Wellness Wednesday:  Lisa Layton

The sport of dog agility has many benefits for dogs and humans, alike. Read more about one competitor's story.

Agility helped Lisa Layton, a writer in Wadsworth, Ohio, cope with the grief of losing her mother and, later, aided in her recovery after arterial bypass surgery.

"I was living in Houston when I found agility, just a few months after my mother died. I had already been actively engaged in obedience, conformation and field work with my golden retriever, but it was agility that helped me get my mind off the grief. When you're doing agility, you can't think about anything else except your dog, the next command and the next obstacle. Agility really helped get me out of a bad place." 

A couple of years later, Lisa became very ill, but kept going to trials because her dog Nitro was doing extremely well in competition. Then a diagnosis of clogged mesenteric arteries put agility on hold, and she ended up moving to Ohio for treatment. Her desire to get back to agility helped her through that difficult time as well.

She currently trains and teaches at Medina Swarm, and competes locally with her rescue border collie, 3-year-old Molly.

Photo of Nitro and Lisa in the summer of 1996, after her arterial bypass surgery.