Clean Run - June 2014 - 47

Trainer: Dudley Fontaine
Base: Advance, NC
Years competing in agility: 17
Venues of competition: AKC, USDAA, UKI
Dogs: Border Collies: Maverick, age 9;
Sweet, age 7; Jack, age 6; Bird, age 2.
Favorite treat: String cheese while waiting to go into the ring. "It is something
for them to do, to keep them in a nice,
calm mind."
Lucky charm: A necklace that says "Luck,"
from an old friend. "Everybody is so good,
anybody could win. You have to have
some luck, too."
Most unusual training tool: Duct tape
for targeting.

Training
with the Stars
Dudley Fontaine

By Sally Silverman

When Dudley Fontaine reflects on how she got to where she is in
agility-a multiple-medal winner in three international agility ven-

Secret wisdom: "Sometimes handlers
lose sight of the fact that on every agility course the thing there is most of is
ground. All things being equal, the dog
and handler team that make the most efficient use of covering ground will win."

ues as well as AKC Nationals, UKI US Open Finals, and USDAA Nation-

Piece of technology: Tunwills target mat
for training running contacts.

she looks forward to travelling even further down the agility path.

In her competition bag: Water bowl, toy,
bag of Glycogen for the dogs, Traumeel®,
Flagyl, poop bag.
Moment she's most proud of: Sweet's
win at AKC Nationals. "I started out thinking she wasn't going to do agility-it's
why we got the sheep! And then she
showed me where thinking outside the
box can take us. And we are still learning!"
Best advice to give: "Just enjoy it."
Best piece of advice received: "Move
more purposefully and less frantically.
Don't lose connection with the dog."
Next dog: Maybe a Miniature Poodle,
maybe a small rescue, maybe another
Border Collie. "I won't live long enough to
have all the dogs I want to have!"
June 14

| Clean Run

als-it sounds a little bit like that Robert Frost poem about deciding which road to take. First horses or dogs. Then herding or agility. The choices she has made, she believes, are the right ones. And

Prompted by a Puppy
Once upon a time, Dudley was totally
committed to the world of horses. She
conditioned horses professionally to
support her passion for eventing, the triathlon of equestrian sports. While she always had a dog as a constant companion,
it wasn't until a Standard Poodle puppy
came into her life that the world of dog
training opened up to her.
"I thought, 'Oh, now I have a smart dog,
and I don't know what to do with her!'"
She took her to class where the puppy
was "a genius," and decided she wanted
to take advantage of that brilliance and
do more. She was advised to try agility.

"I like to move and run, and I know
about lead changes and how to read
courses. It was like a mini version of
what I was doing with the horses. It
was like doing something that I already
knew, but differently."
She pursued agility while still eventing.
After training a couple of dogs, she realized she had come to a fork in the road.
"I was struggling. There are only so
many hours in a day, and only so much
money. I finally realized that, while it
would be very, very difficult, I could sell
my horse, but never my dog. It's a completely different type of relationship."
47

Clean Run - June 2014

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