Antonia Rotelle believes in the saying, “jack of all trades, master of none.” She and her Cavalier King Charles Spaniels have been honing their agility skills since 2009. “My dogs love agility, and that’s where my heart lies,” she says. Everything about the sport is exciting, from the adrenaline rush to the friends she’s made in the agility world.
With six Cavaliers in tow, Rotelle is the handler with the most dogs competing at the 2023 AKC Agility Invitational taking place on December 16 and 17 in Orlando, FL. They include 9-year-old “Dot,” 8-year-old “Zoom,” 6-year-old “Dodge,” 6-year-old “Dart,” 5-year-old “Bonus,” and 3-year-old “Spirit.” The 18th AKC Agility Invitational is part of the AKC National Championship Week, featuring the top 5 ranked agility dogs from each breed.
Rotelle and her Agility Cavaliers
Cavaliers are Rotelle’s breed of choice, and she currently has 10 of them. “They’re the sweetest, most generous dogs you’ll ever encounter,” she said. She also has a Golden Retriever, Mr. T, who she shows while her son is away at college. Mr. T steps in as “referee” if any of the dogs start tousling.
Her journey with the breed started 20 years ago with “Charlie,” who came from a breeder in Ireland. The following year, she got a female, “Pansy.” “She was everything you could ask for in a dog: patient, loving, and kind,” she said.
A neighbor who taught agility classes noticed Pansy’s loyalty to Rotelle. She convinced Rotelle these traits would make them the perfect agility team. “I credit her with starting me in this and pushing me to be better,” she said. Pansy entered her first agility trial at 5 years old. She made it into the AKC Agility Invitational in 2012 and finished sixth in the finals.
“It took me four more years to make finals again,” she said. “I made a lot of mistakes with Pansy, but I guess we must have done a few things right.” She ended up with 21 MACHs and three PACHS. Pansy competed until she was 14 years old, and wasn’t thrilled about retiring. She lived to be 17 years old — Rotelle attributed Pansy’s good health to agility.
Aside from her large crew of Cavaliers, Rotelle also has a big family: two daughters, two sons, and a granddaughter. She hopes her granddaughter will also someday get involved in dog sports.
Of the Cavaliers that she has now, “Dot,” AGCH MACH28 Kayangee Dorothy Parker MXB8 PDS MJS9 PJS MFG TQX T2B5 CGC, is the most well-known. Aside from winning the 2022 8″ Division at the AKC Agility Invitational, it’s Dot’s third year as a top MACH dog. Zoom (PNAC MACH10 PACH7 Kayangee Wishing Well Excuse My Dust MXG3 MJB4 MXP20 MXPC2 MJP22 MJPB3 PAX7 CGC), is also an accomplished competitor, winning the invitational and nationals and being named top PACH dog of the year.
Despite their success, it hasn’t been easy. Last spring, Rotelle tore her meniscus, and Dot developed a serious liver condition. Since then, they’ve both thankfully recovered. Even after this, Rotelle says that Dot continues to outrun the other dogs in her division, often by three to four seconds.
A Family Tree of Canine Athletes
A few years into Pansy’s agility career, Rotelle started looking for another agility dog to grow her team. That’s when she found Dash, who is now 13 years old. She got the dog from a dear friend, who was breeding Cavaliers from champion agility dogs. Dash was part of this litter, and the rest is history: they were a perfect match.
Not too many Cavalier breeders had a focus on agility, so it took two years for Rotelle to find a female to breed to Dash when the time came. By then, Pansy and Dash had made names for themselves in agility, and Rotelle found a breeder willing to sell her a puppy. Rotelle was looking for a well-built dog — and got far more than she ever expected.
The dog that she got from this breeder was Dot, who Rotelle describes as “an absolutely phenomenal little dog.” Given her skills in the ring, they ended up not putting a hold on her career. Instead, they chose to breed Dot’s littermate to Dash. From there, Dart (MACH18 Kayangee Queen Of Hearts MXS5 MJB6 OF T2B CGC), and Dodge, (AGCH MACH15 Kayangee Double Down MXC4 PDS MJC5 PJS MFG TQX T2B5 CGC), were born. Later on, she got Bonus (MACH6 Kayangee Here We Go Again MXS2 MJG3), and then Zoom, who won the AKC Agility Invitational in 2018. Zoom was handled by Rotelle’s son, Anthony Rotelle, a multi-year top junior for agility. Despite having back issues and a heart murmur, Zoom is still running strong, and her doctors recommend agility to keep her fit.
Rotelle now has three generations of Cavaliers. Dodge has a son, “Dutch,” a 3-year-old male. Spirit, MACH8 Kayangee Spirit Of Love MXC2 MJS3 XF T2B, is the same age, and the youngest of the group competing at the invitational this year. “I’m pretty sure Spirit was born knowing how to do agility,” she said. “She’s a natural at it. She’s only 3 years old and already has nine MACHs. Every time I get a dog, one comes along and sets the bar higher. That’s what we’re all out to do, better ourselves.”
Keeping Agility in Mind When Training Puppies in Obedience
Rotelle focuses on a puppy’s toy drive and how they pay attention. “I like a dog that looks me straight in the eye and says ‘what’s next,'” she said. “I like a thoughtful dog, one that sits back and watches things.” This description fits Dash to a tee, but she says that he can also be quite serious and prone to overthinking.
Between the ages of 2 and 10 months old, her puppies are learning body awareness, including their left and right. Rotelle says it’s good to give them basic obedience training during this time. “That’s absolute prime time to be pouring information into puppies,” she said. “Agility is all about moving their feet and learning how to use their bodies.”
These basic skills become building blocks for more complex maneuvers. “Cavaletti on the ground turns into weave poles,” she said. “I like to teach my puppies a down from a stand because that carries over to a teeter where they have to rock their weight back.”
Since Rotelle can’t move as quickly as her dogs on the agility course, she trains them to look straight ahead. “That’s the quickest way to get them to jump off a teeter or go around a weave pole,” she said. “Everything is about going forward and having fun.”
Support From the Agility Community
It’s rare for a weekend to go by without Rotelle and at least three of her dogs competing. When asked what it’s like to handle multiple dogs, her answer is always the same: “I do this every weekend.” She admits that running six dogs in quick succession can be exhausting, but when her dogs make it into the top five, she thinks they deserve the chance to compete. Plus, the organizers help by spacing out their runs so that she can get a break in between.
Sometimes, Rotelle says that people complain about the number of dogs she runs, but more often, their hand is outstretched, ready to help with whatever she needs. “Even through bad things that have happened in my life, the agility community always came through for me,” she said. They were especially supportive when her husband passed away.
Rotelle credits her trainer and dear friends who help keep her spirits up and helps with the dogs. “I get too serious, stressed out, and excited, and that’s not good because Dot is very attuned to me,” she said. “If Dot gets excited, it turns into a train wreck because she’s so fast. She reads me like a book, so I have to stay calm.”
Her Cavaliers Rarely Disappoint
When her dogs make a mistake, Rotelle says usually she’ll ignore it, focusing on positive reinforcement training. She’ll have them try again until she gets the proper response. Then, they have a huge party. “I believe in pumping up a dog’s ego,” she said. “I want my dogs to believe they’re the best agility dogs on earth.” Her Cavaliers often compete against faster breeds, so she tries to encourage them while acknowledging that not every dog will be a superstar.
For instance, Bonus doesn’t have the same level of coordination as her other dogs. Because of this, she’s spent a lot of time working with him on very specific things. “It doesn’t come easy to him while it’s like second nature for the others,” she said. “That boy gives me a hundred percent every time he steps into the ring, and I’ve never had a dog who loves me more than he does,” she said. Plus, his hard work is paying off: Bonus recently got MACH 7.
Her advice for agility enthusiasts is to respect your dogs and keep it fun. “If you see a video of Dot running, she barks the entire time, and her tail never stops wagging,” she said. “I see how hard they work and how hard they try.”
For Rotelle, it will be hard to beat last year’s performance when Dot won, and Dodge was third in the 12-inch division. Still, she’s hoping for an even better outcome this time. “It’s a fun event and one of the highlights of my year,” she said. “My dogs love agility, and it’s all about fun for them.”