Clean Run Magazine - January 2008 - 16

On Course with Ali RoukasCanova By Diane Goodspeed, photos by Joe Canova In early October, with her ﬁrst child expected in a month and her lesson and trial commitments easing off, I had the privilege of sitting down with Ali Roukas-Canova for a candid discussion on agility trialing, training, and her goals for the future. DG: How did you get started in agility? Ali with (left to right) Robby, Squiggle, Wishful, Temper, Kid, and Catcher trialing Player for several years, I knew how well she would develop but circumstances forced me to choose between Player and Catcher. Although I had to place Player, I have been delighted to watch her develop into an outstanding agility dog. Of course, after that I was only training one dog! Needless to say, it wasn’t long before I got my second Border Collie, Wishful. DG: What do you like most about agility? AR-C: Along with many others, I migrated into agility from obedience. I guess it was in 1994 that I started training agility and roughly two years later when I started trialing. DG: You started in obedience? AR-C:Yes. Breed and obedience back in 1991: I was about nine and was doing some junior showmanship with my English Springer Spaniel, Timmy. I was also doing some obedience training with a local club. My vet recommended that I try another trainer, who just happened to be his wife, Diane Bauman. DG:What breed was your ﬁrst agility dog? AR-C: My ﬁrst agility dog was Robby, another English Springer Spaniel. Originally, I got Robby to do breed and obedience. I was training with Diane Bauman and wanted a really competitive dog. Although Robby never earned more than a CD, she was trained through utility. I just lost interest in obedience and breed once I began doing agility! DG: You are well known for training high-drive Border Collies, but many people do not know about your early years in agility with your English Springer Spaniel. Have you trained other breeds as well? AR-C: Probably the challenge and discipline that it takes to apply yourself and get really good. I like all the different aspects and dimensions of handling a high-drive dog—really fast! And I like working with my dogs at that level. Qualifying, getting scores, and trialing every weekend to be #1 in the country requires an exceptional dog. I’ve been blessed with wonderful dogs that can thrive under those conditions. All my dogs are pets but I think with agility I have the ability to communicate with them to a different degree. And, personally, I love to compete and test myself. I like the bigger shows better. They let me challenge myself mentally. Pressure is a serious motivator to me to perform at a high level. DG: As a nationally recognized trainer yourself, who did you train with? Who inﬂuenced you the most? AR-C: Actually, the ﬁrst dog I purchased speciﬁcally for agility was a Golden Retriever, Player. When I saw how well Diane was doing with her Cocker Spaniel, Torville, I was hugely motivated to trial at the national and international level. Although I did run Robby in a few international classes, she was too small to jump 26" for long. So I went looking for a dog that could compete in that division and at the national level. Player is a phenomenal dog and training her was a joy. Of course, while I was busy training Player, Diane Bauman let me trial her Papillon, Alix. DG: So how did you get into Border Collies? AR-C: Well, I started my agility training with Diane Bauman. From her, I got a really strong foundation in obedience, dog behavior, and operant conditioning. She taught me to understand—well, as much as possible—how dogs think and learn. A lot of my own training methods are based on understanding dog behavior, which I got from Diane. As a teenager, I basically apprenticed with her. She let me watch her teach classes and lessons and I often traveled to trials with her. A lot of my handling skills came from Linda Mecklenburg. I’ve been to seminars and, of course, watched lots of top trainers at big shows, but I found that Linda’s system worked best for me and my dogs. It was also around this time when Joe Canova and I became training partners. Training with Joe, having his eye on my handling and timing, helped me implement what I was learning from Linda. Joe’s help was critical to my success with my Border Collies. We trained together, trialed together, and knew each other’s dogs as well as our own. Having him as a training partner and creating our training facility, Mountain Freaks, was key to my growth as a handler and trainer. Clean Run | January 08 AR-C: Ah! Almost immediately after I purchased Player, I very quickly got my ﬁrst Border Collie, Catcher. After training and 16

Clean Run Magazine - January 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - January 2008