Clean Run - September 2013 - 26

© MARY BASU

Trainer: Lisa Kucharski
Base: Cleveland, Ohio
Years competing in agility: 13
Venues of competition: AKC and USDAA
Number of national competitions:
USDAA 3, AKC 7
Number of international competitions: 1
Dogs: Australian Shepherds: Dust, age
11; Finesse, age 6; Kismet, age 16 months;
Mystic, age 4 months.
Greatest accomplishment: Returning
to agility from patellar realignment
knee surgery.
Best piece of advice to give: “It’s OK
to abandon a goal if you aren’t enjoying
the work to obtain it—but don’t let
fear of failure be the thing that gets in
your way.”

Training
with the Stars
Lisa Kucharski

© BARRY ROSEN, WWW.BARRYROSEN.COM

By Sally Silverman

Lisa Kucharski still considers herself an agility newbie, even though
she has stood on the podium at the 2011 USDAA Cynosport Games
holding a blue ribbon. What made her first-place Grand Prix run even
more special was that her partner, Finesse, a little black Australian

Best piece of advice received:
“Stop trying so hard to be perfect,”
from Linda Mecklenburg.

Shepherd, is the only non-Border Collie to ever win the competition

Favorite treat: Aussies will work for
pocket lint!

World Agility Open Championships.

Favorite training tool: Jealousy. “If one
dog doesn’t want to work, I get another
one. It works.”
Piece of technology that has helped
her training: YouTube. “I love to be able
to watch people from around the world
doing agility.”
In her training bag: Kibble, Hol-EE Roller
toy—it’s the only thing Finesse doesn’t
tear apart, human/dog first aid kit,
notebook, and something to write with.
What she would like people to think
about her: “That my dogs are happy and
that they love agility.”
Reminder: Try to reserve judgment.
Let people—and dogs—surprise you.
26

at 22". Lisa and Finesse also traveled to Spain to compete in the 2013

Opening the Door to Agility
“When I was a kid, I preferred horses to
dogs,” confesses Lisa, though there were
two dogs of which she was very fond.
One was her grandfather’s English Shepherd, the other, an Aussie belonging to
her riding instructor.
In 2000, she decided that a dog of her own
might be a good companion at the barn,
and a two-and-a-half year old rescue Aussie entered her life. “He had run amok all
of his life so I dove into the deep end
of dog training.” The horse soon needed
to be retired. Lisa had taken Murray to
training classes, and seen agility at horse

shows. Already accustomed to doing
competition with a four-legged partner,
the decision to try agility was a natural.
While Murray opened the door to agility, in 2001, serendipity connected her
with a nine-month-old puppy that stole
her heart. That was Dust, her Novice A
agility dog. Dust had tons of play drive
as well as some less desirable qualities,
such as reactivity. “She was,” says Lisa,
“a cool dog to learn with. She wanted to
play the game, started slow, and got faster. She was forgiving of my mistakes and
we accomplished quite a lot for a new
handler with her first agility dog.”
Clean Run | September 13
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Clean Run - September 2013

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