Clean Run Magazine - September 2007 - 21

102 dogs with heavy competition and also made it to Round 2 of the Grand Prix. I remember going to see Perk’s time for Round 1 Steeplechase. I was looking half way down the results but couldn’t ﬁnd her name. To my surprise, I had to keep looking further up the sheet. I remember saying over and over again, “Fizz, Blast, Perk—Fizz, Blast, Perk.” That happened to be the placement of Round 1 of Steeplechase. I was honored to see Perk placed so high next to Mary Ellen Barry’s Fizz and Rhonda Carter’s Blast. They were dogs that I have always admired. I made handling errors in both Round 2 of Steeplechase and the Grand Prix but I was still ﬂying high. We weren’t even teammates yet. We were really just getting to know each other in competition. It was a great honor to come back to the Northeast Regional one year later in June of 2006 and win both the Grand Prix and Steeplechase! Back in 2005, Perk qualiﬁed to compete at USDAA Nationals so my husband and I decided to go out to Arizona. Two weeks before Nationals I sprained my ankle and was unable to run her. Feeling bad for my husband for having a sick Cattle Dog and being unable to play, I decided to let him run Perk in Arizona. I am sure I was insane because I have never even let him put her over a jump before. He is a very fast runner and I didn’t SNAPSHOT Handler: Lo Baker Home: Alton, New Hampshire Dogs: ADCH APD MACH Russell Run Nick of Time, PT, a.k.a. Kava, 10-year-old Australian Cattle dog, still running in Performance ADCH Russell Run Navigator, AX, AXJ, a.k.a. Reef, seven-year-old Australian Cattle Dog, retired due to illness ADCH Comebye Fringe Benefit MX, MXJ, a.k.a. Perk, three-year-old Border Collie Comebye White Caps, AD, a.k.a. Tony, one-year-old Border Collie and in training Training Afﬁliation: None Favorite Trial: Y-Agility at The Blackthorne in New York Occupation: Agility instructor and director/owner of BARK Agility Camps Biggest Inﬂuence: Chris and Jeff Bolton from England Agility Vehicle: VW Eurovan (when George is home from Japan) and Honda Element (when I am alone) © KAREN HO CKER PHOTOG RAPHY want her to get use to his fun, fast legs! So, two weeks before we left for the trip out West, George started to practice a little with her. Needless to say, it was killing me, but Perk was having fun. George did an unbelievable job. They won Team Gamblers with 298 dogs in the 22" class and George got her all the way to the GP Finals from the quarterﬁnals. She was seeded 4th going into the ﬁnals. She had a great ﬁnals run but unfortunately, he used Reef ’s cue for the weaves and not Perk’s, so she faulted the entry and got a refusal. We were thrilled that Perk made the ﬁnals just turning two years old, with very little competing under her belt, not to mention with a new handler of only two weeks. I was so proud of both them! The other major thrill was going back to Arizona in 2006 and placing second in the Grand Prix ﬁnals and being on the podium with Perk. © TIEN TRAN PHOTOGRAPHY © SABY ROCHON/SPORTPHOTOGRAPHY.CA © KAREN HO CKER PHOTOG RAPHY AS: Independent obstacle performance is a cornerstone of your foundation for both your handling and your dogs’ skills. Can you share your training methods for independent obstacle performance on contacts and weave poles. You asked about lows; there are never lows with me. I get frustrated with myself for silly mistakes but Perk is only doing what I ask her to do. I feel very fortunate to be playing agility with my best friend. Even the worst day of agility can’t be all that bad when we are doing what we love to do. September 07 | Clean Run LB: To train independent contacts, I teach the end behavior ﬁrst. With Perk I taught a two-on/two-off on all three contacts. She literally got thousands of reinforcements (food and toy) for being in the correct position while I ran all over the place and especially when I was behind her. Once I felt she knew her job 100%, I added her motion going into her contact position from three-quarters of the way down the ramp for the A-frame and dogwalk (I do something different for the seesaw). She needed to be able to ﬁnd her spot no matter what I was doing, whether standing still, running past her, running backward. Because the end behavior was solid, I was able to backchain the whole obstacle within a day or two. I waited until she was over a year old before she ever went over the contacts but I started her ﬁnished, ﬁnal position when 21
Clean Run Magazine - September 2007

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