Meet Willow Martin: Not Content to Sit and Watch!
Name: Willow Martin
Age: 17
Hometown: Williamsburg, VA
Grade: 11th
Family: Parents, Randi and David Martin
AKC: How old is Violett and how did she come into your life?
Willow: Violett (she has an extra “t” because she is extra special) turned 7 on April 17. She came into our lives by accident. When I was about 10, a friend of ours, Ashley Castro, had started Eastern Herding Dog Rescue and had taken in a Sheltie mother and her puppies. She was sent to the shelter because she had gotten fat, and her owners didn’t want her. Little did they know they dropped off a mom-to-be. While Violett’s mother was in the shelter, she had nine puppies! All of them looked exactly like cattle dogs. One of her sisters even has a stumpy tail.
At the time, we had no intention of getting another dog, let alone a herding breed. And two very hyper breeds put together? Forget it! Ashley asked us to foster for “only two weeks.” The day we went to pick up our foster puppy, one of the ladies there turned around with a tiny gray puppy in her arms and handed her to us. She was so small – the runt of the litter, the last to do everything (breathe, walk, open her eyes, etc.). She may have been small, but boy did she have an attitude. She still does! From that moment on, she’s been a handful. But we couldn’t give her up. When two weeks came around, Ashley said there were plenty of offers for her, but it was too late. She had weaseled her way into our hearts. To my dad’s dismay, we kept her. And she’s been our foster fail ever since!
AKC: What got you started in training and competing with dogs? Tell us about what dog training has meant to you.
Willow: We were a military family until this year. We had to move a lot because the Army needed to move my dad around. We lived in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for about 18 months and while we were there, my mom got into therapy dog work with our oldest Labrador, Sadie. After we moved from Kansas to the metro-Richmond, VA, area, my mom wanted to look for a place to do therapy work with Sadie again. That’s how we stumbled upon All Dog Adventures in Richmond. They offered therapy work but searching around on their website, my mom found their agility program. She signed up for just one session to see how it would go, and if you know anything about agility, it was love at first sight. I was 8 or 9 years old and I couldn’t be left alone in the house while my dad was still at work, so I went to my mom’s classes in the evenings. I brought books to read during class but that didn’t last. I was too busy watching! Soon, people in Mom’s class let me run their dogs for a few obstacles at the end of the class. I was absolutely hooked. Then we fostered this little gray fluff. Being a crazy herding mix, she needed a job. We brought her to All Dog and enrolled her in puppy classes and then agility classes. Now she’s almost 7 and is in her prime. My agility career has opened so many doors to new friends and opportunities, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. We’ve been to the Junior Agility Competition in Orlando, FL, five years in a row now and have done very well – better each year. This year we qualified for the AKC National Agility Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma and attended that in March.
AKC: Is your family involved in dog training/showing?
Willow: We are a dog sport family! Sadie introduced us to agility with my mom and the people in the sport kept us coming back. Violett is my first dog and my first sports dog. My mom recently got another Lab puppy who is now a little over a year old and is just starting her agility career.
AKC: What sports does Violett compete in and what titles and honors has he earned?
Willow: Violett has titles in agility, coursing, barn hunt, Farm Dog, Trick Dog, and Canine Good Citizen. She has her Novice and Open agility titles, her Masters Agility (MX), Masters Agility Bronze (MXB), Masters Agility Jumpers (MXJ), Master Jumpers Bronze (MXJB), Farm Dog Certification (FDC), Coursing Ability A (CAA), D CAT, Canine Good Citizen (CGC), Trick Dog Novice (TKN), and Barn Hunt Novice (RATN) titles. She is working on her Masters Agility Champion title (MACH). She is over halfway there, and I’m so proud of her!
AKC: Tell us about any other dogs you may have – names, ages, and what sports they compete in.
Willow: My mom’s dog Sadie was our first agility dog. She got her PACH (preferred agility champion) in May 2019. She also has titles in Fast CAT, hunting, CAT, Trick Dog, obedience, rally, barn hunt, Farm Dog, and CGC. She’s our most titled dog so far. My mom’s other dog, Friday, has just started her dog sport career and is working on her Junior Hunter (JH), Novice Obedience title (CD) and will begin her agility career soon.
AKC: Do you own any “non-dog” pets?
Willow: We have a cat named Humphrey Bogart, two rats named Mrs. Frisby and Daisy, and a horse named Thunder.
AKC: What are your goals in the sport of dogs?
Willow: My goals for Violett and myself in the world of dog sports are to get three Champion Agility titles on her. Her first MACH at the 20” jump height, MACH2 at the 16” (her measured height) jump height, and her PACH at the preferred 12” jump height. Hopefully we can get them all before she gets too old. She’s going to be a senior dog soon and that means she’ll be slowing down. She’s crazy fast already so maybe it will bring her down to “normal dog speed” – LOL!
AKC: Do you plan to do something animal related as a career?
Willow: When I graduate from high school I plan to go to college for social work and become a mental health therapist. Eventually I’d like to work with LGBT+ kids with mental health issues. Kids like me. I’m very grateful to have the resources I need, and my goal in life is to be that resource for others. Along with this career I don’t plan on ending my dog sport career. I’m addicted! I would like to branch out into the sighthound world as I find those dogs both extremely elegant and incredibly silly. But Violett has opened my heart to herding dogs and Australian Cattle Dogs specifically. I will always have at least one cattle dog for as long as I can.
AKC: What extracurricular activities are you involved with in addition to dog sports?
Willow: Dog sports are my main extracurricular. I’m unable to do sports like soccer or volleyball because I have had bad knees all my life. I’ve had many surgeries to correct them, but they haven’t really worked. I by no means consider myself disabled, although my knees still give me trouble and affect how I run and walk. I’ve found that agility doesn’t hurt me as much as other sports would. Even if it did, I love it too much to let my bad knees get in my way. And I certainly can’t let Violett down by not giving her a job! I have also started making my own jewelry and keychains. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think I would have started if I hadn’t met Violett. My jewelry designs were based off of her to begin with and I’ve now expanded to make things for other people and their pets.