PICKERINGTON, Ohio — It only takes a few minutes in the company of Jennifer Crank to realize just how much dogs want to please.

Each of her dogs—from her “heart breed” Shetland Sheepdogs, to Border Collies and even a French Bulldog named Fudge, watch her with great intensity, reacting to every verbal and physical cue. They might not always get it right, but they really want to, evidenced in their enthusiastic tail wagging and toy and treat-getting.

Cranks says that the desire to please is just part of her winning formula.

“I tell my students all the time, I don’t want your dog to do the tunnel because you told them ‘tunnel,’ I want them to want to do the tunnel,” Crank said.

That desire to nail the obstacles or run a perfect course, has translated into big success for Crank, who, according to the American Kennel Club, holds the most US medals at the FCI World Agility Championship, is a two-time winner of the Westminster Masters Agility Champion, 3-time AKC National Agility Champion and 4-time Premier Cup Winner.

Training dogs in agility is second nature to Crank. She was raised in a dog breeding and training family and had her own show dogs growing up, earning her first agility title at 7 years-old. She credits her natural ease with dogs to her upbringing.

“I think because I started in it so young, a lot of the behaviors, the qualities that people have to learn are very innate to me, are very sub-conscious," she said. "Spatial awareness, the ability to twist and turn, the ability to keep one eye on the equipment and one eye on the dog...are things I don’t even think about."

“I think one of my most exciting moments in the sport to date is when in 2022 Bea won the Master Agility Championship—the overall award—at Westminster, being the first Sheltie to do so,” Crank said.

Crank runs a training school, IncrediPaws, in Central Ohio, offering more than 30 classes a week in dog agility with opportunities to show and compete.