Southfield man, canine team earn silver medal at World Dog Agility Championship – The Voice

Don’t be fooled by Maverick’s first name. The Pembroke Welsh Corgi is a team player.

Working with his Southfield-based trainer, Maverick was part of Team USA which brought home a team silver medal from the 2024 World Agility Championship in Bourgbarre, France.

The annual event was a showcase for more than 200 competitors from more than a dozen nations.

For Maverick and trainer Jeremy Gerhard, a veterinary technician working in Commerce Township, the success was another high mark in a partnership arranged in 2017 by Maverick owner Sally Slade of Grand Blanc. The showdown in France was their fourth international event together.

The dynamic duo was assembled, Gerhard said, when Slade was recovering from knee surgery and sought a partner for her Maverick. About the same time, Gerhard’s pet dog had died.

Slade often joins Gerhard and Maverick at trials to review training and strategy.

Maverick “has a big heart and is a hard-working dog who always likes to please,” Gerhard said.

For Maverick, he said, plain pancakes are an effective treat and reward.

“Sally makes him pancakes wherever we go to compete,” he said. “She brought pancake mix to France and made them for him.”

They’re served up without syrup or other goodies. “He good with plain, old pancakes,” Gerhard said.

Maverick puts in the work, but always prefers competition to training. And, while he enjoys the camaraderie of his teammates, Maverick is “all business” when competing on the agility course.

Moreover, he really cranks up the effort and performance in front of an audience, Gerhard said.

“In practice and the early rounds of competition when the crowd is smaller and it’s more quiet, his times are slower,” he added.

But when the competition and audience heat things up, Maverick gets cooking.

“He can be pretty darn focused,” Gerhard said. “Maverick likes a crowd, so the atmosphere (at the world championship), where most competitors are ringside, watching and cheering for others, is perfect for him.”

The competition includes dogs of all breeds and sizes in a race against the clock through an array of obstacles: hurdles, tunnels, hanging tires, weave poles – and more. Winners are those with the fastest times and fewest penalties.

Maverick competed in the 10-inch height category.

In France, Gerhard said, “we (had) a couple of faults that potentially cost us another medal or two, but Maverick ran really well, as he always does.”

“This was our fourth year as part of Team USA, and it is always a great thrill and makes me so proud to represent our country and the United States Dog Agility Association,” said Gerhard, secretary and trial chair for the Canine and Combustion Dog Agility Club, Michigan’s oldest dog agility club.

The USDAA is the world’s largest independent authority for the sport of dog agility, with more than 45,000 registered competitors among more than 200 breeds.

A Michigan resident since 1990, Gerhard’s interest in dog training began as a high school student in Massachusetts, where he attended some dog training with an aunt.

“I was hooked from then on,” he said.

Gerhard and his wife have two dogs of their own, an Australian shepherd and a border collie. Both have competed with the USA team, he said.

Maverick’s next big showing is expected in October at the U.S. national championships in Arizona.

Originally Published: July 29, 2024 at 6:43 a.m.