Clean Run Magazine - May 2007 - 10

COURTESY OF ROB MICHALKSKI On Course with Rob Michalski By Therese Backowski “Mr. Nice Guy” is how Rob Michalski is known throughout the agility circuit. Rob is always ready and willing to help out a fellow competitor. He has made several training videos with Agility in Motion and has contributed to the “Ask the Experts” column in Clean Run. I had a hard time getting him to brag about anything and found him to be a very soft-spoken, unassuming, and modest man. Rob has a solid perspective on the real world and uses a quiet approach to training. TB: How long have you been competing in agility? How did you get into dogs and what is your history as a dog trainer? TB: At what age do you begin training a new puppy? RM: I’ve been competing in agility for 15 years. When I met my wife, Derede, she had a Tervuren that has since died. One day we visited a few litters of puppies and I decided I wanted a puppy. She got one from a friend of hers that had a litter of Terv pups. As it happened the breeder wanted me to go to a puppy class offered by Nancy Gyes. At the time Nancy was just getting into agility. I did my puppy obedience class with her and through her learned about agility. It happened that I was in the right place at the right time. Nancy has turned into one of the best handlers in the country. I was fortunate to be able to work with her from the beginning. TB: How many dogs are you competing with now and do you always enter them both? RM: As soon as I get a puppy I start training him to do something. I work on some skills that are applicable to agility later on. I teach directional commands, teaching him to turn left or right, to sit, down, and we play retrieve and tug. These tools will be invaluable later on in training. TB: At what age do you introduce weave poles? What method do you use to teach them? RM: I didn’t start my most recent dogs until they were 11 or 12 months old. With Hobbes I used the channel method. With Fate I started with the Weave-A-Matic method but it just wasn’t working out for her. So I went to the channel method for her as well. TB: How do you train contacts and at what age? RM: Now I’m competing with two dogs, Hobbes and Fate. Yes, I enter them both, and occasionally I will take my wife’s dog, Soja, and run her as well. TB: Doesn’t running two or three dogs create an awful lot of pressure for you? RM: I probably started them earlier on contacts, at perhaps six or seven months old. I used the two-on/two-off method. With a puppy you can teach him to touch the target and you can do a little back training on a contact trainer. TB: How do you develop a relationship with your dogs? Do you use food, motivational training? RM: It can be, keeping track of who is in what ring. I am usually up and about at an agility trial, studying courses or helping to build courses. I don’t really have much time to relax. I am generally trying to keep on top of things so that I can run the dog at the appropriate time. RM: A lot of food and play training. Getting the dog to tug is probably the most important and useful reward for a dog to get. The dog is interacting with the handler and rather than just chasing a toy that has been thrown he has to come in to the handler and play. 10 Clean Run | May 07

Clean Run Magazine - May 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - May 2007