Mrs Marsh, who is married to an Australian, left Dunedin yesterday with Border collies Vino (7) and Fly (4) en route to compete at the Australian Agility Nationals in Sydney.
A member of the Taieri Canine Training Club, Mrs Marsh started dog agility training about eight years ago.
Her latest victory was at the New Zealand national championships last October, when Vino won his height category and an overall agility title.
The canine's younger half-sister, Fly, was smaller but faster, Mrs Marsh said.
Both dogs will pit themselves against the Australian talent at preliminary competitions in New South Wales and Canberra before vying for titles in the Australian national championship.
It was the second time New Zealanders had competed in the Australian event, she said.
Another four trainers and five dogs from New Zealand were travelling to the June 13-17 Sydney competition.
The Kiwi contingent would also compete as the Paw Blacks in a team category against groups representing the six Australian states.
"Most of the dogs going have a range of champion titles between them and should do well against the Australian dogs.
"We are going for the experience of seeing what it's like over there - the equipment and courses are a little different.
"We hope to do well and it would be wonderful if we could beat the Aussies."
Dog agility training was a great social activity, helped owners bond with their pets and provided canines with mental and physical challenges they loved, she said.
She had started to train her fourth dog, also a Border collie.
"Border collies are agile, fast and smart and quite good to teach things to.
"I'm also quite a competitive person so I enjoy the competition side of it, but really it is about having a fun time with your dog regardless of winning."
Dog agility was like show jumping, Mrs Marsh said.
"You have a set course with obstacles and the dog that gets around it without any faults in the fastest time wins."
