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SPORTS & LEISURE Ma M ack cken kenzi zie ie (M (Mac (Mac ack) ack) ) Mor Morri iso son on (20) (20) (2 0) of the Georgetown Rebels is brought down by a Burlington n Nelson Lords player during the e Lords' 50-12 win Wednesday. Phot Ph ot to by y Ted ed B Bro ro own wn 11 Independent & Free Press, Tuesday, October 12, 2010 Roper retires a champion By EAMONN MAHER Staff Writer With three national championships to his credit after several years of competing on the national and world stage, Australian red kelpie Roper announced his retirement without making a sound. "I knew it was time at nationals this summer when two dogs ran into the ring and he just laid there sleeping," said Georgetown's Nicky Snook, Roper's owner and partner in winning three Canadian Agility Association titles in the past seven years. "Normally, 20 dogs go in and he's dragging me in there. (But) Roper's 10-and-ahalf now and has a lot of wear and tear. I don't want him to be a crippled old dog so he can enjoy his old age. He doesn't look 10-and-a-half and can still do the job when he wants to, but he owes me nothing. We accomplished so much that I never thought we'd get to do, like traveling around the world for competitions." Considered as somewhat of a legend in the border-collie-dominant agility community because few kelpies excel on the circuit, Roper hardly went out with a whimper at the recent national championships in Calgary, winning the over-7 "veterans" class amongst about 50 other dogs. Agility competition is made up of three components: standard, in which the dog completes obstacles, including jumps, tunnels and weave poles in order within a specified time; jumping, which is a course that consists of only jumps that the dog must negotiate in the correct order in a specified time; and gambling, where the dog has a certain amount of time in which to do whatever obstacles the handler instructs and accumulates points based on the obstacles completed. Because of an injury to the soft tissue on his rib cage, Roper missed most of the year, including an invitation to another world tournament in Scotland. However, with extensive rehabilitation and only a couple of weeks of training with Snook, he was back in top form in Calgary. "I announced the day of the final that Roper was retiring and there were a lot of tears and hugs," said Snook, who trains out of the Campaign Dog Academy on or NICKY SNOOK AND ROPER Hwy. 7 and has opened a new dog-training business called Kelpies Gone Wild. "We didn't train together much because of his injury and you usually kind of lose that jive together, so for him to be like, `What do you want me to do, I'll be there,' was just amazing. There were some late calls and he saved me every time if I was late cueing him up." Roper and Snook traveled to the 2006 and 2007 world championships in Switzerland and Norway, respectively, and qualified for two other global finals but were unable to attend. And while Roper will likely still perform in Superdogs shows throughout the year, the 38-year-old Snook has a new agility star-in-the-making that's nearly ready to be unleashed. `Topic', which is short form for The Hot Topic, because Snook says she's constantly asked about her latest prospect, is a two-year-old kelpie with some expectations to live up to, especially after appearing on the September cover of Dog World magazine. "He's probably the most powerful dog I've had as far as speed and athleticism goes, and he's got good temperament," Snook added. "If Topic wasn't the total package, I wouldn't do it all over again. He's still in training and has great potential. It takes time to bring him up. Roper didn't start until he was three and at that time I didn't know much about it. We just kind of fell into it, and now I'm addicted to it." Rebels humbled by Lords The Georgetown Rebels football teams are still looking for their first wins of the season following contests Wednesday at Georgetown District High School against the powerhouse Burlington Nelson Lords. The Rebels were dumped 50-12 in seniors boys' action as Kyle Spears had the lone Rebels' TD while MacKenzie Morrison had two field goals. In junior play Georgetown was crushed 56-7 by Nelson. The GDHS squads are 0-3. In other high school action it was: Sr. Field Hockey: Loyola 2, Christ the King 0 Jr. Field Hockey: Georgetown 1, Bishop Reding 0 Sr. Basketball: Milton 43, Acton 32; TA Blakelock 36, Acton 27 Jr. Basketball: Corpus Christi 35, Christ the King 18 Sr. Volleyball: Georgetown 2, Notre Dame 0; Assumption 2, CtK 1; Acton 2, Abbey Park 1 Jr. Volleyball: CtK 2, Assumption 0 Chri Ch ist t t th he K he Ki ing' in g's Ch Chri ris is King (right) hauls down n a Robert Bateman player r as CtK defeated Bateman n 28-7 Tuesday at the Gellert Community Centre. 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