Clean Run - July 2014 - 64

While he doesn't train with anyone at the
moment, he does meet up with friends
who practice together. "We watch each
other run, make comments, and run
again." He also videos many of his training sessions.

His Own Dogs
Anthony spends time with his own dogs
in the early morning, lunchtime, or between lessons. He is competing four at
the moment. "The majority of the stuff
I do with them is ﬁtness-just general
walking, swimming, the treadmill, and
biking." He chooses activities on a rotating basis, inﬂuenced somewhat by the
weather. "If it's icy, I put them on the
treadmill or take them to a friend's pool.
I like them to do something aerobic every day."
Some mornings, he replaces aerobic
exercise with training, 10 to 15 minutes per dog. The more experienced
dogs are trained a couple of days a
week; the younger dogs do some kind
of training every day, though not always on equipment.
Every training session is structured and
Anthony always goes in with a plan.
"Say, for example, that I wasn't happy
with a previous trial or I've seen a skill
that I need to practice a little more. I
will visit the foundation stages of that
skill and increase to higher levels depending on how the dog is doing." The
tunnel/dogwalk discrimination is an example. "I will arrange a tunnel/dogwalk
discrimination, then set the dogs to enter the discrimination from several different angles to test different skills; for
example, a threadle or serpentine to a
dogwalk. I will incorporate the ﬁve basic handling maneuvers around the discrimination section to help test the value
and understanding of what I am asking
of the dog."
With his younger dogs, it is all about
foundation work and he typically dedi-

cates the ﬁrst 14 months to developing
that foundation. "It is more about building a relationship and establishing reinforcement and reward." He uses a lot
of ﬂatwork games (such as restrained
recalls) and exercises around equipment
so the dog is learning that it is rewarding
to work with the handler. He also trains
with other dogs close by so that the dog
learns to focus on the handler. "I want
me to be the most valuable thing to that
dog." The majority of that is built from
those ﬂatwork games, acceleration/deceleration drills, establishing placement
of rewards, and circle work.

Writing It Down
When he is ﬁnished with a training session, Anthony makes a record of how it
went. "I write down the topic of the day,
what I was trying to achieve, and then
list three things that went well and three
things that didn't." This record helps to
structure the next training sessions.

Staying Fit
Anthony keeps himself ﬁt by following
a handler ﬁtness program that he developed with several ﬁtness professionals.
Handler efﬁciency and body awareness
are the basis of the program, which can
be done with or without dogs. He has
presented seminars on the program in
the US, but it is still relatively new; he
has also presented the ﬁtness class on the
Agility University online classroom and
in several countries around Europe.

Up and Comers
Because he started agility at such a young
age, Anthony is passionate about supporting young handlers new to or rising
up the ranks of agility. "I think that one
of the biggest things that's missed out in
agility is supporting new and young handlers in the sport and encouraging them
to do things well, and understanding
why and how they are doing it." He started Agility for Juniors in 2010 with the
goal of giving young people the ability

to access information about agility, learn
the sport, and gain knowledge from experienced agility trainers. "I don't want
our young handlers to feel disregarded or
not to be taken seriously." By becoming
members, handlers under the age of 18
have access to information about camps,
international competitions, lectures, and
seminars. Agility for Juniors runs events
at big venues, with top judges, where
participants can get advice as well as
support for their ambitions. "So far we
have around 300 members between the
ages of 5 and 18. The service is helping
these kids to be the best that they can be,
encouraging every kid. It is run by agility people for agility people."
In addition to helping the up and comers
in the sport, Anthony also feels strongly
about introducing the public to the excitement of agility. He has initiated a
competition called the British Agility
Championships, open to any dog running at the top level in their country. "It
is basically to showcase agility by allowing the public to watch some of the best
dogs in the world. We will also have a
trade stand village where one can learn
to be a good dog owner."

In the Future
Anthony hopes to grow the British Agility
Championships. He organized and ran the
ﬁrst of these events in June. "Running an
event like this makes you stand back and
really look at the sport from a different
angle. I am looking forward to developing this event with all that are on board."
On a more personal level, he is looking
forward to a bright year. "The 2014 season started well with a consistent performance at Crufts with Gass and Ruby, running six for six clean runs," an especially
gratifying result, he adds, because Ruby
had required an intense, 10-month rehab
due to an injury. He is also looking forward to the debut of Protest and the ﬁrst
really competitive season with Minx. D

Sally Silverman is a freelance writer whose life has gone to the dogs. She and her husband share their hearts and their home with three Australian Shepherds. An
avid agility competitor, Sally is working on MACH3 with Bounce, who also has a PDCH, as well as many canine freestyle and herding titles. Java is now in AKC and
USDAA Masters and working on her Advanced freestyle title. Sally is an active member of Y2K9s Dog Sports Club outside of Philadelphia, where she trains and teaches.

Clean Run | July 14

Clean Run - July 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - July 2014