We have a title in Sweden, The Agility Dog of the Year. You get points for your 10 best results in class three and the bigger competition, the more points you get. I got the title first time with Lotus, many years ago and since then both Lotus, Elvis and Ina has become the dog of the year several times. But it’s something you struggle with during the whole year, in class three. It’s always exciting in the end of the year and the last trials to see who will get the best points and if the last results will change the ranking list.
This year Ina was high in the ranking for a long time but she ended up on 4th place. She has been injured and sick from tick disease the latest months so we have not been totally synced and she has missed some trials. Nettan and me were just checking, for fun, were Lilli was in the list. When we came home from our American tour she was actually on 5th place and that was a really good place as she qualified for class 3 in July. Lilli and I had quite a lot of time to train when we was on our tour so we could work on our teamwork and techniques and I think she has increased her speed the latest. So, when we came back home Lilli won five out of six runs during the two last competitions. The classes were big and gave a lot of points to the ranking list and suddenly Lilli was in the top, she was the Swedish Agility Dog of 2013, 2,5 years old and after 8 months of trialling!
The title was just the last and greatest achievement actually. In April Nettan run Lilli in her first competition. She won. In July she was qualified for class three. In the summer she run EO and BCC and she qualified for the team final at EO and the individual final at BCC. She came 7th of nearly 400 dogs at BCC and she won bronze, together with our other dogs, in the team final. Back home again she became Swedish agility champion and she qualified for the Swedish Championship 2014. When we travelled to USA in October, she competed one day and she won most of her classes there. Back in Sweden she got her last certificate in jumpers class and bacme jumping Champion. Then, last but not least, she got the last points for the Agility Dog of 2014!
I really don’t know what to say… This journey was far more than what we ever expected. But Lilli is not just an amazing dog in agility. She’s an amazing dog in general and in the ordinary life. She’s never tired, always work willing, social, happy, fun, good with kids and she has temper but always with her brain in the right place. She’s like a happy pill and we really enjoy and have so much fun with our little Lilli!
I think it’s quite well known by now, that Lilli and Ina are not my dogs and that Nettan and me has a teamwork with our five dogs. This way to do it works so well for both of us. It’s really fun and exciting to share the training, results and all other experiences with someone else. We give each other homework when we need to improve something and we discuss the training when we need to solve a problem or develop some skills. We have our favourite areas and I usually focus on the things I like the most and Nettan on the things she prefers. Some things just need to be trained and then the one, who has the dog that needs training, train. Nettan is also the one who is in charge in trials, without her I would be a mess… 😉 Our teamwork is simply like that. For me, this way makes it so much more fun and thrilling!
I’m already looking forward to next year with Lilli. I will enjoy every second and have fun with each run! We have another kind of goal next year. We will enter her to a sheep trial so that she can be an certificated sheep dog as well. That’s almost the most important!!
I made a video to sum up Lilli’s first year of trials!
