Laura Yarbrough - 1997 - Pioneer of Dog Agility

Laura Yarbrough paved the way for small dogs in the sport. From Lake Jackson, Texas, she was a spectator at the Astro World Series of Dog Shows in Houston in 1990, host of the Grand Prix of Dog Agility Championships, when she discovered agility. She returned the following year as a competitor. With her Pomeranian Cody, she began a long career of successes, the first of which was becoming the 12” division Champion in the Grand Prix of Dog Agility in 1991and first of competitor with any size dog to earn USDAA’s coveted Agility Dog Champion title in 1993. She was a member of the only small dog team, The Little Rascals, to win USDAA’s Dog Agility Masters® Three-Dog Team Championship two years in a row and was a core member of USDAA national demonstration team from 1992 to 1996. 

Laura had career-long successes with Cody and later her Jack Russell Terriers and was recognized as a Pioneer for her no-holds-barred approach to training small dogs. Laura viewed that small dogs were just Border Collies in small packages, recognizing that a trainer or handler’s perspective, rather than the dog, often sets limitations on a small dog’s performance, keeping them from reaching their full potential. She and Cody always drew a crowd of onlookers as they could take on competitors with any dog of any size during their day, matching and often outperforming course times of the larger breeds, including Border Collies.  Laura went on to become a judge, and she formed her own training school and was invited to give seminars across the country.