Agility League Team Captain Captures Two Wins at National Championship
Never in her wildest dreams did Marissa Hansen of Jackson, Wisconsin, imagine that she would be the team captain of two winning division teams and a division team that placed second at her first AKC Agility League National Championship.
“We are all part of the ‘Dream Team,’” says Hansen, who trains at Dream Acres Agility in Mequon, Wisconsin, of the winning Senior and PhD Division teams and the second-place Freshman Division team.
The formidable competition at the second annual AKC Agility League National Championship, held Aug. 29 to 31, 2024 at Purina Farms in Gray Summit, Missouri, included double the entries of the 2023 National Championship, a reflection of the popularity of the team sport.
“The League is still a very young program and continuing to grow,” says Penny Leigh, Director of the AKC Agility League. “At this year’s National, we had 60 teams, each composed of three to eight dogs, making for more than 300 dogs and 1,200 runs.”
Hansen, who recently notched her third year competing in dog agility, attributes much of the success of the teams in which she was captain to the head trainer and owner of Dream Acres Agility, Rachel Evers, and to the bonding and support the team members share for one another.
“This is a team event,” she says. “We built off what Rachel has taught us and the notion that we are all in this together and wanting to help everybody succeed.”
The names of the winning teams are derivatives of their training facility: “Dare to Dream” was the PhD Division team; “Dream On” was the Senior Division team; and “Dream Catchers” was the second-place Freshman team.
“Marissa is team captain of all our Agility League teams,” Evers says. “Altogether, we had six teams competing at the National Championship. She does a wonderful job recording each team’s scores during the League seasons. Importantly, she is great at building team camaraderie and helping to brainstorm ways to keep everyone on track. She is a natural leader and a valuable mentor to the younger teams, especially.”
Hansen also competed on the winning teams with her All-American Dogs. “Louis,” a 61/2-year-old, 25-pound apricot mixed-breed dog, was part of the three-dog Dream On Senior Division team, and “Charlie,” a 3-year-old, 15-pound black mixed-breed dog, was on both Dream On and the four-dog Dare to Dream PhD Division team.
Hansen credits the League with helping them progress to the advanced levels after just starting in the League’s first season in fall 2022 with Louis, who was then a 4-year-old pet. He quickly became a canine agility aficionado.
“We began in agility as a way to burn off energy during the pandemic,” she says.
“The opportunity to try League and do something new was very attractive to me,” Hansen says. “I was interested in the team camaraderie, as I was new to the area and didn’t have many friends outside work.
“I don’t think we would have progressed as fast without League, especially once we reached the PhD level. The League offers a chance to work through runs where the obstacles are more complicated with support from others in a no-pressure, welcoming environment.”
Hansen was already anointed in her love of the sport when she got Charlie in 2021. She enrolled him in the Freshman Division when he was 11/2 years old, which was on cue as the earliest age to enroll in the League is 15 months.
“Charlie is more fine-tuned, even at the distance skills,” Hansen says. “He is more independent and confident. He is my little Ferrari. Speed comes naturally to him.”
The members of the winning Dream On Senior Division team are:
- “Charlie” (King Charlemagne The Great OA AXJ NF BCAT), a 3-year-old All-American Dog handled by Hansen
- “Louis” (Louis MX MXJ XF BCAT), a 61/2-year-old All-American Dog handled by Hansen
- “Gator” (PNAC Steppinstone’s All-Terrain MXP2 MJP2 XFP), a 5-year-old Labrador Retriever handled by Evers. Gator placed first in the Preferred 20-inch class
- “Wonton” (On Target’s Greatest Fortune OA NAJ XF CGC TKA), a 51/2-year-old Border Collie handled by Evers
The members of the winning Dare to Dream PhD Division team are:
- Charlie, handled by Hansen
- “Ginny” (Little Foxx’s Ginny Weasley AX AXJ NF FCAT RATN DS DJ DDG DDBE), a 5-year-old Border Collie handled by Brittany Rose. Ginny placed first in the Standard 16-inch class
- “Universe” (On Target’s Totality MX AXJ XF), a 7-year-old Border Collie handled by Evers
- “Vex” (MACH Offon A Bit Of Attitude With Ontarget MXS MJS XF), an 8-year-old Border Collie handled by Evers. Vex took first place in the Preferred 16-inch class
A Winning Streak
It was not happenstance that made Hansen a great team captain. Rather, she drew from 11 years’ experience coaching traveling competition teams through USA gymnastics.
“I just fell in love with coaching,” she says. “I love helping others progress and succeed even more than myself.
“I have found that not everyone learns in the same way. People comprehend things differently, so it’s important to have patience. Some people need to talk through a course, and others can look at a course and understand it.”
A key to the teams’ success was their winning approach that included:
- Being supportive of one another and building everybody up
- Walking and discussing the course as a team and viewing the run through the dog’s eyes looking for off-course possibilities
- Staying in the zone and focusing on your dog
- Having fun and enjoying the moment
- Rewarding your dog regardless of how the run goes
“Our motto is ‘Just Survive,’” Hansen says. “It helps to bolster our confidence because we focus on not going off course. The idea is to stay the course and stay in the zone.”
Hansen continues to evolve in her own handling skills with a goal of competing internationally.
“I train eight to nine sessions per dog a week – three days in the training facility and at home in between,” she says. “We train hard because we are focused on international competitions.”
Importantly, she is grounded in having fun with her dogs.
“We don’t always have to win, but as long as we are having fun, that’s all that truly matters,” Hansen says.
“I want everybody to see League as a great way to come into competing and introducing dogs to the sport.
They are likely to find as we did that anytime we get to do agility, we’re happy.”