The spotlight shines on Hake and Carolyn Lathrop. Hake is a young Border Collie who works amazingly as a team with Carolyn, despite her physical limitations. Carolyn has a lung disease that requires her to be on an oxygen concentrator, but distance training and verbal communication have enabled them to succeed in agility. In the fall season, the two were part of the West Virginia-based team, Exquse Me, We’re Trying, that won the Regulation Sophomore Team Championship. This season, they return to League on The Mixed Nuts. “We had so much fun we could not pass up the chance to come back,” Carolyn said.
Call Name: Hake
Breed: Border Collie
Age: 2 ½ years
Registered name: Jaillbreak’s On the Lamb CDX OA OAJ XF
Owner: Carolyn Lathrop
City/State: Cumberland, MD
League Team & Division: The Mixed Nuts, Regulation Sophomore
Can you tell us about your physical limitations with running agility courses and how you have been able to overcome that to become a successful team with Hake?
Well, I am not sure how “successful” we are but we have a lot of fun trying. I was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease that requires me to be on oxygen and pretty much precludes exertion, such as running. I run wearing a portable oxygen concentrator, which is not all that light. This obviously means that I can’t be where I need to be very often and have to rely on distance training. Paradoxically, I may have been helped in this by the fact that I have always been a horrible handler, so I have taught all my agility dogs a lot of words.
How long have you been involved in dog sports, including agility?
I first became interested in dog sports when, as a probably 6-year-old child, my family went to look at all the dogs at the National Capital Kennel Club’s annual dog show. We were watching obedience. There was a child showing a Standard Poodle, and my father said to me “See? You could do that.” I remember thinking “Why yes…I could.” This was probably about 1958. When my family got a Miniature Poodle puppy in 1965, I read books about obedience training and got her CD, then joined a local club and went on to get her CDX before I left for college. I still have friends from dog training in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Did you know when you got Hake that you planned to do agility with him? If not, how did you make the decision?
I have done AKC agility basically from the outset. I remember travelling from Maryland to North Carolina with an Irish Water Spaniel to do the only class that was offered back then — Standard. A friend asked me what title my dog would get if we qualified. I had no idea. It just seemed like fun.
So, yes, I knew Hake would do agility. Both his parents have agility titles. Lori Vance, his breeder, tragically died, but another friend, Lisa DeMott, took in Hake’s mother, Molly, and is now working on her MACH. We think of Lori every time Hake or Molly does something noteworthy (good or bad).
What is Hake like to train and compete with?
As is typical of Border Collies, Hake loves to do stuff. Agility is his favorite game and even at the end of a long trial weekend when I am exhausted and just feeling like I want to go home, he is dragging me toward the practice jump, because he thinks a little more practice would be extremely fun.
What does Hake like to do on his time-off?
Hake does not believe in time off. He assigned himself the job of keeping the squirrels off the bird feeder so if there is nothing more interesting to do, he will do that.
What do you like best about the League and how has it helped you with training Hake?
That’s the easiest question. Our team captain, Nikki Hall is unbelievably generous with her time and expertise and support. She is incredibly intuitive about dogs and has been just amazing in figuring out ways that I can get Hake around the courses with minimal need for physical exertion. She supports everyone this way — taking into account every tiny nuance of dog and human limitations. She is amazingly inclusive in her love of the sport and helping other people enjoy it to the extent that they can.
Anything else you want to add?
Just that Hake and I are not planning to win any big time National Championships anytime (well, maybe HE is, but I am a bit more realistic) but agility is amazingly fun every single time we run. I have always liked being part of a team, and it is fun to have League teammates to root for and whose progress one can follow.