Taylor Hill Sweet Madeleine (and Melissa Stephen) a.k.a. Maddie

Golden retriever Maddie was born in April 2001. I own her father, 13-year-old Taylor Hill Truman, and bred him just once with one goal in mind—to have a daughter of his who would become my most devoted companion and partner in fun. When she was four weeks of age, I selected Maddie from the litter of pups and from that moment she knew she was the apple of my eye.

I soon learned that while she was her father’s daughter in certain respects, she was very different in others. Truman is afraid of nothing and teaching him agility was relatively straightforward. He barreled over the dog walk and see-saw without hesitation almost immediately. In contrast, Maddie was terrified of both obstacles. We went through puppy school and several obedience classes and variety class at It’s Pawsible, and she did great. But most of all, I wanted her to love agility as much as I did. So we spent a good two years in agility classes, sometimes “staying back” when fellow students moved up to higher levels. It was surely patience testing—for Beth and Wayne as well as for me—but they helped us work through her fear through positive reinforcement and consistency.

Maddie now only has remnants of that fear—I try to be extra careful about her see-saw entrances. But our devotion to each other and to the game of agility is finally paying off. We began showing in June 2004 and have kept a modest showing schedule. On our good days, we are truly a team and I’m not sure which of us loves it more. Maddie loves jumping most of all and recently moved into the AKC Excellent A jumpers class. She is now in Open everything in NADAC and Open Standard in AKC as well. If it weren’t for It’s Pawsible, I don’t believe we’d be having this kind of success—or this much fun!

"Photos by Jo-Ann Gerde Photography".

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