For more information:
• Derby City Agility Association, 2510 Tregaron Ave., Louisville, KY 40299-0000
• United States Dog Agility Association, P.O. Box 850955, Richardson, TX 75085-0955, (972) 487-2200

Producer: Charlee Heaton Pagoulatos
Videographer: Michael Follmer

Doggin’ It

Dog agility training

Dave Shuffett does the talking, but canine co-host Sadie is really the star of this edition’s first segment, a look at agility training for dogs.

Dogs and owners across the country are getting into this increasingly popular activity, in which the dogs negotiate obstacle courses designed to test both speed and maneuvering ability. It provides recreation and valuable exercise for the animals—and naturally, it has spawned a series of competitions for bragging rights among their human companions. Many American Kennel Club-affiliated dog shows now include agility trials, and a separate national organization sponsors a series of agility-only competitions, culminating in a national championship held in Texas each fall.

After trying some basics with Sara Jenkins of Shelby County, Sadie and Dave get an official lesson from professional dog trainer Lucinda Schultz. (Sadie, of course, proves to be a natural.) They also take in a local trial with members of the Derby City Agility Association.

Watch This Story (11:28)

For more information:
• The official Eddie Miles web site includes a touring schedule and a guest book with comments from fans.

Producer: Ernie Lee Martin

Long Live the King

Elvis tribute artist Eddie Miles

Growing up in Holy Cross, a small town in Marion County between Bardstown and Loretto, Eddie Miles exhibited a talent for singing and guitar early on. While developing his own repertoire, he idolized Elvis Presley. And since the late 1980s, he has combined the two into a career as one of the world’s top impersonators of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll.

But even though he looks a lot like the genuine article—even making parts of his costumes by hand, from exacting specifications—Eddie says that “Elvis impersonator” is not the best term for what he does. In interviews, he has said that the tens of thousands of jump-suited, pompadoured imitation Elvises out to exploit the Presley mystique have cheapened that term. Instead, he prefers “Elvis tribute artist” (or ETA, as true aficionados refer to Eddie and his colleagues). His concerts are meant to pay homage to a personal musical hero, and usually include non-Elvis sections as well as a wide range of Presley tunes.

Now based in Pigeon Forge, TN, where he has his own theater, Eddie maintains a daunting schedule of shows throughout the South and Midwest. Kentucky Life caught up with him in Somerset for a performance at the Center for Rural Development. In 2002, Eddie was one of the ETAs invited to Memphis to take part in the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of that dark day in 1977 when Elvis Presley died.

Watch This Story (6:59)

For more information:
• Daniel Boone National Forest (USDA Forest Service Southern Region), 1700 Bypass Road, Winchester, KY 40391, (859) 745-3100
• KET’s Electronic Field Trip to the Forest, an exploration of forest management and ecology in Kentucky, was also shot largely within the Daniel Boone National Forest.

Producer, videographer: Ernie Lee Martin

A Walk in the Woods

Daniel Boone National Forest scenery

This episode closes with a video-and-music appreciation of one of Kentucky’s prettiest places: the Daniel Boone National Forest. The scenes include wildflowers through the seasons and bubbling mountain streams in the forest’s southern section, which includes parts of McCreary, Whitley, Pulaski, and Laurel counties.

Watch This Story (3:33)