”