Clean Run - August 2014 - 20

Agility Couples
By Sally Silverman

The pair has settled into a rhythm of
shared responsibilities. Because Mike
works long hours, Janet does a lot of the
training, including the foundation work
with Mike's last puppy. She prepares dog
food each evening. Mike gets up early,
makes sure all of the dogs get out, and
feeds them. He is also responsible for all
of the entry paperwork, while she takes
care of many other trial tasks.

The Borderland
coURTesY oF Mike aND jaNeT WaGNeR

Shortly after someone gave them a
book about agility, Janet and Mike Wagner began to build equipment in the
backyard. That was a couple of decades
ago. Today the couple shares their Wisconsin home with eight Border Collies:
four are his and four are hers.
Mike and Janet grew into the sport together and are equally passionate about
agility. They go to classes, host close to
a dozen trials a year, and go to competitions-all together.
20

In training, Mike shares sequences and
courses he has used at trials as a judge
and Janet helps him with training. "In the
past I would never have asked and if she
had told me I wouldn't have listened. But
now I won't train without asking her
about a particular sequence or a particular maneuver." They sometimes even
swap dogs at trials to experience running dogs with different challenges.
So, how do they handle post-run comments? "Poorly," they respond in unison. "But we have been married long
enough," says Janet, "that I know that
when he says, 'You were late' or 'loud' or
something else, I look back and say, 'Yes,
I was.'" Earlier in his agility career, Mike
confesses that he didn't take well to being critiqued as he came out of the ring.
They created a rule: wait 5 minutes before commenting. But they aren't always
very good about sticking to the rule.
They are better at talking about what
was good and what was bad in the car
on the ride home from a trial. "We try
to keep the bragging down a little," says

Mike, "but we are happy for each other
when we do well. My philosophy is that
if I can't do well, I want her to do well."

A Golden Couple
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Fellow agility enthusiasts "ooohh" and
"ahh" with envy when they learn that
my husband is into agility too. I smile
and say, "Yes, it's great, isn't it!" While I
am thrilled that my housemate and best
bud share my passion, it isn't always as
simple as it may seem. There are the
responsibilities, the criticism, and the
support. I spoke to five couples heavily
involved in agility to find out how it's
working for them and what advice they
might have to share with others.

Pennsylvanians Mardi and Clyde Closson got into agility because their Golden Retriever Rosie needed a job. "We
were total pet people, but we took
one class and that was that!" At first
it was something to do with the dogs.
But Clyde and Mardi had both been
competitive swimmers when they were
young and they still had that competitive spark. Though they started doing
agility just for fun, they quickly became
very involved.
In the past 20 years, routines have
evolved around the dogs. Mardi takes
the early morning shift, letting out the
first group of their eight Goldens and
getting breakfasts ready. By the time
Mardi gets home from work, Clyde has
all the dogs fed and Mardi will exercise
the pack. He is meticulous as far as the
grooming, while she contributes more
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Clean Run - August 2014

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