Meet Trainer and Cynosport® Champion Brenda Kelly
New Series: Let's Talk Training!
Introducing our new series, "Let's Talk Training!" Each month we will highlight an agility or rally trainer and tips. If you would like to propose a trainer to be profiled, email us at news@usdaa.com.
Meet Brenda and Vu
Brenda Kelly of Flower Mound, Texas, and her 10-year-old champ Déjà Vu (Vu for short) swept the gold medals in all of the individual performance tournaments (BiathlonSM, Steeplechase® and Grand Prix®) at the 2021 Cynosport® Dog Agility World Games in Murfreesboro, Tenn. They are no strangers to winning, but the accomplishment made this year that much more special. “We don’t see many runoffs at Cynosport, so being a part of one in the Performance Grand Prix Final was really fun too,” Brenda said.
Brenda is an accomplished dog agility instructor, clinician and canine trigger point therapist, as well as a long-time customer experience solution architect in the telecommunications industry. Vu is a Border Aussie (50/50 Border Collie and Australian Shepherd). “Being from an equine background, she was bred on a horse farm and is the only one from her litter to have pursued the performance dog path,” said Brenda, who, along with Vu, won the 20” National Steeplechase Championship in 2017, were four-time members of the IFCS World Team and was on the WAO team twice.
“Vu has been my dream dog to train, and we have always just clicked. We know how to help each other do our jobs out there,” said Brenda.
Training the seasoned champion
"Being a canine trigger point therapist, I focus on her conditioning (lots of hiking, swimming and tune-up gymnastic work) and making sure her musculature is in tip-top supple shape. We visit the chiropractor regularly, too,” said Brenda. She also notes her preparation approach for major events focuses more on sharpening specific skills, rather than long course work during the last two to three weeks before competition.
She added, “Although in many respects, for the dogs Cynosport is another weekend of a game they love to play with us, they absolutely can feel the energy, and stepping into the finals ring is a high for both of us. She knows it’s special.”
How do they celebrate after a big win? “Every time we run together is a celebration, and the look on her face after we play together is all that! Both of us get a special dinner, too, and then we just kick back and go on that decompression hike to get ready for the next time.”
In terms of the future, Brenda hopes to pursue her canine activities on an even larger scale when she retires.
Watch Brenda and Vu in action at the Cynosport Grand Prix® finals!