Clean Run Magazine - May 2007 - 11

SNAPSHOT Handler: Rob Michalski Home: Salinas, California Occupation: Lecturer in the English Department at Santa Clara University Dogs: Xandor du Mas des Beautyas, AAD, a.k.a. Xandor, 8-year-old Belgian Tervuren; Xandor belongs to Derede Arthur, Rob’s wife, and is retired Hijacker Hobbes, ADCH, LAA-Gold, a.k.a. Hobbes, 8-year-old Border Collie, ADCH lifetime in USDAA, 2001 Grand Prix ﬁnalist Sprite’s Brea Soja Trieu de Leers, MAD, a.k.a. Soja, 6-year-old Belgian Tervuren, ﬁnalist at the 2006 USDAA Nationals Bluemoon Fate, MAD, a.k.a Fate, 5-year-old Border Collie Uptempo Nikita, ADCH, a.k.a. Kita, Belgian Tervuren, recently deceased at 15.5 years of age Favorite show or venue: I really enjoy the USDAA shows. The trial that Haute Dogs used to put on in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains was quite nice. Most memorable moment: It wasn’t a very good moment though it was certainly memorable. I was in the ﬁnal round at the USDAA Nationals in 2001 with Hobbes. He was only two years old at the time and was very sound sensitive. At the last couple of obstacles there was a tunnel. The crowd was cheering him home and Hobbes panicked at the noise and wouldn’t come out of the tunnel. It was traumatic for the both of us. First agility trial: Back in 1992, in Placerville, California Favorite obstacle to train: Probably the teeter-totter Pre-competition rituals: No, I don’t; that is probably why I get pretty nervous. I guess I need to ﬁnd one for myself. Biggest inﬂuence: Without a doubt, Jim Basic and Nancy Gyes. Current agility vehicle: Ford Econoline 250 Competition shoes: I have a pair of Ditas. I don’t know what particular model they are. Best agility advice: Probably to not face my dog off whenever I am making a front cross or a change of side—to complete the turn and keep on moving. Pet peeve: When people blame their dogs for handling errors. Nicest compliment received: A lady complimented me on being a good handler as well as a good agility instructor. She was saying that a lot of times you can be a good competitor but not a good instructor and vice versa. She complimented me on being both. Contact information: Rmichalski@scu.edu PHOTOS © DOGHOUSE ARTS TB: How are your dogs different from one another? RM: Hobbes is noise sensitive. He was at a trial, I think it was a Snooker run, and someone was changing a garbage bag. He started associating the judge yelling out the numbers with the fear that he had for the noise. One noise kind of piggybacked off another until he was really afraid of crowd noises. I have tried to desensitize him by accumulating a bunch of potentially scary sounds and playing them in the background on our CD player while trying to associate them with good things like mealtimes or going out to play or train. He has deﬁnitely gotten a lot better, though he is still afraid of plastic bags. Fate has a strong herding instinct. She will really key off movement. I have to watch out for her falling into the kind of typical sheepherding behaviors: like running around me wide and trying to circle around me. I have had to really struggle with those tendencies. May 07 | Clean Run Soja came to us with a Schutzhund title. My wife got her as a two-year-old dog. She wants to tug and play and has an amazing amount of drive. She is quite fast, among the fastest Tervurens out there. We have to watch her and keep her from overheating because she just does not know when to stop. TB: What distance skills do your dogs have? RM: Hobbes is pretty good Gamblers dog. He probably has about 75 Masters Gamblers legs. He is 5th in lifetime Gamblers Top 10 points in the 26" division. Fate has the potential, but I haven’t tried to train many of the distance skills with her because of her herding tendencies. She wants to work wide and get too far away from me, so I try to emphasize the skills of working close with me. Soja is pretty good at working at a distance, not as good as Hobbes. 11

Clean Run Magazine - May 2007

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