Cleo, a 5-year-old border collie, appears to be in fast-forward mode as she weaves around poles, leaps through a tire and zips into a tunnel on a recent morning in her Kailua backyard.

The lightning-quick pooch and her owner, Sherri Fries, were demonstrating a sport known as agility, a competition in which dogs and handlers go through a timed obstacle course that may include jumps, a seesaw, weave poles and an A-shaped ramp.

The duo recently received the highest award a dog and handler can earn in the American Kennel Club agility sport.

"This is the first for Hawai'i," said Fries, a substitute teacher and dog trainer in her 40s. "I'm quite happy, believe me."

Cleo and Fries competed in January in Los Angeles at the West Coast Cocker Spaniel Club, which is registered with AKC, a national organization that advances the study, breeding, exhibition, running and care of purebred dogs.

At the AKC-licensed trial, or competition, Cleo and Fries earned a Master Agility Championship title — MACH — the highest award a dog and handler can earn in AKC agility.

Sheila Conant, former president of the Obedience Training Club of Hawaii and an obedience trainer for more than 20 years, called the award "an inspiration to the dog community here, because agility is really growing very quickly in Hawai'i."

Ingrid Manzione, an agility instructor and former president of the Hawaiian Agility Handlers Association, the only AKC-approved agility club in the state, agreed that Fries and Cleo's win is a big deal.

"In the sport world of agility, it's an accomplishment for the team," Manzione said. "It's a very positive thing to have happen to you."

Agility is designed to demonstrate a dog's willingness to work with its handler in a variety of situations, according to the AKC Web site. It is an event that requires conditioning, concentration, training and teamwork.

There are two AKC agility classes: standard, which includes contact objects such as a dog walk and seesaw; and jumpers with weaves, which involves jumps, tunnels, weave poles and no-contact obstacles to slow the pace.

Both classes offer increasing levels of difficulty to earn novice, open, excellent and master titles. After entering the "Excellent B level" — the highest competition category — in both the standard and jumpers classes, teams may compete for the MACH. Fries and Cleo began competing in 2002, and earned Excellent B status about two years ago.

To win a MACH, a certain amount of qualifying scores and points have to be accumulated at each trial. It can take several years to earn enough scores and points to win a MACH.

This makes it difficult for agility competitors in Hawai'i, where there are just a dozen or so AKC-licensed trials a year, Manzione said.

"It'll take years before another dog earns it simply by living in Hawai'i," she said.

Fries has combined competitions with family vacations to the Mainland — including California, Nevada and Oregon — which helped her accumulate MACH points.

"She's been working hard ...," Manzione said. "She's really devoted to the sport."

Fries, who also is an agility instructor, trains Cleo with a method called positive training. With positive training — usually termed clicker training — a dog's desired behavior is noted with a click of a clicker and rewarded with food or a toy, instead of leading or forcing the dog to do something.

Earning a MACH was a combination of working with an accurate and consistent dog, and traveling often to Mainland agility competitions, Fries said.

"It is a really big achievement and I'm very happy and proud of it," she said.

Reach Zenaida Serrano at zserrano@honoluluadvertiser.com.