Anna has trained with us for many years. She has trained several poodles, who all can be seen in our brags pages, and this first photo is of her latest girl, Chino.
Anna has a less noticeable disability, an abnormality that effects her balance, her speech and her memory. She also wears hearing aids. But she loves agility, and with lots of effort, practice and an amazing amount of perseverance Anna now competes very successfully and is such an accomplished handler. We are so proud to have her as a student.
Her little poodle Holly, the first dog that Anna brought to training, is also very special. She became known as Holly ADX JDX SDX SDX SPDX. Holly story is an excellent example of how major orthopaedic surgery does not limit what a dog can do. Holly will not become a world beater in agility, because she has had the ball joints of her hips removed, and these joints now function with fibrous scar tissue to support her weight. The pain of her Legge-Perthes disease has been alleviated and, with appropriate physiotherapy and conditioning, Holly and Anna were able to return to the sport that they loved.
A comment from Anna about her little girl Holly:
“Holly has taught me a lot about being humble, about doing our best, and being happy with that, no matter the outcome”.
To have watched this little dog run as hard as she can for the sheer joy of it is wonderful to watch.
Anna also trained “Tilly”, a poodle cross, who was actually her parent’s dog. Even though she was not able to work with Tilly a lot and Tilly was a fretful little dog, she did go on to gain agility titles (see her in the brags pages) and she was able to help Tilly become a more confident dog.
Keshi was a poodle that brought a lot joy to Anna’s life. To use Anna’s description, “Keshi was my best agility dog (Chino now is giving her a run for her money)”. She went on to become Keshi ADM, JDX, JDO, ADO, SPD, GDX, SD before Anna sadly lost her to cancer at just 7 years of age.
Soon after losing Keshi, Anna brought home Keshi’s half sister, Chino. I suspect that Chino will fulfil Anna’s expectations of going further in agility than Keshi. But she is also now expanding her horizons, doing nose work (scent detection work).
I would just like to add that Anna has been a joy to have as a student. She listens, and she tries her best to do what is suggested. She usually succeeds, but when she doesn’t she picks herself up again (usually literally – she has been known to fall flat on her face occasionally . . . something to do with poor spatial awareness and loss of balance) and gives it another go. She usually gets it right on the second attempt.
We love her attitude and we thank her for just being Anna.