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Stroller AAD, AX, AXJ (Border Collie)

Stroller

Stroller has been a success story of a different kind. In 1999 Kathy and her family opened their home to a previously badly treated, 18-month old Border Collie who had several challenging issues. This was his fourth home and it seemed that to train this dog for Agility was going to be difficult if not impossible. Growing up in England, Kathy was a fan of "Stroller" the pony who, with his rider, Marion Coakes, won a silver medal in the Olympic Games in Mexico City. He was a pony competing against large horses over huge Olympic fences. He was one of a kind and achieved this feat against great odds. Kathy decided to name this troubled Border Collie "Stroller" and began the long road to gaining his trust.

Kathy recalls, "The first weekend I had Stroller he would not come out of the crate and kept trying to bite me. So I put on my leather gloves and had him come out for hot dogs. When Stroller was introduced to the tunnel he would hide in there, but once again, the hot dogs worked wonders. The biggest challenge for me was that Stroller would not play and I use play as a large part of my Agility routine with my dogs."

Ironically, after two years Kathy did manage to get Stroller happily retrieving a toy for treats but she could not earn his complete trust. It seemed that this dog was 'Man's Best Friend' and would not accept a woman as his master. Kathy recalls, "It got to the point that wherever I went he would be dragging me off to try to find that perfect somebody. It was sad that after all the time, attention, love and care he did not bond with me, but he was very clear about it."

Kathy believes that part of working with rescue dogs is to be sure to match the right dog with the right home. Stroller was not a happy dog and he was constantly looking for a new owner until one day he met Dan Altchuler at an Agility trial. "Stroller just turned up-side-down in Dan's lap and looked absolutely and totally relaxed for the first time since I'd met him." This was the person that Stroller had been looking for. So Stroller is now enjoying life in his fifth and hopefully final home with the first owner that he has been fortunate enough to personally select!