Christiana canine Little Sparkle takes the gold at world agility competition

There's one more gold medal in Middle Tennessee.

Tawni Millet of Christiana and her border collie, Little Sparkle, earned the gold recently at the 2019 World Agility Championships in Hellendoorn, the Netherlands.

“It is a dream come true to achieve one of our goals, and (it's) extremely special to happen at Little Sparkle’s first international competition. She handled the environment like she had been doing this for years," said Millet, who owns LiveWire Agility Training.

The event was hosted by the International Federation of Cynological Sports and Federatie Hondensport Nederland.

The IFCS World Agility Championship event is an elite competition showcasing more than 200 top competitors from more than a dozen countries. Any country is eligible to participate. 

Millet traveled to the Netherlands with her border collies Little Sparkle and Jolt, along with 22 other Team USA competitors and their canine teammates.

Members were selected by the United States Dog Agility Association through a points system based on their performance in a World Team selection event. Team USA earned six medals at this year’s world championship.

Three-year-old Little Sparkle earned the team’s only gold medal. The border collie also took top honors in her height category in the Individual Gamblers competition, which requires proficiency in distance control and competitive strategy.

While Millet was happy about the win she and Little Sparkle garnered, it was also a bittersweet competition.

"This was Jolt’s last international competition; it was like she was passing the torch down to Little Sparkle," said Millet, whose dog Jolt had been competing for years.

Little Sparkle and her 8-year-old mother, Jolt, were the first mother-daughter dogs to be on the same world team in the same year. Jolt, Millet’s first border collie and second agility dog, has been on five world teams. This was Little Sparkle’s first. 

Both dogs are multi-time regional champions and national champions. Little Sparkle also took top honors at the prestigious USDAA Cynosport World Games, held in November in Scottsdale, Arizona.  

Reach Nancy DeGennaro at degennaro@dnj.com and follow her on Twitter @NanDeGennaro.