Sarah: Today I am excited to interview Aneta Obrusníková of the Czech Republic whose performance at the 2023 Agility World Championship caught my eye and had me rooting for her throughout the event! Aneta, I was not familiar with you or your dogs previously, can you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and your history in the sport?
Aneta: Hi.
Thanks for chance have interview with you. I do agility almost 11 years now, and I started with Weimaraner, then with border collie but she has spondylosis and I finished run with her. It was time when I started thinking about my next dog. And come mudi Ollie and with her everything started.
And something about me? 😂 Now I have 4 dogs (3 mudis and older border collie). I am trainer, international agility judge and competitor 😂Agility is totally my life 😍
Sarah: You first caught my eye during the medium team jumping class when you put in a performance that I think will go down in history as one of the most amazing feats at the AWC. For those who are not familiar, the team event consists of 4 dogs per country per height class. The 4 dogs from the same country run one after the other, the lowest score is dropped and the remaining three scores are combined into a single team (country) score.
You were running THREE of the four dogs on the team. All three Mudis. You ran as the first dog with Ollie and ran clean. Your teammate Lenka Fuksová ran second with a Kelpie named Hippie and had an off course. An off course is an elimination, so to have a chance, you really needed to be clean with your remaining two dogs. You ran third with Chilli, clean. And then with the medal on the line, you ran fourth with Arrya, clean. And you did this all in front of the home crowd! This performance earned the Czech Republic the silver medal in team jumping and it was the result of a single handler. I believe that is an accomplishment that may never be repeated again!
I have so many questions! But let’s start with a little background on your three dogs.
Aneta:
My older is Ollie – she has 8 years and had two litters, she won EO team run in 2019 and 2023, she was on AWC 2019 where took 3rd place in individual jumping, in agility we had not lucky 😂
Arrya – has 5,5 year, she is a little bit sensitive mudi girl, she was born in Ollie’s first litter.
And my youngest is Chilli – she has 3 year and she was born in Ollie’s second litter. She took 5th place on AWC 2022 ☺️
Sarah: How does the Czech Republic choose their teams for AWC? How did you earn your three spots on the team?
Aneta: We had tryouts where you take a points only after clean and fast runs.
We run 12 runs (6 agility and 6 jumpings – rules are that you must finish 3 agility runs without elimination and have more then 60% finished run from all). And I was first, fourth and fifth (but on second place was dog without pedigree).
Sarah: What was the experience of that particular class, team jumping, like for you? Take us through your emotions and thoughts and the splash of instant fame! Plus how did you MANAGE three dogs, and yourself, and the amount of RUNNING?
Aneta: I was totally concetrated only for my performance and stay connected for my girls. They are mudis, not super open for people and sometimes a little bit stressed, but they love be somewhere together, because when we train it is similar I have all my dogs in hall and only switch dogs 😂
Jumping course wasn’t super hard for me, i knew it. I had some harder part but with every dog this part was different. On me was only stay concetrated and be there for my girls. When I saw that Lenka was eliminated i had in my head some though. Some people in Czech not trust that is possible run with three dogs in team and wanted that I let go one spot in team, but I knew that is possible for me and my girls and after all theirs injures I never give up – and it was time show that is possible 💪
Sarah: I think for me, the ridiculousness of the situation (and here I mean ridiculously AWESOME) was made clear when they presented the medals on the podium and the judge placed THREE medals over your neck, one for each dog!
Sarah: What is your approach to mental management? Do you have any words of wisdom for those handlers who can not fathom accomplishing what you did under that amount of pressure?
Aneta: I think everything is possible when you want, and when you are prepared. I like be a little bit nervous and be under pressure 😂 I played basketball and higher level and there you need a lot of skills which I use now in agility too.
And I think my dogs has very good skills, can be independent in some situations and I can save some my energy for other harder part in courses 😂
Sarah: You and I chatted by messenger after the event and you mentioned that your dogs had a lot to overcome to get to this point. It’s so easy for people to see the success and miss the work, the stress, the heartache and the setbacks that occurred before the success. Can you share that with the readers?
Aneta:
We had very hard days in year 2020. Ollie a little bit limped on one leg and I wanted check her, because in past she fall down from 10m high wall 😔 but everything looked good but after 3 years she limped. She was on X-ray and we saw some small fragments in her elbows (before she had xray totally clean when I needed check her for breeding license). She had to go for surgery with both elbow.
In same time Arrya had puppies 7 days old. She was on garden and over fence another dog attack her and broken her front leg for a lot small pieces, it was very complicated fracture. Vet said that maybe never will do agility and same sentences I heard after Ollie’s surgery. But we never give up, we fight for normal life for my girls, a lot of exercises for strengthened and after almost 10 month were in recovery…
I tried again agility and they enjoyed so much this time and I decided that we try continue and we will see. And in 2022 we started in AWC in Austria with all my three girls too (we took 4th place in jumping team) and this year we was back but stronger ❤️
Sarah: The team agility run was reverse seeded, and so CZ was running second to last and running for a medal. Unfortunately, your first dog missed a dog walk down. Your teammate had a refusal. Your second dog took an off course tunnel. And then your 4th dog ran clean. With 10 faults for the team, you didn’t medal. If you had just 5 faults combined, you would have placed silver. That’s agility isn’t it?
Aneta: Yes this is agility, always you need a little bit more lucky. 5cm we missed to second place 😂 but doesnt matter we enjoyd so much this awc. It was a little bit advantage started on the end. I saw a lot team before me and saw how a lot dogs missed double jump after dog walk and wanted go to out. My dogs are very independent and dont like when I am so close and I started be sure that they will do same, but on course walk I not try another option and decide for change my handling a few dogs before me, of course this is risk but I had to try. We had not lucky but this is AGILITY💪
Sarah: Fortunately, your weekend wasn’t over yet. Chilli took silver in individual jumping and then ran clean (5th place) in agility giving you the overall gold…world champion. Incredible! And again, in front of the home crowd. Tell us about those runs, that win, and who was there to support you!
Aneta: My plan was clean jump in faster time but still stay in contact with my dogs. It is pitty that Ollie had one bar with best time, but how she start be older she start be more rebel girl 😂 for agility I watch so much team before my run with Chilli. My plan for agility run was only clean, not push her so much to speed and risk situation after see-saw. She has only 3 years but we have very special connection on course 😍 She totally hate check her microchip at the finish and this is reason why she has not super fast finish line but we will train this more and more for next time 😂
Sarah: As we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers?
Aneta: Please never forget that agility is FUN, when not someth8ng is wrong … always enjoy your time with dogs ❤️
Sarah: Thank you so much for chatting with us today!
Aneta: Thanks for this opportunity with this interview ☺️