On a typical agility course, the most common breeds you’ll spot are Shetland Sheepdogs, Border Collies, Australian Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, and Papillons. But, Robin Kletke, an AKC Agility judge and handler, and his wife Robin Cohen are challenging the norm with their 8-year-old Afghan Hound “Dazzle.”
The 2026 AKC National Agility Championship is slated to take place on March 19-22 in Temecula, California, and will see these breeds display their speed and wits — and Kletke hopes to be there with Dazzle to further prove that Afghan Hounds are worthy competitors.
Starting Out in Agility with Afghans
Cohen is an agility trial secretary, and has always been a fan of Afghan Hounds. This led the couple to bringing home “Coco” and “Star” in 1995. Both demonstrated a restless energy that the couple decided needed to be released beyond walks outside.
“My wife was watching one of our dogs jump up on the bathroom counter and walk across the counter, turn the corner, and walk across the other edge of the counter, [and] not knock anything over,” Kletke says. “So we thought, well, we’ll try agility.”
The breed is known for being loyal, but also aloof which proved to be a challenge in the beginning stages of agility training.
“We almost got kicked out because Afghans didn’t really know how to come when they were called,” he says.
With patience and persistence, Kletke was able to help Coco and Star become the first two Afghans in the American Kennel Club to get agility titles. From then on, he’s competed with the breed and used his past experiences to guide his training.
Discovering the Right Motivation
Having owned Papillons, Border Collies, and Afghans all at the same time, Kletke’s no stranger to switching up his training methods depending on the breed. “There are a million different ways to motivate a dog, there’s a million different ways to reward a dog, and a million different ways to train them,” Kletke says.
With the latter two breeds, he could give them food, toys, and praise to help them. Repetition was also key to mastering skills needed for the sport. For Dazzle, it’s running.
“We learned to treat the running back to the house, running back to the back door to go back inside, that was the reward,” Kletke says. His other breeds could stand training sessions where skills were drilled and repeated, but with Dazzle, that only risked messing it up. “An Afghan looks at [a skill] and says look, I did it once correctly, well now I’ll do it again and [since] you didn’t like it the first time, I’ll do something else,” Kletke says.
Running a course requires a different tactic, too. Keltke’s Papillons and Border Collies are what he describes as “point-and-shoot” breeds, but with Dazzle, he has to stay within her eyesight at all times.
“If you’re behind [Afghans] calling directions and commands, it’s way more difficult. And [Dazzle] is so much faster than I could ever be … so I just try to stay in her line of sight and direct her where she’s supposed to go,” he says.
Gaining a New Perspective as an Agility Judge
Eight years after he started competing with his dogs, Kletke took his love for the sport to the next level. In 2003, he became an AKC agility judge. This experience has brought him around the country and allowed him to see how other handlers navigate their dogs on the course. What’s been the most helpful for him though? Learning from the novice sessions.
“I get to see exactly what dogs see instead of what handlers tell them to see because the handlers are new,” he says. “They’re not trying to handle and haven’t been trained as tightly as an excellent masters … It gives me a different perspective of, you know, timing for commands and what other people are doing.”
Making History for Afghans
Dazzle wasn’t the first Afghan Hound that Kletke took into the ring, but she’s the the first one in the history of the breed to earn the Agility Grand Championship (AGCH). She got the title at the Evergreen Afghan Hound Club Trial in February 2025.
Even though her training may not be traditional, Kletke has found success reframing his philosophy around agility. Through it, he and Dazzle haven’t just grown as a team, but bonded in a way that goes deeper than a traditional pet-and-owner relationship.
“[I’ve been] the most proud of Dazzle when she and I, together, whether we qualify or not, leave the ring having had a good time, and are happy with each other.
Any Dog Could Do It
With years of experience with the breed and as an agility judge on his resume, Kletke has proved a great deal. Just because a breed hasn’t competed in a dog sport category, doesn’t mean they can’t step into the ring.
Not every run will be perfect though. “There are times that I will stand in the middle of the ring with Dazzle, and she’s gone crazy and she’s running the rings,” Kletke says. “I’m just like, ‘OK, this is what we’re doing now,’ and [I] just go with it and laugh.”
Both friends and strangers he encourages to get involved with Afghans or other sighthounds, but not without adding that patience is key, as well as making practice the most fun place for them to be.
“If you can make them happy in the ring, and you can keep it short and sweet and train them that way, you can get a lot out of them,” he says.