Say “bone voyage” to local dog trainer Kyla McNeill and her border collie Lennan as they head off to represent Canada at the IFCS World Agility Championships in France next month.
As a team member on the AAC National Agility Team, the duo will be competing in the 24″/60 cm maxi division in Bourgbarré, Brittany, France from Wednesday, May 1st to Sunday, May 5th.
“When I first started dog training, I never would have thought I would be training for this competition,” says McNeill. “It was actually a big surprise to me when we got the spot, so it was very exciting, but also surprising that it actually happened.”
A resident of Brighton, McNeill is a lead instructor at Paus-N-Train just outside Peterborough and through her own company, All Paws Ahead Dog Training, she works in partnership offering training courses through Cobourg’s All Creatures Great and Small. She trains a variety of classes including agility, manners, leash walking and recall, puppy classes, tricks, fitness, and more.
“I knew for a long time I wanted to be a dog trainer,” she says. “When I was young, my family dog was a Siberian Husky, and she was a challenging dog, but I trained her and did some tricks. I remember at about eight years old saying I wanted to be a dog trainer.”
She then trained her aunt’s poodle and dogs of other family members, before eventually working in doggy daycares, dog-walking, and with another trainer. She has now been independently training for 12 years.
Similarly, she specifically recalls a memory from a young age which incited her passion for agility competitions — competitive canine sporting event where dogs of various breeds navigate obstacles including jumps, ramps, weave poles, tunnels, and seesaws (teeters) and are judged on both their speed and accuracy.
“For a few years when I was young, my mom, my sisters, and I went to the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, and they had these agility shows and I remember specifically watching these dogs and thinking I wanted to do that someday,” she recalls. “It was so neat.”
After first training with a seven-year-old border collie named Sky for a few years, McNeill competed with her second border collie Niamh, who she trained with from a young age. Niamh competed in regional and national championships before COVID-19 put a pause on events and she went into “semi-retirement.”
“It was a good experience for me to take her through that kind of situation,” says McNeill.
Now it’s four-year-old Lennan’s time to be in the spotlight. Describing him as “sweet” and someone who “loves to snuggle,” McNeill explains that agility has always been a passion for Lennan as it has been for her.
“Agility was one thing that he always wanted to do,” she says. “He has absolutely loved it for quite a long time now and loves to run fast, which is very helpful.”
VIDEO: Kyla and Lennan in action at the AAC Nationals
Even though she started training him when he was still just a puppy, McNeill explains that Lennan wasn’t always the most cooperative teammate.
“Every dog has their own challenges in training and, for him, it took longer to mature in terms of his mental capacity, so he wasn’t focused as a young dog,” she says. “Even though he could do the physical skills, he would have a hard time focusing in the busier competition areas and we had to work through that.”
One such problematic obstacle for Lennan were the weave poles.
“It used to be a challenge for him when he was learning them because he didn’t like having to think about what he was doing — he just wanted to go fast,” McNeill says. “But now he knows them better and he can just do them fast and has no problem.”
Another component Lennan wasn’t initially a fan of was the teeter since, again, it required him to slow down. Fortunately, McNeill was able to get him more comfortable by using his favourite treat as motivation.
“He would do his teeter and he would get a mini ice cream cone at the end,” she says. “At this point, the teeter is one of his favourite obstacles. He still loves ice cream, and he loves the teeter, but he loves each separately now.”
At the IFCS World Agility Championships, for which they gained a spot when Lennan finished seventh place in his weight division at last summer’s ACC Nationals, the duo will be competing in different courses over the span of the weekend. While roles on the team are still being decided, courses McNeill and Lennan participate in could include full agility, jumping, snookers, gamblers, and even team relay.
In preparation, McNeill and Lennan are working with the team coach to practise drills and skills that may come up during the competition.
“At this point, we’re just practising maintaining the skills,” McNeill says. “Then, closer to when we leave, we don’t want him to be too tired or risk getting injured so he’ll lay a bit low. We’re just working on keeping up his strength and exercises for now.”
While McNeill and Lennan are in France competing, they will have big fans cheering them on back home.
The community has already shown support for TMcNeill and Lennan, with All Creatures Big and Small having raised more than $1,000 in a recent bake sale fundraiser in support of McNeill’s travel costs.
Similarly, in Peterborough, Paus-N-Train has also held bingo nights and 50/50 draws in support of funding the competition.
“Community members have been very generous with their donation amounts,” McNeill says. “Many people came in for the fundraiser and were making generous donation regardless of how many baked goods they actually wanted. I’m extremely grateful for everyone for being so generous.”
