For Kristin Platzer of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, the 2023 AKC Trick Dog National Competition wasn’t just about the chance to do tricks. It was a life-changing experience for her and her senior Shih Tzu “Lucy,” who is facing a terminal illness.
Lucy was an accomplished sports dog, actively competing in obedience, AKC Rally, agility, Trick Dog, AKC Scent Work, and Barn Hunt. Throughout her lifetime, she earned over 90 titles and was a therapy dog, dedicating hundreds of hours to volunteer service. Trick Dog allowed her to stay active until the end of her life.
The Power of Trick Dog
In 2023, Lucy was diagnosed with a terminal illness that rapidly changed the active life she had with Platzer. Many of Lucy’s favorite activities were no longer an option. Platzer had to get creative to keep Lucy mentally active and engaged. As part of her illness, Lucy lost most of her sight and hearing. As she was no longer able to participate in sports and activities, Lucy started expressing symptoms of depression, which was hard for Platzer to watch.
In 2022, Lucy was awarded the #1 Shih Tzu award in the national AKC Trick Dog Competition. Before her illness, Platzer had planned to enter again in 2023 with Lucy. After she got sick, Platzer assumed the national competition would be too difficult for Lucy, just like most other sports. Then, Platzer saw “how depressed she was and that she still wanted to do things with me.”
Platzer got creative and started thinking about how Trick Dog was a sport still accessible to Lucy. When putting the routine together for Lucy in 2023, Platzer made sure to take Lucy’s newfound physical limitations into account. Platzer selected tricks that wouldn’t be too strenuous for Lucy’s current health and only did short practice sessions as they put the routine together.
To assist Lucy, Platzer also ensured that props were kept in exactly the same location during practice, since Lucy had lost so much vision that she couldn’t always make out the location of the trick props. Even though Lucy had been able to do a more complicated routine a year previously, 2023 was just about having fun together. Platzer was thrilled to be working with Lucy, and most importantly, so was Lucy. “She was happy! This was something we could still do, we could do at her pace, and we could do it at home.” The team’s 2023 routine for the AKC National Trick Dog Competition was a medley of fairy tales, including Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and The Three Little Pigs.
Defying Breed Expectations
While all breeds of dogs can compete in AKC sports, people tend to think of certain breeds when it comes to performance sports, and Shih Tzu aren’t often on that list. “We participated in hundreds of trials, and at almost all of them, Lucy was the only Shih Tzu. I loved watching her have fun in all of these different games, and watching people’s reactions to her,” Platzer proudly recalls.
Defying expectations and showing that toy breeds can be great sports dogs is important to Platzer. “Shih Tzu were never bred to do a job, so they have no job programmed into their DNA,” she says. “It is definitely very different to train a toy breed than most other breeds.” Platzer loves the breed and training with them, and she now has a young Shih Tzu puppy at home named “Chia,” following in Lucy’s paw prints.
Part of making training fun for Shih Tzus and any other dog, according to Platzer, is about building a love of training from the start. “I begin training my puppies the first day they come home, starting with activities that build a desire to do things with me, pay attention to me, and basic foundational skills,” she says.
For her, a dog’s enjoyment of the sport always comes first. “She was a great ambassador for the breed, showing all the things a Shih Tzu can do. She not only did everything with her tail wagging, she also earned over 100 1st places and many other high placements and awards,” she adds.
The wins would be impressive for any dog, but Platzer points out that they are also a symbol of how much Lucy enjoyed training. “A Shih Tzu is not going to accomplish things like that unless she is enjoying what she is doing.” Platzer found that Shih Tzus are especially well-suited to Trick Dog due to the sport’s flexibility and how you can easily adapt it into a game.
The ‘Wolf’ She Didn’t Know She Was Looking For
As Platzer worked to put together Lucy’s 2023 National Trick Dog routine, she brought home another dog, though he was quite different. Platzer had previously trained “Diesel” to be a service dog for a veteran in her local community. When his owner passed away suddenly, Diesel needed a new home, and Platzer added him to her family. Although Platzer had trained him, Diesel was emotionally struggling to adjust after the death of his owner.
Platzer wondered if trick training could help, the same way it helped pull Lucy out of depression. Platzer had planned on Lucy’s fairy tale trick routine to involve a cardboard cutout of the big bad wolf, but with Diesel now in the family, he was quickly cast to play the role, and the three began training together. To earn the Elite Performer Trick Dog title, dog and handler teams must complete a routine together that uses tricks and props to tell a story. This same high-level trick-based storytelling is the basis for the AKC’s national Trick Dog competition, where dogs from around the country compete for overall prizes, as well as breed-specific awards.
“Diesel was a little more serious about following commands, but he was also very playful,” says Platzer. Even though they’re very different breeds, Lucy and Diesel had fun playfully training together. Platzer adds that Diesel also came out of his shell through trick training, overcoming his depression over the death of his former owner, and was a very convincing wolf for Lucy’s fairy tale routine.
Platzer admits it isn’t always easy coming up with ideas for her trick routines, noting that she thinks that is the hardest part. “Lucy knew a lot of things to use as tricks, and Diesel knew a fair amount, so the tricks were there, but it is really hard to figure out how to put them all together into a good routine.” She explained that while she doesn’t have a specific formula for creating successful routines, she spends a considerable amount of time thinking about how to create them.
Once Platzer has the idea for the routine, it’s time to put it together for her canine teammates. Choreography is the first step, “I begin with figuring out the layout that I am going to use for the routine, so I know how each trick is going to need to be done.” For Platzer, this involves determining the best positioning for each dog and selecting suitable props. She then prioritizes ensuring that her dogs understand their roles in the routine.
“I review the tricks I plan to use and practice them individually in the same way that they are going to be used in the routine. Once the tricks are going well, then I begin putting them together, a few at a time,” says Platzer. Making sure the dogs are having fun is always the top priority. “I make it all a fun game, and don’t worry about fine-tuning the details until my dog is showing she or he really knows the routine and is eagerly doing the routine.”
Preparing for a Tricky Goodbye
The hardest part of loving dogs is that their lifespan is so much shorter than ours. “I was devastated when Lucy suddenly became terminally ill. Overnight, she went from doing really well to being extremely ill. She was, and always will be, my heart dog. We had a truly magical connection, and she was a one-in-a-million dog,” Platzer recalls.
Not only was Lucy struggling with the physical limitations that prevented her from doing the activities she once loved, but this was also a very emotionally difficult time for Platzer, who knew that Lucy had limited time left. “At first, I started playing around with my new idea for a Trick Dog routine just to give her something to do, to try to help her be happy again.” She recalls that Lucy was happy when Diesel joined the family, and working with the dogs on that 2023 routine helped her to start to process Lucy’s terminal diagnosis.
The structure of putting the new trick routine together, along with the focus on having fun with Lucy, brought joy to a very difficult time in her life. “These months helped me focus on something other than that I was losing my Lucy, and gave me many reasons to smile, when most of the time I felt like crying. For several months, working on our routine was the most positive part of our days. We really had a good time, and there are so many special memories that I will always treasure.”
Not only can old dogs learn new tricks, but as Lucy showed, sometimes tricks also help old dogs live better lives. Platzer and Lucy’s 2023 fairy tale routine brought home another #1 Shih Tzu win for the team.