by Christine Whelan-FEO
Feb 3, 2022, VOL. 3 ISSUE 12
Rob Thibault, a dog trainer in St. Catharines, after recently moving to Fort Erie, decided to share a post on a Facebook group introducing himself and his dog, including a couple of photos.
“Hi! My name is Rob. This is Evil. We just moved to Fort Erie right before Christmas. If you see us out and about exploring, please say, hi. It would be lovely to get to know our neighbours. Evil is a celebrity. She’s a model and an actress. She’s also the top Dock Diving poodle in the world!”
The Facebook post caught several social media perusers’ attention, including this writer’s. And so I reached out. The first thing I just had to ask Rob when I connected with him over the phone was, why is his poodle’s name, Evil?
The answer was in his beginning story.
“I needed a dog.” He paused, then continued with emotion, “I lost my hard dog in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. She was the love of my life. She was absolutely a magnificent dog, she’s got a great story and she’s been in the paper several times, too.
Re-focusing, Rob continued, “So, I needed a dog. I can’t be a dog trainer without a dog. I decided I wanted something totally different. My last dog, Athena, was a Boxer / Cane Corso, kind of a hard dog. I wanted something soft this time, to teach me the soft side of dog training. I decided I wanted to get a poodle. I knew it would be years before I got a poodle because the waitlist is so long, especially in the middle of COVID when everyone is buying dogs. I resigned myself to a long wait.”
But then another dog trainer connected him to a breeder here in Ontario — and to a poodle puppy.
“I went to meet this puppy. They were calling her Evil because she was just a naughty little turd.” Yes Fort Erieans, this is a quote. I could not make this stuff up. Furthermore, her registered name is Paragon’s Queen of Darkness.
Rob elaborated a little, “She was opening the fridge. She was letting her mates out of the pens. She’s creative and smart, smarter than average. So, she needed to go to a home with someone who was going to challenge her. She had been waiting five months for someone to come for her; a good match. We were, right out of the cage, a good match. We work well together.”
The Beginning of Evil’s Career
As Thibault stated, and pictures prove, she’s very photogenic. “We got invited to participate in the Bed Heads book in the spring of last year. It’s a coffee table book that just came out around December of bed head pets, done as a fundraiser for Pets Alive Niagara by Indigo Pet Photography.
“One of the photos from that photoshoot got noticed by Drake, one of Canada’s biggest pop acts. He was producing a music video for a singer named Preme and wanted white poodles. When they saw the picture of Evil on the skateboard, they hired us right away.
“We’ve done two more professional photoshoots since then. One was for a photographer from England, one was for a promotional photoshoot for a lavender farm.”
And the doggie dives. “In the background, all along, we’ve been going to Caledonia and dock diving, which is getting Evil to jump off a dock into a 40-foot swimming pool.”
It started as having fun. “We were just playing. It was a reward for her doing good work, just having a good time.” But then she had an opportunity to compete in Bowmanville. “Her first jumping competition was very nearly the world record for poodles at 21 feet, 2 inches. Four weekends later, she jumped 23 feet, 2 inches. The world record is only 24 inches.”
Evil earned herself an invitation to the world championship in Dubuque, Iowa, “But the border was closed. So, I did some fundraising and bought a plane ticket. She and I flew to Dubuque for twelve days and we competed on the world stage. She finished 38th out of 65 dogs in her division. She’s the 23rd overall dog in Canada, she’s the 211th overall dog in the world, and she’s the #1 Dock Diving poodle in the world.
But then, Rob explained, they had to hitchhike back from Iowa.
“When we got back to the airport in Des Moines, I had a valid PCR test but the airline employee insisted that, because my PCR test was going to expire while I was in the air, it was invalid and she wouldn’t let me fly.”
When asked about the adventure home, “It was actually very easy. Somebody I had previously met online offered to drive me from Des Moines to Indiana and then someone else I had met online picked me up in Indiana and drove me to just this side of the Sarnia border. then one of my good friends picked me up in Sarnia.”
And this has all happened since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Move To Fort Erie
Rob shared how things have been falling into place for him lately, including the move to Fort Erie just before Christmas. When asked what caused him to decide to move to Fort Erie, he explained, “I’ve always wanted to live in Fort Erie. I like to live a quiet life. I like to be surrounded by calm.”
He’s not new to the area. “I went to school in Fort Erie. I went to high school at Niagara Christian Collegiate (NCC),” which is on the Niagara Boulevard at College Road. “I lived in Port Colborne and I took the bus and drove myself.”
Evil even loves it here, according to her owner, “She was happy in St. Catharines, where we lived before the move, but she’s different here. She’s more outgoing. She has a little bit more freedom because I’m not worried about a car tearing down the street. She’s a much happier girl because of the decision to live here.”
Using Evil To Do Good
Thibault has a Facebook Page called Dogs and Chats. “I run a walking group for men on Monday nights where men get together and deal with their mental health in a very positive and uplifting way by just walking with some other guys, some who have their dogs. We meet at the same place at the same time and we just do a walk for men’s mental health every week.”
Rob has put a lot of value on his own mental health. His last dog played a big part. “And now I’m using this dog, I’m using Evil to do good. I started the walk-in March of 2020, right as the pandemic started.”
He says it’s about connection and a reason to get outside. They have a small, core group while others will come out once in a while because maybe they had a rough week and need a break.
If you are interested in taking a walk one week, you can contact Rob through the Dogs and Chats Facebook Group or message Robert Thibault.
And if you see Rob and Evil, out and about exploring most time, he says, around Jarvis Street, stop and say, hi. They are just hoping to get to know their neighbours.
Photo provided by Rob Thibault
