About Sylvie Fefer
Confessions of a dog agility trainer
I’ve been competing in agility since 2002. Many things have changed since then. Training has evolved, courses have gotten trickier, and I have gotten older.
When I represented Canada at the 2016 IFCS Championship in the Netherlands I looked around at my teammates and realized that I was the oldest one on the team. At first it was a little sobering. But then I embraced it. I was in shape and I could run and my partner was my well-trained Border Collie Zappa. I was not yet 60. Close, but not quite.
Now I am more than halfway to 70. I want to be able to run agility with my dogs well into my 80s, and the only way that I’ll be able to do that is to train smarter!
With that in mind, I’ve created a step by step agility training plan to help me stay in the game longer, and I’d like to share it with you.
Are you READY to become an agility Distance Diva?
Sylvie Fefer has owned and trained 5 agility dogs. Each one of them has been different. Each one of them has taught her things…
Django
This adorable Border Terrier was my first agility dog. She was supposed to be my young son’s dog, but you know how that goes… Django and I started taking agility classes in 2000 and went to our first competiiton in 2002.
What she taught me:
Django was my gateway dog into agility! She taught me to love the sport and to love dog training. She wasn’t a confident dog, so rewards were important to keep her in the game. Despite that, in 2003 she became the AAC Canadian National Champion in the 6″ Special category.
Dizzy
My second agility dog was a confident and fast Border Terrier. By the time I got Dizzy I had more handling skills, and to this day he is my most titled dog. He and I travelled to many big competitions across Canada and the US. Twice he was the BC Agility Regional Champion!
What he taught me:
Dizzy was all heart and a fabulous terrier. He taught me the value of training a start line stay and that the dog is never wrong! If your dog makes a mistake, he either misunderstood you, or you didn’t train the skill correctly, or maybe you didn’t train the skill at all!
Zappa
Then I decided I wanted to try running a bigger faster dog and I entered the world of the Border Collie. Zappa was my third agility dog. In his day, his work ethic was amazing. Going from running small terriers to a long strided Border Collie was quite an education for me! Zappa and I went from being a complete mess on course to representing Canada at the 2016 IFCS Championship in the Netherlands where he came in 4th place overall.
What he taught me:
Zappa was all about the work. Although rewards were nice, he would do it just for the fun of it. When I first started running him I felt panicked and rushed. He taught me that when the dog has skills and the handler makes good handling decisions and executes them well, time slows down.
Lulu
And then came Lulu, my fourth agility dog. She is blazingly fast and still competing. It’s a good thing she wasn’t my first Border Collie! She earned the title Agility Trial Champion of Canada (ATChC) and is continuing to rack up more titles!
What she taught me:
Lulu is very senstive to her environment. She always has a lot to say about everything and she doesn’t do it quietly. Lulu taught me to listen to her concerns. She also encouraged me to make better decisions on course so I could stay ahead of her.
Bix
This up and comer is a sports mix with only 50% terrier but in his mind he is 110% terrier. My fifth agility dog, Bix, is a powerhouse, super fast and loves the game of agility. Despite being at the beginning of his competiiton career, he was the 2023 Canada West UKI Fall Cup Speedstakes Challenge Champion!!
What he is teaching me:
Bix is not an easy dog. He is teaching me patience. He has taught me that breaking down the training into smaller bits in order to be super clear and minimize frustration and failure is essential. And that even naughty teenage dogs can turn into kickass agility dogs.