'Very Bad' Rescue Dog Was 'Kicked Out' of Obedience School. Now, She’s Heading to the World's Biggest Dog Show

Mar. 15, 2025

A Border Collie competing at Crufts in 2022 (Zola not pictured).Photo:Shirlaine Forrest/Getty

Shirlaine Forrest/Getty

Talk about an underdog!

After Jessica Gibson adopted Zola, a former stray, the pup was kicked out of obedience school for bad behavior. Three years later, she’s headed to the world’s biggest dog show, Gibson told theBBC.

Gibson, a 19-year-old from Limavady, Ireland, appeared on BBC Radio Foyle’sNorth West Todayprogram on Monday, March 3, to discuss how she and Zola—a collie with black, white, and tan coloring—went from expulsion to competition.

The pair is heading to Birmingham, England, on Thursday, March 6, to compete inCrufts, an international dog show hosted in the U.K. Gibson told the BBC that the scenario once seemed impossible, given Zola’s old behavior around other dogs.

When she first adopted the collie from Pet FBI, an animal rescue, about three years ago, the canine was enthusiastic immediately. “She was very excited,” Gibson recalled, and “she was jumping up on the side of the kennel, and she was just buzzing to get out.”

A dog competes in Crufts dog show in 2024 (Zola not pictured).Jacob King/PA Images via Getty

Jacob King/PA Images via Getty

She told the Irish outletDerry Nowthat she and Zola “just had this instant connection” and “understood each other straight away.”

“She had been found as a stray,” Gibson added of Zola, “so not much was known about her background, but I could tell she was special.”

However, the high-energy pup quickly ran into trouble when her new owner enrolled her in obedience school. Zola “got kicked out,” Gibson told the BBC. When asked why she was expelled from the training program, the owner said, “She was very bad — her and other dogs.”

But the pet-owner duo has been training regularly ever since, entering and winning “a few fun competitions.” Now, Zola is a Young Kennel Club grad and has qualified for Crufts, where she will run, twirl, and jump in one of the dog show’s agility competitions later this week.

“We had started agility training two years ago,” Gibson told the BBC. “And it’s been a very long, very hard journey. There’s been lots and lots of setbacks, but we’re doing really well.”

“I’ve put in a lot of work with her myself,” the owner said. Particularly, she added, to get Zola “to focus around other dogs and in public.”

A dog competes in Crufts dog show in 2024 (Zola not pictured).OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty

OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty

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When asked if she always wanted to participate in something like Crufts, Gibson admitted that she “always liked watching agility, but it seemed so out of reach” given her rescue’s struggles with etiquette.

“And I didn’t think that Zola would’ve been the dog for it once I got her, and I realized that she had lots of problems,” Gibson added, “but we worked through them.”

Regardless of Thursday’s outcome, Gibson is proud of Zola’s progress and journey. “I’m over the moon — I cannot get over how far she’s come,” she told the BBC.

“She’s nowhere like the dog she used to be.”

source: people.com