Clean Run - May 2017 - 49

Philippa Armstrong of Totnes, England
Philippa runs sheepherding Collies. She started agility with a dog who was "bonkers,
and needed a job." A joy to run, he got her hooked. When her rheumatoid arthritis
made running impossible, she stood in the middle of the ring and directed for a few
years. In 2004, she started competing in a wheelchair.
"How you position each limb means something to the dog. I have one hand on the
joystick, which is in the middle, so I only have one arm at a time. And I have use of one
leg. But this is what the dogs are used to and don't question it." As with Judy, distance
is key to Philippa's handling strategy. "I teach close up, as a running handler would do,
then add more and more distance to keep their confidence. I don't like running along
side my dogs. My personal paranoia is crushing a paw with 300 pounds of wheelchair.
I also don't want my dogs to compete at six miles an hour, so I have to effectively stand
back and teach them to get on with it."

courtesy of PHiliPPa arMstrong

Her young dogs go through puppy and obedience classes, and learn a lot of tricks.
"For the first 12 months they are practical games, like running around the wheelchair."
Philippa travels to take workshops on distance handling. "Then I take it home and
work on it. I can do the minutiae in my own field, on my own time. It works better than
a class." One dog, for example, couldn't do a rear cross because she wouldn't take her
eyes off of Philippa. It took a whole summer to teach her to do so.
The qualities that make a successful agility competitor, says Philippa, are the same if
you are using a wheelchair or not: perseverance, determination, learning from your
successes, and a good relationship with the dog. "Because there are so few people doing this from a wheelchair, you have to be creative to achieve what you are trying to
achieve. A desire is probably the strongest thing."
While there are Para agility competitions in Europe and Britain, Philippa says, "I am a
firm believer in competing in open competition. I don't want to be segregated." Often
eliminated for off-courses, because she is unable to be next to her dog, when it goes
well, she says, it can be exceptional. "I win by five or six seconds. It makes it all the
more sweet."
uA short video of Phillipa training is available. Watch at https://youtu.be/3wPUT5JF7x8
or from the May 2017 play list on the Clean Run magazine YouTube channel.

If you subscribe to the printed magazine, the easiest way to view the videos listed in this article is to go
to the Clean Run magazine YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/CleanRunMagazine
and select the May 2017 playlist.

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May 17 | Clean Run

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - May 2017