The Comeback Kids, Dan and Marya Brackney
Cynosport provides incentive for speedy recovery.
This article was originally published in the February 2025 OVERview digital magazine.
Dan and Marya Brackney share a lot in their lives together. Married 13 years, the Queen Creek, Arizona, couple got involved in agility because they loved dogs and wanted a sport they could do together. Today they operate Desert Paws Agility with 55 students and a separate equipment business. They also have been competing for 11 years with their own dogs and sometimes share running each other’s dogs: Border Collie, Rori; Marya’s Border Pap, Quiver; and Dan’s Border Collies, Torque and Carmichael.
Among the other things they share is caring for each other when they have been through knee surgeries, as they both have, and keeping the dogs going until they are back on their feet. Dan, 56, and Marya, 46, agree that the best incentive to recover when you have to have surgery is the desire to get back to the competition arena.
Goal 1: Get rid of pain.
“We train full time for agility, and life completely revolves around the sport — work, friends, social. The agility community is very good,” said Dan. When Dan first became involved in the sport, he wasn’t in great shape, and like many handlers, he focused more on canine training than his own fitness. “I used to run track and cross country, and it wasn’t until recent years that I started focusing on fitness.”
Age, injuries and slow recovery time were all factors that influenced his change in focus.
“I had knee surgery two-and-a-half years ago as a result of an earlier condition, not because of agility,” explained Dan, although running and stopping didn’t help his condition. He tore a patella tendon and continued running with it. “I was out for seven months, and my goal was to come back and run at Cynosport®. The doctor said recovery should have been 7 to 12 months, but I did all I could to reduce my time. Cynosport was my incentive to follow the physical therapy and training exercises. I was very diligent about being a good patient, and it paid off as I made it to Cynosport.”
Dan also battles gout, a recurring painful joint disease. “Wanting to be more competitive makes me want to stay in good health, both mentally sharp and physically fit,” he said. Home exercises, walks and running agility courses help him to do that.
Goal 2: Keep the dogs running.
Marya had knee surgery 10 years ago after suffering from a recurring problem with a slipped patella that only surgery could correct. She went through all the physical therapy necessary and returned in time for Cynosport that year.
Unfortunately, additional brain surgeries for a neurological condition in her face in 2018 and 2023 put her out of commission for months each time. “I had to monitor my heart rate levels and couldn’t run before surgery, so I had to go slow to recondition my body and focus on pushing without pain,” said Marya. After the 2023 surgery, Cynosport was her incentive to recover.
The couple also had a plan to share duties and keep her dogs running. “The bigger dogs don’t care who they run with; they just want to run. But when I run Quiver, she runs to Marya at the end and is focused on her,” Dan said. Marya’s hard work and the shared training paid off. Quiver ran well for Marya when she returned to Cynosport this past October, and the pair earned a trip to the podium in Steeplechase® and came in third in the Team Standard competition.
“During the down time it’s difficult because all you want is to run, but the biggest part of recovery is getting rid of pain. The number two goal is running dogs again,” said Dan.