Rock-It’s a winner

It was the week after Super Bowl Sunday, but all eyes remained glued to the television at the Davis household on Feb. 12. That included the watchful stare of Rock-It, a 14-pound Shetland sheepdog who made his national television debut as a champion. The 2-year-old missile of energy locked his eyes onto the screen when the Animal Planet network aired his winning run of the American Kennel Club’s National Agility Championship.

“I’ve never seen him watch TV before,” said trainer Barb Davis, a Newman Lake resident who teaches math at North Idaho College.

Rock-It won the 12-inch division in the competition, which took place in Tampa, Fla., in January. He torpedoed through tunnels, lunged across A-frames and barreled through weave poles like a bullet of gray and white fluff. The young pup brought home trophy, ribbon and cash prize, while gaining the confidence to compete for a spot on the USA Agility World Team this May. That could take Davis to an international competition of Olympic stature in the canine world.

The thrill of success isn’t new to Davis, or to Rock-It’s lineage. His father, Shimmer, has been on the USA Agility World Team five times, taking Davis along on his travels to Europe and paying her way with dog food sponsors. Shimmer brought home two team silver medals and eighth place in the individual world competition, plus won the United States Dog Agility Association National Championships in 1999.

“Shimmer has been an incredible dog,” Davis said.

Shimmer competed in Tampa this year and at age 10 still managed an eighth-place win. Along with their athleticism, father and son have in common the urge to please their handler.

“He has some things his father had,” Davis said of Rock-It. “He really tries to figure out what you want. You don’t typically see 2-year-olds doing so well. It takes so long for them to really understand.”

Davis credits another of her champions, a border collie named Zest, with fueling Rock-It’s high-powered motor. Rock-It adores Zest and has followed her at top accelerations since puppy-hood.

Besides developing coordination and speed, dogs must be able to follow the signals of their trainers as they make their way around fences, poles and hoops. Before competing, the dogs have just eight minutes to look over the course. They run against the clock and must master proper technique, such as the correct placement of their paws before they jump from a teeter-totter.

Davis has been showing dogs for 35 years and began concentrating on agility 10 years ago. She has six dogs and five of them compete. She has been teaching math at NIC since 1991 and can’t help but interject dog stories into her geometry lessons.

Whether it’s the path a dog takes as he leaps through the air or the angles he turns to race to the next obstacle, math and dog agility go hand-in-hand for Davis.

“This sport fits me well,” she said. “If you train your dog right you don’t need to be fast.”

Davis admits that she wasn’t much of an athlete before and had to learn to run to keep up with the dogs. Her analytical mind works on strategies that will help shave seconds from the dog’s performance time. She developed signals that let the dogs know where they are headed after each exercise, enabling them to run faster. She offers seminars across the Northwest on handling techniques. Her husband Jeff is supportive and launched a side business crafting and selling agility equipment.

Davis believes that agility classes offer a nice change from obedience classes, which may be too formal for some active dogs.

“If you have a busy dog at home it gives them something to do,” she said. “It’s a big confidence-builder for dogs.”

Training time feels like play time to the dogs, and Davis finds they get grumpy if she doesn’t make time to run them through their backyard obstacle course. Rock-It is the 22nd dog she has trained and Davis believes he may be the first dog she’s had with enough speed to bring home a gold medal at the world competition, which will be in Switzerland this October.

Although her house is filled with trophies and ribbons to prove her dedication to her sport, most important to her is that the dogs have fun.

“They can become quite ethical, trying to do what you want,” she said. “But if the dog’s not happy, you can’t win.”