Jess taught me a lot when it comes to training dogs. I did it all wrong! But she was such a star - she was just so keen to do all that I asked.

We began in Home Obedience, and unfortunately trained with the choke chain as instructed by the instructors. Luckily Jess was very easy going... she just plodded along and did as she was told and I did not need to correct her too much! We progressed steadily through the obedience classes, and finished in Class C. At the same time we tried Companion Dog. She  obtained her CDx with ease, and progressed to Tracker Dog. Although she was excelling, neither one of us adopted Obedience or Working Trials as our passion, but we had tried Flyball and Jumping, and thought that, that was pretty cool!

Jess, above all else in her entire career, loved Flyball!! Unfortunately the Kennel Union rules were not passed during her time, but she did represent her province in Inter-Provincial & fun competitions, winning most of those events with her team.

At the same time Jess began Dog Jumping, and excelled immediately, racing through Grade 2 and straight into Grade 1 in the same year.

Shortly after that we began Agility. Little did I know that it would take over our lives completely!! We began very simply, training with the limited instruction that was available. We progressed through the classes pretty easily, and also represented our Province a number of times, even winning at the World of Dogs and Cats Expo!

In the Eastern Province, Jess was always known as the "steady dog", the reliable team-mate. Not the fastest, but she sure did enjoy the game!

Eventually, we attended a workshop by a handler from Bloemfontein, Lloyd Bristow. And suddenly everything fell into place! A deeper understanding of the sport followed, both for Jess and myself. In addition, she became somewhat of a speed-freak for her age. We could suddenly make it well within the times allowed.

Jess did her Province proud in 2000, finishing as the highest placed Eastern Province dog overall at the Dog Jumping Championships at the Rand Easter show. She finished 5th overall.

Shortly after changing our handling style completely, Jess obtained her 1st Agility QC, something I had only dreamed of doing! One month later we won yet another QC! It was at this point that I suddenly realized that Jess had a chance at being a Champion! So we worked... and worked... but it was taking forever. Finally, we won our elusive 3rd QC which would have made her a Champion, but...... It didn't count! It was won under the same judge that gave us our first one, so... a 4th one was required to make her up. This was so disappointing to me, as Jess was getting pretty old... and she really deserved it!

Jess came 5th at the SA Agility Championships in Port Shepstone in 2001.
I was very pleased with our achievement, until we were placed 2nd in the same competition in 2002. My girl, in the reserve top SA dog spot was the greatest... until... we WON the event in 2003 in Johannesburg! This was truly the highlight of Jess' career! Not a a lot of SA dogs have done so well, and I am truly so proud of her. In 2005, Jess' last entry into the prestigious event, she finished with a very acceptable 3rd place at the age of 9!

In the meantime, We managed 3 QC's in Dog Jumping, making her up in that discipline. Finally, in Cape Town, at Jess' very last Agility show ever, she won the QC, making her up at the age of 10!! This was the happiest day ever for me! My old girl made it! She wasn't just a farm dog! She could do more and had proven it! Well, she was marched over to the toy stall at the show and she chose (on her own) the most expensive, biggest, moo-ing cow - she just loved it!

After that we decided that retirement just wasn't for us... so we looked at something calmer and slower to do... it was between Class C Obedience, and Carting... we had tried Obedience, and it just wasn't for us, so we decided on Carting.

Jess was pleasantly surprised because, by this time, I had progressed with my other dogs, to training with positive reinforcement and the clicker. For the first time Jess was trained with food, and boy, did she like it! From starting Carting to Champion status, it took us only 1 year, making her into a triple Champion. This was more than I had ever dreamed I could do with her! She was 11 years old!

Jess is now really retired from formal competition, but still loves to get in on the action! She has run with students in a local competition that offers a Veteran's class, and is showing them the ropes, winning this class 2 years running! She is now totally retired from dogsports, only running after frisbees and tennis balls on our training school field.

-Nadine