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FOXBORO - Training for a canine version of the Olympics has gone on right under residents' noses.

Shadow and Deuce have playfully run around a downtown Foxboro back yard the past few weeks.

This weekend, the two Shetland sheepdogs will compete for the U.S. team at the two-day Agility European Open in Germany.

Shadow and Deuce will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in four events: two individual and two team, said Shadow's trainer, Erin Schaefer of Pond House Agility at 39 Main St.

About 650 dogs from 20 countries will compete, including 120 to 150 Shetland sheepdogs, Schaefer said. Last year was the first time the U.S. was invited, she said.

Shadow, Deuce and their respective trainers, Schaefer and her husband, Ben Philibert, will march in the 2008 opening ceremonies on Friday.

"It's kind of like having an Olympics for dogs," Schaefer said in an interview at her home.

Shadow and Deuce will be among 28 dogs on the U.S. team, Schaefer said. The team is allowed 30.

They will be judged on their speed and accuracy through obstacle courses.

The individual events are Saturday. The team events, on Sunday, will take the cumulative score of four dogs from the same team.

Last year, at the European Open in Italy, Deuce tied for third on the first day of competition, Philibert said. The tiebreaker sent the 5-year-old dog home early.

Last weekend, Shadow won the steeplechase at a U.S.-sponsored event in Chelmsford.

Shadow has competed for at least four years, Schaefer said.

He is competing overseas for the first time at the suggestion of his owner, a resident of East Lyme, Conn., said Schaefer, who has worked with the dog for about a year. Schaefer and Philibert have worked with Shadow and Deuce on an obstacle course in their backyard.

Yet the dogs' training regiment was far less structured than that of Olympic athletes.

Schaefer said they've been "just keeping them fit" through fun, short workouts in the backyard and through hiking.

If Shadow and Deuce were put through their paces 100 times, "you're only going to get the good ones the first two or three," Schaefer said.

"These dogs do it because its fun," she said.

That element of fun is less prevalent in Europe.

"They have to win over in Europe, so they have to train differently," said Schaefer, who has worked with dogs for about 16 years.

"They train for speed. It's very different when you have to win."

Schaefer previously trained a world champion: Jag.

In 2002, they became the first American team to win an individual gold medal at the World Championships, in Dortmund, Germany, she said.

Now 11 1/2, Jag started competing at 13 months old, she said.

"He would like to go this year," but Schaefer decided against it.

With luck, Jag will welcome home two new champions.

MICHAEL GELBWASSER can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.