Xennah – The Sheltie with a Wild Side

Born on Valentine’s Day, one might expect Xennah to be the embodiment of love, sweetness, and devotion. Instead, she is a firecracker wrapped in fur—bold, stubborn, and full of mischief. While her birthday suggests she should be all about cuddles and affection, Xennah has other plans. She is a force of nature, fiercely independent and completely uninterested in being a traditional, obedient companion.

Her intelligence is undeniable—not just in learning commands but in outsmarting any attempt to contain her. When she was only a few weeks old, I kept her in an ex-pen in the bathroom to keep her safe, but Xennah had no interest in staying put. She figured out how to move the entire ex-pen—crate and all—into the bedroom! Determined to stop her, I taped the ex-pen down, thinking that would finally keep her in place. But Xennah, ever the problem solver, peeled up the tape and moved it again. No matter what I did, she always found a way to outthink and outmaneuver me. 

Naturally, I tried introducing her to dog sports, hoping she would enjoy Obedience, Agility, Rally, and Barn Hunt. However, it became clear almost immediately that performing in public was not her thing. Unlike Xanadu, who thrives in competition, Xennah has no interest in showing off her skills for an audience. She is more of a behind-the-scenes kind of girl, preferring to learn for her own amusement rather than anyone else’s approval. 

And if Xennah doesn’t approve of someone or something, she has no problem making her feelings known. One of my most unforgettable moments was at one of our first agility trials, where my boyfriend and I were staying in my travel trailer. Xennah was not a fan of my boyfriend—and she made that perfectly clear when she jumped up on the bed he was in and peed all over him before I could get her outside! If there was any doubt about who she thought should be in that bed, she erased it right then and there. 

Instead of being a sports dog, Xennah is happiest when she can do things on her own terms—exploring, problem-solving, and making up her own rules as she goes along. Training her isn’t about competition; it’s about learning to work with her independent spirit rather than against it. 

Despite her mischievous start, Xennah has grown into a one-of-a-kind companion. Over the years, we have built a relationship based on mutual respect, patience, and, of course, compromise. She may have been born on Valentine’s Day, but she remains a fiercely independent girl with a mind of her own—and I wouldn’t have her any other way.  

 From the start, she has kept me on my toes. Even now, at 13 years old, that spark of determination and mischief still shines through. As a puppy, she had a wild streak, waking up in the middle of the night and throwing what can only be described as the canine version of a rave. Sleep? That was optional in Xennah’s world. She figured out how to turn on lights, ensuring that if she was awake, everyone else was too. And when she wasn’t flipping switches, she was splashing water from the dog dish as far as possible, just to add an extra level of chaos to the household.