“Millie” gets “the zoomies.” “Ruby” knocks bars. “Willa” runs clean, but “has two great runs in her, and then she’s tired,” owner Allison Volek Shelton says.
But they’ve poured themselves a cup of ambition, and the Dolly Pawtons will compete in the Elementary and Freshman divisions at the third AKC Agility League Championship in Pendleton, South Carolina, on September 26–28, 2025.
Led by team captain Diane Overstreet, the Dolly Pawtons are an AKC Agility League team representing the Nashville Dog Training Club in Tennessee. “We are a misfit bunch — let’s just say that,” jokes team member Volek Shelton.
There’s Ruby, who’s vivacious and always three obstacles ahead of Volek Shelton. Willa is Volek Shelton’s “Velcro dog” who runs close and clean. Carrie Logan has “Violet,” an elegant Border Collie whose “weaves are the most beautiful thing in the world,” Volek Shelton says.
Jacqulene Kehoe’s “Rainey” is “so bouncy and so happy all the time,” Volek Shelton says, and learning to trial confidently. And Katelyn Dowd’s All-American Dogs, Millie and “Jackson,” are new to agility but seasoned competitors in AKC Rally, AKC Scent Work, and AKC Fast CAT.
A tribute to their namesake, the Dolly Pawtons are versatile, vibrant, and unabashedly themselves.
“We’re just inspired to do our best and try our hardest, but still have fun and really celebrate the little wins,” Volek Shelton says. “And then, of course, rhinestones.”
In a Different League
The AKC Agility League is a fun, friendly twist on agility, one of dogdom’s most popular sports. Instead of trialing individually to earn qualifying scores toward a title, handlers form teams to compete for national rankings, bragging rights, and some cool swag.
During each 12-week season, League teams receive a course map every two weeks, adding up to six courses total. They must practice and perform their official runs within the two-week rounds. Teams in each division run the same course, in their own backyard or at their local training facility. Their best scores are recorded (on the honor system) and submitted to AKC, and team rankings are updated biweekly.
Volek Shelton, who is relatively new to dog sports, says the League offers a collaborative, constructive complement to traditional trialing, where the intensity of competition can be enough to drive you crazy, if you let it.
“It’s so much less pressure, so much less stress, because we’re all running the same course,” Volek Shelton says. “We all have very different dogs and very different handling styles, but we’re all watching and giving opinions. At a trial, it really is like you’re an island. It’s you and your dog.”
But with the Dolly Pawtons, “we all have a cheering squad,” Volek Shelton says. The team works through sticky issues together, like dropping bars or running off course. Watching their teammates overcome these challenges on a run, “everyone is just holding their breath, and the cheers erupt when we make it.”
Queens of Country
Each AKC Agility League team designates a captain, and for the Dolly Pawtons, that’s Overstreet, who’s an instructor at the Nashville Dog Training Club. She also runs her Pyrenean Shepherds on a Senior League team, and will be joining the Dolly Pawtons with “Buffett,” her puppy.
“Diane is amazing. Diane is just always around. She’s been doing agility for — I don’t even know how many years — but she’s a legend,” Volek Shelton says. “She’s our team mom.”
Like Dolly herself, Overstreet is “Southern to the core,” Volek Shelton says, with a wealth of knowledge and infinite patience. When training sessions run long due to a tricky course, Overstreet provides a calm, cool presence and endless encouragement. “She’s our coach, mentor, captain, all of the things.”
The members of the Dolly Pawtons, like their dogs, are a motley crew. Dowd is in the music industry. Kehoe is a student and a vet tech. Logan is a lawyer, “and I knit,” laughs Volek Shelton. Through AKC Agility League, the team built friendships they might not have otherwise pursued.
“How would any of us have ever really crossed paths outside of this dog thing?” Volek Shelton says. “We all sort of found each other. We’re all like-minded individuals, and we all just have this passion.”
During the League season, the team meets once a week for a few hours to review the map, practice, and run the course for official scoring.
“Instead of just crossing paths and saying ‘Hi.’ ‘Bye,’ as we’re passing at the club right between classes. Now, we actually have these dedicated times that we get to spend together and actually catch up and celebrate each other’s wins or losses, or give each other advice,” she says. “That has been a lot of fun. It’s like this really cool friend group that we didn’t know we needed.”
Southern Hospitality
The AKC Agility League is incredibly welcoming to new competitors — teams qualified for the 2025 Championship simply by participating in the Fall 2024, Winter 2025, or Spring/Summer 2025 season. Being new to agility, Volek Shelton and her teammates aren’t eligible (yet) for many regional or national events, so they jumped at the opportunity for even more team bonding.
“We were really excited that we got that participation and we qualified. We didn’t have to do anything else,” Volek Shelton laughs. “So we’re like, hell yeah, we are doing this!”
While they’ve been working 9 to 5 to achieve clean, quick runs, the Dolly Pawtons also set their sights on winning the competitions for T-shirt design and crating area decoration. Without giving too much away, Volek Shelton says to expect “pink. And glitter. And more glitter. And some more pink.”
Above all, Volek Shelton hopes the Dolly Pawtons have fun at the Championship and get some personal wins — “not in the sense of winning, but our dogs do the jump sequences or don’t knock the bars.” She “loves a good event,” and is excited about the positive energy and sense of community that the Dolly Pawtons and other League teams will bring.
“[The AKC Agility League is] so welcoming because it is just you and some other people that want to do the same thing as you,” Volek Shelton says. “Even if you don’t agree on politics or life or anything, it doesn’t matter because you’re doing this dog thing together, and you all love your dogs.”