The Villages - June 2017 - 12

{ For The

Love

oF peTS }

A Shetland Sheepdog Sniffs for Sport
Story By rica LewiS

| PhotoS By Brandon at weLL

You might call it a super power.
With her nose to the ground, 6-year-old Shetland
sheepdog Pansy sniffs for sport.
Tapping into her natural ability to navigate the world
through her nose, her owner Jill Miller trained the dog to
pursue a scent. It's a skill that requires consistent focus
and endurance, the willingness to toil through open
fields in sweltering heat for up to 500 yards. But she's
just a beginner, having recently earned her AKC title in
what Miller calls an obscure canine sport: tracking.
Pansy is the fourth dog Miller has trained, and she
has not taken to it as intensely as others on the track.
"It took Pansy around 80 times to grasp what
we were doing," she said. "Every dog learns a little
differently and it's been great just bonding with each of

12

JUNE 2017

them. Pansy and I have made lots of friends."
And while Pansy is not as serious about the sport,
she does get the job done and always enjoys the thrill of
the chase.
"Pansy is always a bundle of energy when we get
home from a day of tracking," Miller said. "She seems
to understand that she has completed a task, and she is
proud."
An Oregon native, Jill and her husband, Jim, moved
to the Village of St. James just over three years ago. Jill
was an avid hiker when she discovered tracking. Drawn
to the idea of learning the sport with her four-legged
friends and meeting other people and their dogs, Miller
and her previous pooches earned titles and awards at
various AKC events.



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Contents
The Villages - June 2017 - Cover1
The Villages - June 2017 - Contents
The Villages - June 2017 - 1
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