Janie’s Little Loyal Levi CD BN RM RAE AX OAJ XF CGC TKA owned by Janellen Henderson of Amarillo, TX
“When I retired after teaching for 38 years, my husband thought I needed a dog to fill my time. A dog! What? Because of several bad experiences when I was a child, I had spent most of my life being afraid of dogs,” said Janellen. “Still, he insisted a dog was just what I needed, and one day he drove me to an adoption fair.”
A terrier-looking puppy was sitting politely in his kennel (despite all the barking going on around him). Janellen liked him, and “before I could realize what I had gotten myself into, my husband was filling out adoption papers on the pup I would eventually name Levi.”
“I wish I could say it was all easy going, but Levi was quite a spirited puppy. I think ‘Tornado’ would have been a better name for him. The year we adopted him we traveled south for the winter, taking our wild pup with us. When we returned to Amarillo, I enrolled Levi in obedience classes. I was determined to have a well-mannered dog.” But she was still frightened of dogs, and the class had lots of big dogs. “Thanks to my patient teachers at Amarillo Obedience Training Club, I slowly overcame my fear of dogs, and Levi slowly became obedient.”
His first award was the AKC Canine Good Citizen title. “It was a beginning; even though, at times, he was not a very good citizen. At home, he still liked to chase deer, get into fights with skunks (which he lost), chew up my best friend’s Christmas lights, and he even killed my husband’s prize hen! As you can imagine, there was still work to do.” Janellen took Levi to more classes – obedience, rally, agility and barn hunt. In 2016, they began to compete, and Levi has earned many titles. On Sept. 7, 2019, he earned his RM and his RAE Titles in Elk City, OK. “It took a puppy named Levi to teach me some new tricks. I’ll always be grateful for the fun and fulfillment my wonderful dog has afforded me.”