Alleria's killing it at Flyball - May 2017

To tell this story properly we have to go back more than 3 years. Shell contacted me about friends of her brother who were really interested in a Finnish Lapphund after meeting Squiggle and to cut that story short they took home little Alleria. She was the mini-Dolce of the Armani Litter born in November 2013. In April 2014 we drove to Sydney for the FLCNSW's inaugural Specialty Lappie Show. We were reunited with Alleria and Leah got to talking to us about showing Alleria. We thought maybe they were a 'gunna' home. You know, the ones who are 'going to do' or 'gunna' do all the things but just end up having a well loved pet. Well Leah proved me wrong. Time and again. And i'm once again grateful to Shell for introducing us and for the gut instinct that told me to go for it.
Alleria has the temperament quirks of her pedigree and whilst she looks an angel in photos she can be a right shit when she wants to be. She was a little girl with so much attitude and was a real challenge for Leah as she tried walking all over her. But Leah persevered. It took some doing, but Leah and Wookie achieved Wookies show title and continued plugging away on the Obedience front.
Leah wanted to do Flyball with Wookie (Alleria's nickname) and in order to get there she needed a reliable dog who could work off lead and under enormous pressure and distraction.
In April of this year Leah and Alleria were Flyball demonstration dogs at the Sydney Royal Show. If you've never been, its chaos and mayhem. Huge crowds, rides, lights and sirens everywhere. And Alleria didn't put a foot wrong. I was fit to burst with pride. What an accomplishment.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and I was lucky enough to witness Leah and Alleria competing at the Flyball Nationals. This was their very first competition and i got to see her very first race in the beginners singles comp. Cool as a cucumber (at least on the outside) they blitzed it. I was so proud of Wookie. So focused. So much determination. And the execution was almost flawless. I couldn't have been more thrilled when Wookie finished her final race and they realised she'd won in her group. She later had to battle it out against the other winners and ended up FIRST place in her Beginners Division. What a coup
Fast forward yet a few more weeks and Wookie was now running in a Flyball team in her very first comp.
She's already considered one of the 'reliable' dogs and it makes my heart swell to see just how far they've come.
It took a few weeks for the points to be allocated but imagine our overwhelming delight when we discovered that during Alleria's very first competition, her oustanding performance gained her her first TWO Flyball titles. No small accomplishment and testament to a lot of practice and proofing.

It's hard to describe the emotion to encompass the last 3 years but i'll forever be grateful to Leah for all the hard work, dedication and devotion she has for Alleria and this is just the beginning. I wish them the very best of luck and can hardly wait to see what comes next.