Chrissy 0:00
Chris, welcome back to the dogs lives. And this is season three. I'm Chrissy Messick, and this is our summer working dog series, and this is where we're going to dive deep into the incredible world of dogs who dedicate their lives working alongside humans. So grab your favorite beverage or enjoy listening to this on the road, and let's explore the full spectrum of what it means to care for the dogs who care for all of us, and maybe learn something about ourselves along the way. Today, I'm talking with Cheryl Parker about the sport of agility. This is such a special treat, because Cheryl and I go way back to the year 1996 where we both were working as athletic trainers at the University of Washington on the medical staff. Cheryl worked with football and track and field and women's basketball, and I worked with women's volleyball and men's and women's rowing. We also both had the opportunity to work in the Summer Olympics. Cheryl worked with USA Track and Field, and I worked with women's soccer and women's basketball. We both mused about how ironic it is that working and teaching and training dogs is very similar to Athletic Training. In this episode, we discuss the foundations of agility, types of dogs that enjoy agility, how to take care of an agility dog, physically, mentally and emotionally. Cheryl tells a fascinating story about her dog's hidden pain that affected her ability to do agility. We talked about levels of involvement, from Rae to competition, how agility has changed their relationship, both individually and as a team and much more. I hope you enjoy this fun discussion about agility. Might this be a good fit for you and your dog?
Cheryl 1:37
And I will tell you, in all honesty, I'm learning to trust him. I'm like, all mistakes are mine, right? Every mistake I make on a course are mine is 99.99% of the owners fault. And I am like, I gotta quit failing him. I've got to communicate. I have got to be there. I've got to show support.
Chrissy 1:57
All right. Cheryl Parker, I'm so glad you're here on the podcast. We've known each other our whole lives.
Chrissy 2:03
Yeah, pretty much our whole lives., I met you in 1996 correct? When I first started at the University of Washington as an athletic trainer, and you had been an athletic trainer there for how long already?
Cheryl 2:19
you came in 96 I started in 90 so I'd been there for six years already when you came and your laughter sold us. We're like, we need her on our team.
Chrissy 2:29
so funny. So we worked together for quite a while. I worked with volleyball and rowing and softball and tennis, and then you worked with track and field,
Cheryl 2:40
I can feel women's basketball and football. Yes, I had golf and tennis also.
Chrissy 2:45
Yeah, yeah. So yeah, as athletic trainers, we just took care of all the medical, medical needs of the athletes there, yes, and we laughed a lot the whole time doing it.
Cheryl 2:55
Yes we did. Yes we did.
Chrissy 2:58
And so we here we are, years later, still in touch and talking about dogs. Now,
Cheryl 3:03
yes, I love it. I do too. I'm like, wow, we crossed over. Well,
Chrissy 3:10
we did. We crossed
Cheryl 3:11
over very well. So, yeah,
Chrissy 3:13
so that's how we know each other. And do you just want to tell us a little bit about yourself, kind of where you live, what you're doing now.
Cheryl 3:21
You got it Sure. So I left being a trainer in 1999 I applied to PA school. So went to PA school for two years, got out, got a job at Seattle Children's, and I've been there for 22 and a half years, something like that. And initially, just like when we were trainers, I would work day in, day out, and decided that that really wasn't healthy for me, and I decided I needed to take care of something. So believe it or not, I bought a dog. I bought I we were raised with Cocker Spaniels, and that's a breed that I know. And so I looked in the want ads, a lady had cocker spaniel puppies, this was not by a breeder, and went over, saw him, liked him, bought him, brought him home, and looked at him like, oh my god, I got a dog.
Chrissy 4:20
I have a first child. What do I do? Yeah,
Cheryl 4:22
exactly. So now I knew I couldn't work the insane hours. I had to get home. I had to do the things. And what
Chrissy 4:30
was his name again?
Cheryl 4:30
His name was Cooper.
Speaker 1 4:32
he's a chocolate Cocker Spaniel, yeah, and you know his work, I worked at the hospital, so I'd have something to do with him. So he went to doggy daycare, you know, come did that thing. And it was through this doggy daycare they had, he was a busy little puppy. They had introductions to different things that you can do with your dog. And one of those things was intro to. Agility. He took to it like flying fish and water, fish and water, and I decided to pursue classes, and I have never looked back. Yeah,
Chrissy 5:12
never looked back. So how long ago was that? Oh my
Cheryl 5:15
gosh. What is this? 2025? It was 20 years ago. Oh
Chrissy 5:24
my gosh, so you've been doing agility with your dogs for 20 years. Then
Cheryl 5:28
no, no, so, no, so 15 years. So, okay, first five years, I was terrified of competing, so I would just go to practice, and I would just practice with my dog on his own. And then one day, I was at this lady's backyard practicing agility, because I lived in apartments, and she came out with a glass of lemonade, and she goes, When are you going to start competing with this dog? Oh, here next week, I want you to show up. And I did. And and so in 2010 we started competing. So this is my 15th year, and I'm on my second and third agility Docs.
Chrissy 6:12
So so you kind of started out more kind of recreationally learning and building your skills and just that kind of thing with
Cheryl 6:21
Cooper? Yeah, absolutely. Because, you know, when people watch agility, they I think they think that this is super easy, and it's not. Agility is actually a series of tricks that you teach your dog and you go through a sequence and those tricks come with lots of little nuances. I liken it to like when little kids ask me, how did you teach your dog to do that? And I go, Well, it's kind of like learning to read. You have to learn the alphabet, and then you learn words, and then you learn sentences, and then paragraphs, and then you keep building upon your story. And so agility is very much like that. So that's how, that's how I view it,
Chrissy 7:05
yeah, yeah, definitely. It's, it's building on skills. It's like any new skill, like, you know, when we worked with the athletes, it's the, you know, learning a guitar or learning how to play a sport. It's the same idea
Cheryl 7:20
anything a musical instrument, anything like that.
Chrissy 7:23
Yeah, and so now you have Sam and Earl that you
Cheryl 7:29
do, yes. So Sammy May, she'll be retiring in May 2026, she's had a beautiful eight, nine year career. And Earl is four, and he loves the game, but he and I are learning to be a team, which, when a dog is about five, is about when you start really gelling together as a team and learning all the little nuances, because every dog is is different. So I like to say that Sam reads the numbers, and I have a teach girl where all the numbers are. So
Chrissy 8:05
they're they have their own
Cheryl 8:06
little personality. They do, they do, and they're both American Cockers. Sam had a hard story. Sam is a rescue, yeah. So she had a really hard story. So I got Sam somewhere between seven months and a year, and she had to learn to walk on leash, sit, quit peeing at she to come out, learn to come out of her crate, to go potty outside, to impulse control, you know, start barking at everything, I mean, all the things, because you can't be an arena with a dog that doesn't have basic obedience, right,
Chrissy 8:41
right? Well, I think a huge part of it, and I was going to ask you, I remember, I remember when you, when you brought Sam to your family, she was very worried, and so I was going to ask you how agility has helped her come out of her shell. Because a huge part of you know, a lot of dogs that are worried, is helping them feel safe. So the first thing is to help them feel safe, and then working on all the skills and stuff. How, how has agility helped her come out of her shell?
Cheryl 9:07
Sam is probably the most confident, maybe even cocky now, dog I've ever met. She's, she has very strong opinions about, you know, which way we go on course, she's like, what to do. I got it. You know, it was a lot. And, you know, when I get new people who are in agility and they're feeling low, I tell them Sam story, you know, I had to just bring her to trials to get used to the crowds and the sounds, and she didn't even like when then the thing said, Go, you know, it was a buzzer, if people clapped. So through this, through, you know, like positive reinforcement, great friends who also came to her and helped reinforce fears that she had. Like one of them was, um. Men, right? So the guys who ran agility would get on the ground with her, give her treats. Now it's probably one of the first people that she runs to not afraid of hats anymore, because they take their hat off, slowly introduce the hat, put the hat, just lots of little things, and going into stores, just recreating things that I might see in an agility trial to boost her confidence. I like to tell people true story. We went to four basic obedience classes. Just had to get used to that four controlled unleash classes by two different instructors, so lots of classes just to get the confidence to do agility. Yeah, first time I put her in an agility practice arena that had no walls, I put her at the start line. I let out. I released her. She ran past me into a cow pasture. Didn't
Chrissy 11:02
she's like, peace out.
Cheryl 11:05
She's like that. And I was like, have a recall. So that was another thing I had to work on. Recall. Like, Oh, thanks for that little piece of information.
Chrissy 11:15
Yeah, yeah. And I think a lot of people just think they're gonna just put their dog right into agility. They're just going to put them in there. And a huge part of it like a dog that's worried about things or is not, quote, unquote, listening, yes, because they're worried. And so you have to before you can start teaching stuff. You have to get them comfortable, like you were doing desensitized, you know, desensitization and counter conditioning, getting them comfortable with things, and then once they're comfortable with things,
Cheryl 11:42
then you can start working on the teaching. And there's so much that, so much that you can do at home around friends that, not necessarily you know, that will set your dog up to be confident and not afraid. Working with, I mean, working with trainers such as yourself was huge in the beginning. I think the other thing is, I have taught Sam that I have her back. I have taught her behaviors like if you're if you're nervous and afraid. She snugs into me, and I tell her, I got her back. I will do what it takes to make her comfortable. One big lesson I learned about myself is I have to be confident in that, and I have to exude confidence in that. It's easy like in the beginning, I remember, I've never had a rescue this hard and nervous, afraid, and I had to kind of take a deep breath and let that go, because the dog feels all that tension that comes through the line how you feel and So you being confident and patient, extremely patient people, including myself, want to succeed in an agility, but it's more important to me to have my dog feel confident and secure and not afraid, so that I we can learn some things together and then kind of keep moving forward and build upon that. Yeah,
Chrissy 13:20
yeah, it's building trust. Yeah, absolutely, building that trust in that relationship, right? So how would you say, I mean, you kind of said a little bit, but how would you say agility has enhanced the relationship between, you, know, you and Sammy and Earl.
Cheryl 13:36
Oh, we are, we are teammates. There, there is, there is no doubt they are confident in Me and I am confident in them, and we have grown together. I think with my youngest dog, I have to keep remembering he is not Sam. So it was kind of like a process. And I will tell you, in all honesty, I'm learning to trust him. I'm like, all mistakes are mine, right? Every mistake I make on a course our mind is 99.99% of the owner's fault. And I, I'm like, I gotta quit failing him. I've gotta communicate. I have got to be there. I've got to show support, the three of us together a team. And it doesn't matter if I'm on the agility course. Today, I took the dogs to the park because it was shady, and it got to and you're not supposed to have the dogs off leash, and you're off leash, and we're playing fetch, and policeman shows up, and he just parks, and he's just watching, and we play for a while, and get done, and the guy goes, oh my god, your dogs are in such good control. Didn't matter who walked by, didn't matter what bike went by. Yeah, that's the training. That's the agility. Feel you can't move. You don't move until I tell you to move, you don't and it's nothing. Mean, it's nothing. It's pure respect. Do this for me. Going to throw the ball for you, you know. So I think it's mutual respect and trust. And the youngest one is also learning. If you're afraid, I have your back, right? I'm not going to make you do except taking a bath. Earl hates that, but I won't make you don't want to do, but that happens?
Chrissy 15:25
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, they have such reinforcement of your behaviors that they that you've been very consistent, that they trust like what you say, they know what's going to happen next, and that kind of thing. So
Cheryl 15:40
I'm not going to pretend that people don't get upset with your dog, right? But I think, I think that there's, there's a way of going about it that, like my dogs really do know the word it's unacceptable. Someone asked me, you really? I go, Yeah, it's how I say that. I it's not if I, if I say that is unacceptable, and it my tone. Everything stops, yeah, nobody. There's no positive, there's no cookies, there's no I'm like, sorry, that is unacceptable. And I moved them out of the situation, right? Like the little time out, bring them back. Let's try that again. Okay, let's go right? So, yeah, yes, the docs know the word unacceptable, yeah,
Chrissy 16:23
yeah, no, you're just doing a different way. It's a yes, it's boundaries, and it's, you know, when, when I say positive reinforcement, you know, there's different quadrants of learning and all that kind of stuff, but I like to use the quadrants that are kind and so, yeah, that, you know, not an, you know, the unacceptable. That's just a way of setting a boundary in a nice way.
Cheryl 16:48
Yeah, it is a little, it's a little pause, time out. Yeah, nobody, nobody's getting hurt, right? It's a pause and whatever it is that we're doing, and then they come back, and then they get reinforced for doing the thing that I want. Yeah,
Chrissy 17:04
exactly, yeah. That kind of relationship builds trust, too, and, and so how people interact and, and a lot of people have an idea of with either working dogs or sports dogs that you know that you are like this. It's more about the relationship, versus being like the quote, unquote pack leader or whatever, right? Yeah, yeah, it, yeah. It's more about the relationship. That's a huge part of it. So we could go on forever about
Cheryl 17:36
that. It is, it is and and also, to know, my dogs don't do agility. They don't compete every weekend. Well, Sam's 11, so she doesn't practice agility anymore. So Earl practices once a week. I do my own practice with them once a week, and it maybe lasts 20 minutes. It's not a it's not my formal class. Total time is probably 20 minutes that he's actually in motion for short, short Burt's spurts of that other times, they're dogs, they're swimming, they're hiking, they're learning tricks. They're playing, yeah, trying to get mooch, you know, food off of me, but, you know, they're dogs, you know, and dogs, yeah, they get to, they get to relax and and be a dog. Be a dog. Yeah, things, yeah,
Chrissy 18:33
yeah. And that's what I was going to ask you, like, so you kind of mentioned it briefly, but your level. What's your level involvement? Would you say you've invested into agility? And what does your training schedule look like? I
Cheryl 18:46
think all my spare dollars go to agility. I'll be fair, food treats, training, competition, the whole nine yards. So a typical week for me looks like. So I have classes on Mondays, and we practice. There's six dogs in class. We go for about an hour and 15 minutes. We all get about 20 minutes in. Got a great class. We're an advanced agility class. So things are pretty technical on Tuesday. I laugh because I call it chick Training Tuesdays. So my dogs, my dogs, are learning to do tricks and and just like I said before, agility is a series of tricks. So sometimes it's just as simple as opening the front door and nobody leaves until I say release. But on the most part, we're learning tricks. We're rolling over. We're picking up our toys. We're grabbing leashes. They're learning to touch their nose. They're doing all those we do that every Tuesday, Wednesday. My first agility dog tore both of his CCLs, which is the equivalent of a human's ACL and that's where I learned a lot about. About canine conditioning, because, as a former athletic trainer, I got really interested. And because of Cooper, I bought all kinds of toys like to help with rehab and and learned about leg and back strength and and when I retire, that is one area I am contemplating on maybe doing but every Wednesday, and we've already done it, we do canine conditioning, and so we work a lot with core body strength, hind end awareness, working the muscles. Thursday, we usually go for really long walks or hikes Friday we if we're competing on Saturday and Sunday, Friday is just be a dog day or No, I'm not trying to tax their muscles, whatever. They're running errands with me. Or, I don't know, we might go play fetch. I don't know. They just whatever, whatever we decide to do. And then, typically, we'll compete on Saturdays and Sundays, then start all over again. I don't compete every weekend. I think two to three times a month is fine. I just, I need time for myself. It's not a hugely expensive sport. When I tell people, you know, well, do you play golf on the weekends? Do you ski on the weekends? Do you it's the equivalent of that. It can be very, very addicting. And so I just, I try to save time and space for them to take it away from the training, so that I'm not wearing out their joints, their bodies just kind of, just kind of relax and be a dog. And I take breaks during the year, like we I have one competition just on Friday, and then we're going to take a six week break from competing, just so that I can keep working on another level of fitness. Yeah, one of my brags, and I don't know if this is so, because I do this is my two Cockers are the fastest AKC Cockers, yards per second in the nation. We have held this position for just over a year. And yeah, they're, they're very fast and so, and I think it's because I let them be docs, yeah,
Chrissy 22:15
well, you, I mean, I think you have a little head start with knowing how to cross train, yeah, being, being athletic trainers, seeing how the athletes train all year round, like what their breaks
Cheryl 22:28
are, fetch is sprinting. Spec is sprinting, right? Yeah, learned. They learn how fast they can go. Yeah,
Chrissy 22:37
yeah, I love it. And so, I mean, you guys have ribbons galore.
Cheryl 22:45
I would say, does Sam? Sam's amazing? Yeah,
Chrissy 22:49
yeah. And so, where have you guys traveled for competitions?
Cheryl 22:53
Oh my gosh. We have been to, I'm trying to think the furthest east. So we have been to Florida, Ohio, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Nevada, Canada. Sam competed in four venues, AKC American kettle club, CPE canine performance events, USDA, United States dog agility Association, and she did a little ASCA, which is the Australian Shepherd Club of America, but she's accomplished in three at AKC. Just a few years back, she got fourth place 12 inch dog at Nationals, and USDA, she won speed stake. It's a for the 12 inch class, fastest dog to run through a course. And she's got a couple of mocks, which are the largest ribbon that you can master. Agility champion. She's got three of those. And then in canine performance events. She probably has seven or eight of those in USDA, she has three of those. So I think she's done a lot, and because I don't want to injure her, I am going to retire her. So she's drastically slowed down. So she's due for one more ribbon. Needs one more double cue, and I'm going to retire her in May of 2026, she competes maybe once a month on one day, yeah, a day, once a month, until we get to her retirement. Yeah?
Chrissy 24:38
I mean, they love it, right? So that's yeah,
Cheryl 24:42
they love it. All I gotta do is say you want to go play agility. So they love the game. They love
Chrissy 24:50
Yeah, yeah, I love it. So can you share how you take care of them, physically, mentally and emotionally while being involved in agility? I know you talk. About taking breaks and cross training physically conditioning. Is there anything you want to add to that?
Cheryl 25:07
Yeah, I don't see enough people doing this. I believe in stretching and warming up my dogs before they run. So if you ever watch me before I compete, usually five dogs before I compete, my dogs are out stretching. We do. I bring a little 12 by 12, two inch foam thing I've made that they work on jumping up, on spinning around. I want to make sure they're limber. We stretch. Trick training is also a way of warming up so it works their core, it works their legs, that when we get to the line, I know that they're warmed up and not going to injure themselves. When we are done running for the day, we go for a short walk so that they not going into the car cold, that they're allowed to cool down and then usually a light massage once we get home, because they've been in crates all day. Checking in with them frequently. I like to make sure my dogs are someplace quiet. This is before competition. They're usually created in the car, somewhere somewhat covered. You know, they get air and stuff like this, but I park places I don't I don't want other dogs or people bothering them so they can sleep, if they want to relax, so they're not staring and being hyped up before an event. Nutrition, I don't buy my dogs cheap treats, right? They are Cocker Spaniels, so I work hard and not over feeding. So they have a light breakfast, because I know I'm about to fill their bellies with treats. Then for, you know, dogs that are are 30 pounds or less, they really only need, like, the taste of a treat. They don't need, like, the whole, you know, stick cheese. You know, I bring three tree sticks. They divide in half, and they have to last each dog the entire eat, you know, three long cheese sticks every day, right? That I bring out art or cheese sticks are cheap, but cheese sticks are something that might note the mozzarella sticks, yeah, string cheese. They only get that in agility. They don't get that any other time. So I have special treats that I save for actually agility, and then my regular treats I use for training and right different kinds of rewards. So I keep their weight in check. I make sure that they are rested. Even on days like this, I'm like, No, would it just, just, just learn how to relax. Learn to, like, Shut it, shut it off. Yeah, right, yeah. So that's when I take care of, take care of them. And, yeah, yeah, that's really good. They are crate trained to, like, if I have company and I and I want them to relax, I crates, yeah, let's go, go and relax. Yeah,
Chrissy 28:07
yeah, yeah, no, that's really good. And one thing I think both of us are super aware of, just because of our backgrounds, is a lot of times when I, you know, I work with clients where dogs have like, you know, behaviors that we're working on, they're fearful, you know, those kind of behaviors, you know, if a dog is they have reactivity, or they're, you know, worried about something, a lot of times it can be from pain. And so that's one thing you know during my evaluation, is I look, you know, at gate, and I look for any indicators of pain, and dogs are really good at hiding that. So, so it's really important to pay attention to that. And I'm sure you do like the agility, like, if your dog's, like, not wanting to do a certain thing, or they're moving differently.
Cheryl 28:57
I actually, I have, actually, a really interesting case with Sam. So in, and this is going to be a really weird timeline that kind of give those who listen to you and we talk about dogs and pain and how they exhibit pain differently. So in, I want to say July 2024, Sam's suddenly stopped competing. This is a dog loves to run. She wouldn't go over the first bar. She'd look at me, carry her off. Couldn't figure out what's going on. August. She's still exhibiting the behaviors, and I check my dogs all the time. I don't She's not limping. She is not she's sleeping, well, she's eating. Well, can't figure out what's going on. September, something's not right. I go to my vet, we check her out. We're like, Yeah, you know what. She's 10. Maybe you. She's starting to get anxiety. I'm also noticing when I turn on the stove or the microwave, she hightails it out of the house and she her head is low, and I have great video. Heads low won't come in if I put her in the car, panting out of control, shaking. I'm like, What is going on? Feel her tummy. It's not extended. I don't think she's gotta pee. You know, it's all the things. I'm like, What is going on? I go to my vet. I'm like, is she anxious? Well, maybe she's anxious. They check her out. They don't find anything orthopedically wrong with her. She gets the senior labs, nothing. October, they put her on Prozac. She goes on Prozac, and they asked me to talk to a behaviorist, got a behaviorist, and I trust her and I and I'm taking videos and I'm showing it, and we're like, what you know now, we're working on counter conditioning. Counter conditioning. I'm like, All right, still not working. Prozac not working. It's now December, and I'm like, This isn't working. My dog's getting worse. And then I see it. I noticed that Sam is not eating her food as fast, and she's a Chow Hound. She's refusing to eat a dental chew, and she will not hold her favorite toy in the world, a ball. We haven't played tug. When I think back, we haven't played tug in months. And I go to my my vet again, I'm like, I think it's a tooth issue. Yeah, they look in her mouth, they don't see anything. We make her sedated, because I'm pretty convinced it's in our mouth. We make a sedated dental appointment, and it's for February. I'm sorry. 2023 is when it started. 2024 February. 2024 Dental. It gets pushed back because my vet is redesigning her thing. I'm trying desperately to find another person to help. Can't get in vet's clinic is finally done in April. She goes in on her gotcha day. They sedate her and pull out a rotten tooth, no abscess, and it was in the upper molar, so it was near her nerve which caused the sound, fear of the sound was actually her first symptom, yeah, of a tooth pain, no abscess, no nothing since that time. Those who've heard her story will ask me again, what was, what was Sam's symptoms? And I tell them, and they've gone in, and dogs have had their teeth pulled abscesses, you know, cracked teeth and, yeah, all is so interesting. And it took us nine months, yeah, to figure that
Chrissy 32:53
out. It's so interesting with noise phobias, yeah, that it can be pain related. It's so fascinating. You guys are lucky that you found it,
Cheryl 33:04
yeah? Because people like, Oh, she had an absence. Like, no, no, no, hope they They even showed me the tooth. It was black, yeah, yeah. And you didn't see it because it was way back high. And the actual look of the tooth looked good. It was just once they sedated it opened up her mouth. And they're like, Oh my God, look at this.
Chrissy 33:21
So did they do X rays?
Cheryl 33:24
They did X rays when they sedated her for I didn't want her to go under two sedations. So I'm like, Just do it when you have the dental procedure. I didn't want her to do it twice. Yeah, he wouldn't let them do it while she was awake.
Chrissy 33:37
Yeah. And then, and then she went back to her normal self, back
Cheryl 33:41
to her normal self, went back to AKC nationals, made it to, we made it to semi finals, you know, but now she's 11, and dogs are faster than her, and we still made the semi finals. So I'm still pretty happy.
Chrissy 33:57
Yeah, that's a good story. That's a good story.
Cheryl 33:59
It's a great thing on you know, I thought I was in tune to my dog, but because of that, I look at things a lot differently. Now, great. Yep.
Chrissy 34:11
So what have you learned about yourself and your dogs by being involved in agility?
Cheryl 34:16
I'm still very competitive. I'm a silent I'm silently competitive. I still get nervous at the line. I still have a lot to learn. That's one I'm still learning to be patient and to deal with the dog that's before me, and I've learned to be a pretty good handler now, first dog I have learned to meet my dogs where they're they're at, and listen to the things that they're asking me for. I am more aware of their surroundings, to protect them. I have learned to be more confident. They are definitely more confident. I have learned to enjoy the journey i. Told you I love competing. I don't care every time my cue rate is less than 50% but I have fun and learn to look and find the positive you you know, when working with our with our dogs, the dog does something wrong, and we are quick to blame the dog, internalize it instead of paying attention to the little things that you did, right? So for me, that's that's still the journey Earl is still learning, but I have to now look at all the things that he did, right? And one way that I do that is, he may not cue, he may drop a bar, but I'll come out of that ring. And I have lots of good treats and like, wow, did you see your weave poles, your start line was amazing. You didn't drop a single bar this time. You listened to me, you know? And you you have to hear yourself out loud say the things that are positive so that you can continue to build on that. And your dog gets to hear all the good, and you get to concentrate on and that builds confidence, and that builds trust, and that relationship. Instead of, oh my god, he missed that bar, or whatever it is, he didn't sniff that rat, or he missed that scent. Or really did they get the other 98 you know? And even if they had the yayas, did they have a good time eventually, you know, I just told you the story about Sam leaving the pasture, right? Yeah, finally came back to me. I had to say, wow, yeah, was amazing. You came right back to me. I can't, can't implode,
Chrissy 36:40
yeah, no, it's that communication is key. Yeah. So your favorite thing about agility in your dogs, the competition, obviously, oh
Cheryl 36:48
my god, the people you meet. I will put people that I meet and the friendships that I have made higher than the actual competition. Okay, yeah, I will. I what a community, what a great way to hang out with people who have that same kind of vibe that are encouraging that maybe they're sad and you can pick them up and maybe you're sad, and they pick you up, and then the cuddles that they give your dog, and then you're because your dog's like, Oh, my God, my auntie or my uncle really love me, and that that makes them even more confident. Oh, I see. Oh, this is my favorite human, and I'm going to everything about it. Should you choose this bill's community, and your dog learns about that community and the positive vibes, or whatever you want to call it, that come from that community that make you want to do it all over again so you can go hang out with, I don't know, 50 of your best friends all over again.
Chrissy 37:51
Yeah, that's awesome.
Cheryl 37:55
That is seriously, the people are amazing, and they're and their dogs are amazing. And it's just, what a way. You know, I work in a hospital all day long. I take care of trauma all day long. So do something on the weekend where I get to just be a regular human and relax. Bonus, yeah, yeah,
Chrissy 38:18
that's awesome. If someone were to get into agility seriously or rec league. How would you suggest that they do that?
Cheryl 38:25
Wherever you live, look around to see if there is a an agility pre sport class or beginning agility class, and you may find these at your local humane society. There are dog training centers you want to ask. And actually, I would go and observe a class to see how they teach the job the dogs. Is it positive? Is it something that you can continue with and enjoy? I would definitely do ask around because you got to go slow, to go fast. So ask around get your dog involved in the interim, while you're waiting and looking, work on the basics. Sit, stay, come, recall crate training, games, all, all of those things have to do with agility. So in the interim, work on fears and sounds and because there's a lot of there's people laughing and things are banging, and so you could be working on all this stuff while you're waiting to get in a class. Or, you know, get in that class.
Chrissy 39:33
Yep, Yep, perfect. Do you have any special agility stories that you would like to share, or a fun story that comes to mind.
Cheryl 39:41
Oh, man, so many agility stories.
Chrissy 39:44
What about Sam's first agility competition?
Cheryl 39:47
Oh, my God, Sam. Sam was really humbling. So my first agility dog is what we call steady Eddie. He wasn't very fast, and I pretty much had to guide him around. The course, right? So no problem, I can catch him. He and I are probably the same speed. Life is great, right? I get Sam. Sam is a freight train, and I put her on the start line, and I'd lead out, and I would release her and say, I went right. Sam would go left. Get her back together. I might go left. She goes right. I mean, it was just oh my gosh, a disaster. But you know, again, someone's like, hey, Cheryl, come here. Let me you know somebody, person who's in my community, part of my tribe. Now, right? I love sherry. Slow down. Let's do this, you know. And so her first thing was a disaster. Boy Sam has so many favorite stories, but I guess one of my favorite stories going to Arizona to compete in seno sport, and that's the USDA National Competition, and we barely made it into the into the finals. And when I tell you barely, they rank one through 12, and we were 12. And when you go to run this steeple chase, the last place, person goes first, and first last, right, Sam gets there and we nail it. I mean, we, I mean, she ran so fast. My friends were in the crowd. They're all screaming for her. She's no longer afraid of people yelling and hooping and hollering. In fact, now when they yell and hoop and holler, it makes her faster, right? And it makes me, well, I don't actually, I think it makes me faster, but I actually don't hear anything once I leave that and we nail it, and nobody catches us. There was like mistake after mistake, and we went 1211, we are now an eighth. We are seven. We are 543, we win it. And it was, it was, it was amazing. You know, she did penalties and poodles, and that's always amazing. And then my other favorite story is, Sam's a rescue, yes, so we go to the breed special for the first time, cocker spaniel breed specialty at Purina farms. No one knows us from Adam. I'm going because I met this lady from Florida. She's like, Oh, y'all need to come and do this. And I'm like, Okay, we'll go. There were 14 games. We got first place in 13 of them, second in one of them, only because I got lost on course, and I had to look, and that split second it took me to look put us in second place versus first. So that I was so happy. And after that, they were like, Who's that dog? Sam, not me. That's Sam. So, yeah, she nailed it. It was, yeah, so sino sport and the breed specialty, probably my favorites, favorite space with her, and Earl, he's still learning. Yep, he's just good time, Charlie. And yeah, we'll get there. Yeah,
Chrissy 43:11
yeah, you're going to do this until you're, what like, until
Cheryl 43:16
the till my legs don't work anymore. So, I mean,
Chrissy 43:19
and you're, I mean, you're 65 right now, and you have to start right now strong.
Cheryl 43:23
Yeah, I'm 63 knock wood. I'm still going strong. I will tell you a lot of people who do agility are retired, so don't think that you have to be an amazing shape to do this sport. There are people in wheelchairs, electric wheelchairs, who do this. There are people with oxygen tanks who do this. There are people with every orthopedic device on their body that I would say on average the age is somewhere in the 60s. Love Haley. She's eight years old, and she runs. This is the one sport where you're going to compete against a junior, yeah, five and the oldest person I know running agility is this beautiful lady named dot, and she's over by Ridgefield, Washington, and she's 93 years old, and she runs a Giant Schnauzer. And I say the year that dot stops running a dog will be the year that I stopped running, you know, her age. So right now, I'm going through 93 if I can. It's fun. We know that regardless of our shape or medical things, that we are still healthier and moving more than our or the other counterpart that may be at home all day, at least we're in motion, right? That's that's good, that's good for all of us to be in motion, right? So I'll do this until I'm no longer in emotions. Yeah.
Chrissy 44:52
So what do you wish you would have known before getting into the dog agility world? Is there something that you wish you would have known?
Cheryl 44:58
How expensive? Oh. All. I think the expense of it, all the equipment's expensive. I think the class prices are fair. I don't have a lot of equipment, so if I want to go someplace and practice on my own, I either have to rent a facility. I have a few, I have a couple of things that I can take to a park. But you know when I when I'm talking about expensive I'm talking about crates, clothing, leashes, harnesses, food treats, things to keep your car cool or warm, pending the season, I have Cockers, grooming, yeah, just, just the expense of it all, but I budget for that. I highly recommend that if you are going to put your dog in a sport, I don't care if it's nose work, agility, barn hunt, Frisbee, there's a there's a lot of things we can do with our dogs now. Doc, diving, I would highly recommend getting insurance, just because anything can happen at any time, and even if you put $100 away a month, it will not cover your ER cost. So I highly recommend that you're also talking to a girl who had a dog with two CCLs, and super happy that I had insurance. Yeah, yep. So, so just, I guess the expense of it. You know, we grew up with dogs our whole lives, and we never had insurance on our dogs, but they were also dogs that just stayed in the house, right? So, but regardless of what you're going to do with your dog, if it's going to be some kind of sport or show, there's, there's an expense that comes with that people need to be prepared for.
Chrissy 46:38
Yeah, yeah. And I wanted to mention, also, like this series that I'm doing right now is the summer series, working dog, working dog summer series. And so, you know, with any sports, there are so many working dogs that, you know, get into sporting, sporting events. And so what kind of, what kind of dogs do you see doing agility? Any
Cheryl 47:03
dog can do agility. I want to be perfectly clear. It is, you do not have to be a What's the word for you don't need to be AKC registered dog. You know? You could be the All American do it. The smallest dog I know that does agility is a Chihuahua, and they're amazing. And the gorgeous dog that I've seen do agility. Ooh, Great Dane. Yeah. I love the Great Dane. Because as it gets to a tunnel, before it gets to the tunnel, the owner goes, get small, get small, crawl. Amazing. And I love it. So anyway, any dog can do agility, it really doesn't matter. There are some places that have rules about sight differences and limb differences. Hearing doesn't seems. It seems to be fine for a Jill, because people learn to sign language, yes, to crack the dog, but sight, sight could be dangerous because they're going up and over obstacles, right? Some venues will allow three legged dog and so, you know,
Chrissy 48:06
yeah, I think the key is, as long as they love it, yeah, you know, if they're loving it and having fun, then why not? And it's great enrich. It's great enrichment.
Cheryl 48:16
Oh, good for their minds. It's so good, you know, and you don't need to practice for hours and hours. We're talking less than 30 minutes of practice, you know, and all the stuff in between can be done with their meals, right? Sit, stay down. Those are all great training opportunities. All great
Chrissy 48:36
moments. Yeah, do you have anything else you'd like to share with our audience?
Cheryl 48:40
I miss you, girlie. No, it's so good to see you, and thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of your podcast. I'm really proud of you. You've done that.
Chrissy 48:52
Oh, thank you. And thank you so much for coming on and chatting. It was so good to catch up and see you again.
Cheryl 48:59
Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
Chrissy 49:02
I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I hope you are enjoying the special The Dogs of our lives, summer working dog series. I'd be so grateful if you could share with other dog and animal lovers so I can continue to spread the good word about kind, ethical dog guardianship on many different levels. You.
