The Human-Dog Bond

Growing up, Jenny Glei liked to watch her mom, Sally Glei, train and compete in obedience. However, what she really loved was helping her mom train dogs and teach obedience classes. Ever since she was little, Jenny had wanted a dog of her own that she could train and use for competing. When she was 10, she finally got Maggie a Shetland Sheepdog. Jenny trained Maggie herself, and the pair competed in obedience trials.

Jenny GleiCompeting in obedience as a Junior taught Jenny to be a team player. She had to depend on her dog, Maggie, and Maggie had to depend on her; without trust they would not have been successful. Training Maggie also taught Jenny patience. It was important that Jenny remembered that Maggie did not speak English, so to teach her a new behavior, Jenny had to be very patient and clear about what she wanted Maggie to do. At a young age, Jenny learned the best way to teach new behaviors to Maggie and how to read Maggie’s body language when she was confused and how to help her understand.

Obedience also taught Jenny good sportsmanship. From ages 10 to 15, Jenny competed almost every weekend in obedience trials and sometimes she and Maggie did very well and other times they did not. Regardless of how well they did, Jenny was always happy and congratulated those who did well. Competing taught Jenny that one does not always have to win in life and one does not always lose. No matter how well Jenny did compared to others, at the end of the day she still had her best friend Maggie by her side. Jenny wants people to remember the relationship they have with their dogs whether they win or lose. Our dogs do not live nearly as long as we do, so we need to treasure every moment we have with them. After our dogs are gone, it does not matter how many blue ribbons we have won; what matters is that together with our dogs, we had a great time showing and created a life-time of wonderful memories that allow our dogs to live forever through us.

Jenny wants to contribute to improving the over all health and well-being of dogs. This is why she chose to go into the veterinary field. She is currently a fourth year vet student at the University of Florida. When Jenny started college, her involvement with her dogs and training them never changed because they have always been and will always be one of the most important things in her life. However, over the past 7 years, she has cut back on how much she has competed while going to college and vet school. Studying takes up a substantial amount of her time and does not allow her to dedicate as many weekends to dog shows. Even though she is busy, Jenny still makes sure to spend time training and playing with her dogs every day.

These days, Jenny competes with her Border Collie, Edy in agility when she has time. The pair has earned up to their MX and MXJ titles. She is also training Corey, her Shetland Sheepdog in agility, and she hopes to one day compete with him as well. Although she cannot compete as much with her dogs, she stills enjoys every moment she has with them. Jenny never takes for granted the special bond she has with her dogs.

Jenny was a prior AKC Junior Scholarship Recipient and is currently an AKC Vet Scholarship recipient.