First Two All-American Dogs Selected for AKC World Agility Team

AKC Canine Partner News

More history is being made in the AKC Canine Partners program with the selection of the first two mixed-breed dogs to represent the United States on an American Kennel Club world agility team. 

MACH2 Maier's Tuck Everlastin MXS MJG NF (Tucker) and MACH2 Roo! CD MXS MJS (Roo!) are part of the AKC/USA World Agility Team that competed at the FCI European Open. The event took place from July 25-28 in Neeroeteren, Belgium. 

Both Tucker and Roo! had some great rounds at the event. Tucker placed 34th in Medium Individual Agility and 51st in Medium Individual Agility Jumping. Roo! placed 88th in Large Individual Agility. This is out of hundreds of the top dogs from around the world. 

Both Tucker and Roo! are former shelter dogs who have come a long way to become agility super stars.

Tucker's owner, Kelly Maier of Monroe, Wash., had never even heard of agility when she adopted him from a Seattle-area shelter. MACH2 Maier's Tuck Everlastin MXS MJG NF

"I had never trained a dog before, let alone in agility. When I adopted him from the shelter when he was 10 weeks old, they highly suggested I do some training with him because he was ‘a little keg of dynamite' and might be hard to handle. So I started in general obedience. I loved training him. I followed with several more advanced training and tricks classes. My tricks instructor suggested that I try agility. I had no idea what it even was. But I found a beginning class and enrolled. We struggled for some time but I was determined. And here we are." 

Here is a really good place to be. Tucker was one of the first mixed-breeds in the country to earn the AKC Master Agility Championship (MACH) and was one of the two first All-Americans to qualify for the AKC National Agility Championship (NAC). This year, 8-year-old Tucker made the finals of the 16-inch division at the NAC, placing seventh, and had an outstanding showing at the AKC World Agility Team try-outs. 

"I was so proud of Tucker when I learned he and I made the team. I know we worked really hard but you never know how you will stack up against the others. I was so excited that we were even going to be able to go to try-outs that making the team is beyond my wildest dreams." 

MACH2 Roo! was once a homeless dog wandering in a park and now is an agility superstar, and part of the AKC World Agility Team.

The other mixed-breed team member, Roo!, is a 6-year-old shepherd mix who was found running loose in San Francisco as an 11-month-old puppy and taken to the San Francisco SPCA. She was rude, jumpy and mouthy and very dog reactive. Luckily, the shelter workers discovered that she was "really a big mush" and needed a job. 

But Roo! proved to be a lot of dog for a family pet. After her second adopters returned her to the shelter, SPCA trainer Stacey Campbell thought she might be just the dog she needed for her new competition obedience prospect and took her home. 

"She was an out of control, untrained adolescent dog with an endless supply of energy, and for the first six months, we focused on basic house manners and learning how to redirect her enthusiasm for life. Soon we started to train for competition obedience, and Roo! breezed through her Companion Dog title and quickly earned her first 2 CDX legs. While we were training for obedience, we started agility as something fun to do together, and Roo! loved it." 

Today, Roo! is not only a MACH2 but she is one of the top dogs in AKC Agility — all breeds. In the past six months, she won the 24-inch divisions at the AKC Agility Invitational and the AKC National Agility Championship and earned a spot on the 2013 AKC/USA World Agility Team. 

"I think years of training finally came together. I became more confident in my handling and started to trust Roo! more out on course," Campbell said. "Her confidence definitely grew as well as her level of excitement to get into the ring." 

Roo! turned in some winning performances at the World Team Try-outs in early May, which surpassed Campbell's expectations for the event. Making the team was a huge surprise, she said. 

"My goal for try-outs was just to have fun and try something new. I never expected to make the team," Campbell said. "In fact, I wasn't even expecting to have clean runs." 

Both Maier and Campbell had some great runs at the international event on the courses that tend to be tighter and more technical than what US agility competitors experience. 

•     See video of Tucker in action at the world games ► 

•     See Stacey and Roo! in action at the AKC World Team Try-outs here ► 

See the results from the European open ►