Rizzo makes her way from the parking lot to the training space.
Trotting alongside her owner Hannah Eskow, the 22-month-old Jack Russell terrier is calm, if not happy to be out of the car.
But as soon as she enters the training area her eyes light up and she’s a tongue-hanging, tail-wagging, barking bundle of energy.
It takes her a few tries, distracted by the stranger taking photos and the prospect of treats, which Hannah keeps hidden in closed fists. Then, taking the cue from her owner, Rizzo takes off – effortlessly zigzagging through a series of plastic poles in an agility exercise called weaving.
“That’s a good girl,” fawns Hannah, rewarding Rizzo with praise and scratches behind the ears, before leading her to the next part of the course.
Rizzo happily obliges – running through tunnels and jumping over competition gates with speed, ease and enthusiasm.
Rizzo is Hannah’s newest competition dog. Actually she isn’t quite a competition dog – yet. She’s still in training. Instead, Hannah refers to the pup as her travel companion.
She’s been to training seminars and workshops as far as Finland.
As with most Jack Russell terriers Rizzo has a mind of her own. Hannah shares a story about how the pooch decided to go swimming in the Baltic Sea as the tide started to turn. It ends with a very muddy Hannah emerging from the icy waters with an uncooperative Rizzo tucked under her arm.
But Hannah wouldn’t have chosen an easier dog to train if it jumped into her lap and begged her to bring it home. She also owns two pitbulls and a French bulldog. She likes “difficult” dogs; they challenge her.
Hannah began competing at age 11. She had saved up all her money (earned through a series of odd jobs and lawn mowing) to buy a dog, under the condition that she train it herself.
“I bought books; I read up on it. I was on YouTube,” she says.
After about six months, Hannah’s mom had enough of the “holy terror” that was Eddie the Maltese cockapoo mix, and handed her daughter a card to a local dog training company. “I felt totally defeated,” remembers Hannah.
But it just so happens that the company offered dog sport training.
Hannah thought why not? She had seen agility events on TV before and had always been interested in trying, so she signed up.
Ten years later, she has two top Canadian junior handler titles, (2013 and 2014), a third place weight division medal (2014) and her own canine coaching business, called Free Spirit Training Services, under her belt.
What started as curiosity, and a mild case of competitiveness, developed into a passion.
“There’s nothing like the feeling of running a clean run,” says Hannah.
For a dog and a trainer to be successful they have to click. They have to understand each other and work as a team. That’s the magic behind dog sports – the creation of a deeper connection with your pet, says the 21-year-old.
“In that moment – that 30 seconds when you’re running through the course with your dog – all I can say is that you know you’re totally connected,” explains Hannah. “Sometimes you can feel after a run that everything was in sync. Every move you made, your dog read and you read that they read that. Sometimes at the end you don’t even notice that there are tens, sometimes hundreds of people around you, because it’s just you and your dog.”
Alanna St. Jean, owner of RexPlex, a new, large, dog training facility in Sturgeon County, just began dog sport training with her dog Jake.
“I love it, I have to admit. You look at it and it’s kind of nerdy, but when your dog starts looking at you and starts reading your body language and you know he’s having fun and he’s happy, it’s really fun,” she says.
Alanna began her business as a way to make money, while being able to stay at home and raise kids. She started out by simply renting to a dog agility trainer in need of space. Now that her children are older, and she has witnessed the enthusiasm of Edmonton’s dog sport community, Alanna has been expanding her offerings, tweaking her business model, and trying some dog sports out for herself.
“I think it’s important to understand what motivates people to do it. I don’t think you can be good at providing a service if you don’t understand it,” she says.
A bigger dog, Jake prefers weight pull to agility. “He’s a weight lifter instead of a gymnast,” says Alanna.
Basically a canine version of a tractor pull, weight pull is when you teach a dog to pull a weighted cart for competition. It helps him use up unspent energy, says Alanna.
Dog sports are huge in the capital region. In fact, Edmonton has the highest concentration of world level competitors in North America.
And there is no shortage of activities to choose from.
Energetic and loud, fly ball pits four dogs in a hurdle-type relay race. Dogs jump over gates to a box, which releases a tennis ball. The dog must catch the tennis ball and return it over a start line before the next dog can go.
Disc dog is also popular in the region. There are competitions for distance catching, toss and fetch and choreographed freestyle catching.
“One of the coolest things about disc is the freestyle part. You put together a routine to music that involve discs – so launching off your back or bouncing off of your leg to catch a disc,” says Hannah.
There’s also rally obedience, where dogs are asked to perform a series of obedience skills in a circuit-like fashion. The perform feats like high jump; splash dogs; earth dog, where a dog is tasked with sniffing out and digging up caged rats; music heelwork; and even dog parkour (jumping off structures).
While it’s important to find the right sport to test your dog’s mental and physical prowess, based on its personality, there’s a common denominator to all options: the strengthening of the human-canine bond.
“It’s something that’s really valuable for anybody who wants to build a better connection with their dog, even if they don’t want to compete,” says Hannah.
“It just gets you connecting with your dog at a way deeper level.”
