Clean Run Magazine - January 2010 - 49

move closer to random leashed dogs. He made such big strides on both agility and reactivity that we were able to go back and join a more advanced, more sedate group agility class about four months later. I entered him in his first CPE trial about a month after that. I was a nervous wreck, but he wasn’t; he Qd and won both classes he ran. He still has a reactive tendency, but it is manageable. The in-gate area is our biggest challenge. I do a lot of space management, keeping him focused on me and calm before our run. In the ring, he’s so focused on agility he has never worried about other dogs, even in relay classes. Another challenge is we are apartment dwellers; therefore, I’ve never really had a place to work him on agility equipment. All we really have at the moment is our once-a-week class where we average about three runs. I do occasional field rentals to work on specific things and to keep his skills sharp. We don’t have any place where I can work him on equipment for 10 to 15 minutes every day or two. I’ve gotten creative when it comes to making use of furniture and other household items to work on agility skills. (See sidebar, Training Notes.) LB: Describe your favorite agility moments. last Standard class for his AAD title, he was heading down the ramp on the dogwalk when he suddenly came to a halt and tried to grab a large bee that had landed on the ramp. I had to yell Leave It, which he did. He hit his contact and continued on to win the class and finish his title. LB: When did you realize Ollie could be a champion? DP: Even though I knew he had a lot of talent, in those early days I never dreamed he could achieve an ADCH. I got my first inkling during our first USDAA Dog Agility Masters tournament in 2007. We held our own in competition and came out with a team Q. Ollie isn’t the fastest dog out there, but he’s fast enough and he’s super consistent, which goes a long way toward earning those Qs. Snooker has been a forte of ours, so Super Qs didn’t turn out to be a sticking point. Our only trouble was pretty minor and short-lived. We had a string of bad luck in our Pairs Relay classes in early 2009, leading to NQ after NQ. The curse finally lifted in mid-June, giving us our third and fourth Pairs Qs. After a month and a half summer break, we came back and got the final Pairs leg that finished our ADCH. In 2009 it seemed we had a whirlwind of big accomplishments: our MAD in April, our C-ATCH in May, and our ADCH in August. LB: What are your favorite activities with Ollie, other than agility? DP: I always get a rush from successfully completing a gamble. One run that sticks out in my mind was the gamble run that completed Ollie’s Advanced Gamblers title. We had a choice of two gambles: one 15 points, another 20. I think I was one of only two or three handlers who attempted the 20-point gamble, but I had complete confidence Ollie could do it. He had to run past the end of the dogwalk, send to a jump, then turn away from me in the opposite direction out to the teeter, then straight off the teeter to two jumps, all from 15'-20' away while layering the dogwalk. Ollie exploded across the start line and racked up a lot of opening points. When the gamble whistle blew, he executed a perfect gamble with seconds to spare. As we left the ring, the judge yelled, “Now that’s what I call an overachiever!” We’ve had a few comical runs too. In one of his early CPE trials, he blasted off the start line, did the first three or four jumps and continued running straight to a ring crew person, jumped in her lap and gave her a kiss, then jumped off and joined back up with me to finish the course and was still fast enough to win the class. Another time, running the January 10 | Clean Run DP: I love to play clicker games with Ollie. I just let him go to town offering behaviors, and I shape the ones I think are cute or clever. I also like to teach him silly tricks. His favorite parlor trick is to walk his back feet up vertical surfaces (like he’s doing a handstand) and stay there until I release him. The way he reaches out with his back legs to feel around for something behind him is bizarre and hysterically funny. Everyone gets a big kick out of that one! Of course, my absolute favorite thing to do with Ollie is just plain snuggle. He’s a first-class cuddler. He likes to be under the covers and snuggled up real tight against me at night. LB: What are Ollie’s favorite pastimes? DP: He would love to be a fulltime varmint hunter. He loves to chase squirrels, and he jumps about 4' up into trees after them. He gets very excited and screams his head off, especially early in the morning when most of the neighborhood is asleep. I did take him to a one-day introductory earth dog class a few years ago, and he took to it better than some of the terriers. But he’s pretty content being an agility dog and a house pet.
Clean Run Magazine - January 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - January 2010
