Monday, January 05, 2004
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NEWSMAKERS: Las Vegan's pooch shows off agility skills at national event

Kimberly Sisak's papillon Phoebe makes big splash at AKC competition

Kimberly Sisak poses with Phoebe and the award they garnered at the recent American Kennel Club National Agility Championships in Long Beach, Calif.

When Kimberly Sisak attended the Magical Mutt Show at the Excalibur eight years ago, she never thought she would be jumping through hoops to train her dogs. Luckily, it was just the dogs going through hoops, not Sisak.

The 31-year-old Las Vegan and her papillon Bomar's Beanie Baby -- whose call name is Phoebe -- competed in the final round of the American Kennel Club National Agility Championships in Long Beach, Calif., Dec. 2-4. Sisak and Phoebe beat more than 140 other entrants to land in the final round. Phoebe had the fastest time, but because of one fault, landed in 10th place.

The competitions are two-day trials. The first day is the standard course in which a dog runs all obstacles: seesaws, A-frames, a dog walk and weave poles. The second day consists of jumpers and weave poles and focuses on speed. The fastest dog with the fewest faults wins.

"Phoebe is 4, and I'm her third owner. I got her at one year," Sisak said. "Her (previous) owner had taken her to obedience class and had been told to `leave the obedience class, your (dog's) a waste of time, untrainable.' "

That didn't deter Sisak from pursuing her goals. After training Phoebe for more than a year, the Las Vegan entered her in several competitions and won the 2001 United States Dog Agility Association Dog Agility Steeplechase Championship and is a two-time USDAA national finalist.

Dog agility as a sport differs from the conventional dog shows one might see on television in which handlers are more concerned with breeding, appearance and attentiveness. Dog agility competitions focus on the speed and accuracy of the dog.

"My parents competed in obedience (competitions) with poodles," Sisak noted. "So I've been around dog training my whole life."

Sisak works for the Iams pet food company as a vet sales associate and trains papillons in her spare time. She also runs her own business called Mad Dash Dog Agility, where she offers seminars and lessons.

She was inspired to enter her dogs in agility competitions after taking in the show at the Excalibur and began training her first papillon, Jasper, who is now 8.

When she is training her dogs she breaks the training up into doggy-sized pieces.

"I train them every day in five-minute intervals," Sisak said. "It keeps up their level of excitement, they retain more in a short session and it keeps them motivated to do their job."

Sisak now has three dogs: Jasper, Phoebe and Phoebe's offspring, Devo. She said Devo is a good example of agility training, since she has been working with him since puppyhood. It took about a year and a half to train Devo, and he is getting ready for competitions this year.

Sisak has her eye on international competitions next. "We have the world team (qualifying rounds) in May in Minnesota. The U.S. World Team will then compete in Italy this October."

Sisak and Phoebe's December competition is scheduled to air at 5 p.m. Feb. 8 on Animal Planet.

If you know of a worthy candidate for the Newsmakers column, mail information to: Monique Frigard, Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125-0070. Send faxes to 383-4676 or send e-mail to mfrigard@reviewjournal.com.