In a sport where she is mainly competing against adult handlers and their dogs, 16-year-old Lisa Petterson set a goal to qualify, with her dog Toby, for the Agility Association of Canada (AAC) Canadian National Dog Agility Championships.
She was inspired to compete at a higher level after volunteering at nationals last year in Nanaimo. It was there she set a goal to compete at that level with Toby within a year.
In order to qualify for nationals, a dog/handler team must attend a regional event (held in June in most Canadian provinces), where they need to accumulate more than 350 points by competing in six different runs – two Standard, two Jumpers and two Gamble. A Standard run consists of all agility equipment – tunnels, jumps, weave poles, dog walk, A-frame and teeter, done in a particular order and in a specified time, while a Jumpers run only has jumps and tunnels but is a much faster run. A Gamble run can have any equipment, but a section of the run is completed with the handler staying behind a line and sending their dog to a sequence of equipment from a distance.
Petterson competed in the BC Regionals event in Langley in early June with two dogs – Toby, her self-trained eight-year-old Golden Retriever, who she has competed with for two years, and a friend’s dog, Marietta Bolt’s six-year-old Australian kelpie, Rogue, who Petterson has only been competing with since March. Both dogs easily accumulated enough points to qualify for nationals, and exceeded Petterson’s expectations for the event, with each placing in the top six in two events, and Toby with an overall podium placement.
Along with a third-place finish in a Standard run, and a fifth-place finish in a Jumpers run, Toby placed fifth overall in his height/class category which had 24 dogs. Meanwhile, although Rogue only placed 23rd overall in her category, hers was a much more competitive category with more than 50 dogs. She and Petterson placed first in a Gamble run, and second in a Jumpers run – a great accomplishment for a young handler in her first regional event.
Petterson has been a quick study; she just started doing agility with her dog in 2010 in the backyard with homemade equipment.
“I love the excitement and fast pace of agility,” she says. “It’s fun and challenging to teach my dogs new things.”
Petterson and Toby will be attending the AAC Nationals event in Edmonton Aug 2 to 4, a goal reached after countless hours of training and weekends at local agility trials in Lavington, Armstrong, Kamloops and Kelowna. She trains locally with Nan Cowin of Paws for Fun Dog Training, at a Kelowna Outreach program with Kim Collins (Pawsitive Steps) and at seminars and online with Justine Davenport. Petterson is also excited about finally having an opportunity to compete and connect with other junior handlers at the Junior National event, held the day before the regular nationals event.