New Eden Kennels trainer grooms American Bulldog to national titles

Bullvi, a massive 100-pound, all-muscle, 5-year-old purebred American Bulldog at New Eden Kennels in Thunderbird Farms, recently ended his North American Dogsport Federation tournament run with a Confirmation Championship.

That capped a career for Bullvi, registered with the American Bulldog Association, along with nationally certified trainer/handler Christopher Ellinger that included two national championships among numerous titles.

Ellinger and Bullvi met when the pup was about 2 and was being raised to be a free-roaming guard dog on the ranch. Ellinger saw potential for Bullvi to train and enter competitions.

After a few months of obedience training and decoy work, Ellinger launched Bullvi into the canine competition world at the 2019 American Bulldog/Mastiff Associations Confirmation/Iron Dog Nationals.

Bullvi came away with multiple titles: Iron Dog Temperament Test, Guard Dog Test and Defense of Handler Test. But the bulldog exceeded all expectations when he also garnered the national championship in the Iron Dog 3 Triathlon.

As time went on, Bullvi would repeat as national Iron Dog Champion.

Ellinger’s history of canine training began when he was 8. Along the way, he spent many years learning dog behaviors and working individually with dogs of all natures and breeds. He also learned that high-drive dogs and even aggressive dogs could be trained for competition. Many of those dogs Ellinger trained competed in shows and high-level dog sports.

It was just a matter of time before the team of Bullvi and Ellinger would accumulate nine certified titles and championships.

Ellinger would then start his own business, New Eden Kennels K-9 Boarding & Training, which has several prize American Bulldogs.

More information: facebook.com/newedenkennels or 520-450-6782.

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