With over 40 years of experience competing in dog sports, Linda Coates of Louisville, Kentucky is no stranger to the AKC National Championship stage. Together with her Pug, “Louis,” Coates competed in the first-ever AKC RACH Invitational as part of the 2024 AKC National Championship, presented by Royal Canin.
The top AKC Rally dogs in each breed were invited to compete in the inaugural two-day event. Louis, who is 8 years old, was well-prepared for this year’s competition, and now he is the first dog in his breed to receive his AKC Rally Championship title.
Multiple Sports With Multiple Breeds
Coates has always considered herself an “obedience person,” and competes with both Airedale Terriers and Pugs. She runs an obedience school in Louisville, and says that for her, the bridge to doing AKC Rally was a given. “We do a lot of obedience with our students, and we’ve encouraged a lot of them to go on to do Rally,” she says. “It’s a good entry-level sport for people to learn, and it’s a lot of fun.”
She started with dog sports in 4H, and at that time, had a Wire Fox Terrier. She went on compete with Airedale Terriers, which she’s now owned for 40 years, with the addition of Pugs like Louis and “Otis” for the past 25 years. Her first love is obedience, and she still loves doing it with her dogs. Louis is particularly good at it: he was the first pug to become an obedience trial champion.
But Coates didn’t stop with obedience — or AKC Rally, for that matter. “I actually have a Pug with a tracking title,” she says. “I like doing a little bit of everything with them. AKC has so much to offer that you can participate in, so we just have a lot of fun doing lots of different things.”
Breed Firsts in the Sport
Louis wasn’t just the first Pug to get his obedience trial champion title. “Louis is also the only Pug to be a Rally champion,” Coates notes. “He’s the very first to earn that title.” The team competed at the AKC National Championship at the first-ever AKC RACH Invitational, where the top dogs in AKC Rally in each breed were invited to compete. “It’s just an honor to represent our breed,” Coates says. “Hopefully many more to come.”
This isn’t Louis’ first trip to Orlando to compete on this big stage. He’s competed at the AKC Obedience Classic as well, and competed in both competitions in Orlando in 2024. “As he’s gotten older, we’ve chosen Rally as something else to do,” says Coates. “He seems to really enjoy it.”
As the team continues to compete across multiple sports, Louis’ titles are looking more and more impressive. He has agility titles, the two levels of AKC Fetch titles, his Urban Canine Good Citizen, and is close to getting his RACH2 title. “We’ll keep playing with Rally for now, and next we are going to come out in utility in obedience in the spring.”
“I like showing other people in the breed that these guys can do this stuff, and hopefully that will encourage others who do conformation to try doing this,” Coates says. “I think we’ve reeled in a few people that’re giving it a try now.”
Representation Across Sports
At events like the RACH Invitational where the top dogs in each breed are invited, it’s likely that you’ll see a variety of breeds you may not normally see at some sports. But at typical AKC Rally and obedience events, Louis is sometimes the only Pug competing.
Despite Louis often being the only Pug at an event, Coates is quick to emphasize how they’ve been supported by the breed’s community. “It’s pretty supportive as a breed, and that’s what’s important,” Coates says. Other handlers with Pugs who competed in agility over the AKC National Championship weekend often came by to see how Louis was doing. “People support each other, and I think it’s important especially when you’re new.”
In other sports, like conformation, seeing Pugs is more common. “We are seeing more Pugs at our National Specialty than we used to, but in general, I wish more people who have finished champions would try this,” Coates says. She encourages people with different dog breeds to try sports like AKC Rally. “Any breed of dog can do it,” she adds. “It’s fun to see all the different breeds of dogs and just have some fun with mine.”
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