Success in spite of dyslexia inspires Brianna Jeffers' peers.

Brianna Jeffers and a spirited border collie named Flint apparently were destined to win championships together.

The story of this girl and her dog began early last year on a day of sadness for Brianna, the daughter of Steve and Paula Jeffers.

She is a 14-year-old home-school student who has long battled a severe case of dyslexia.

Her struggles to read effectively haven't kept her off computers, though.

After persistently searching a border collie rescue Web site, she thought she had found just the right border collie to go with her competitive training ambitions - only to see the dog adopted by someone else one day before they were scheduled to meet.

Brianna's bad luck turned out to be good fortune because it led her to Flint.

Now it's difficult for her to imagine life without the dog, especially after endless hours of work paid off in the state 4-H grand champion's award for obedience training last month at the state fair in Puyallup.

"It definitely was love at first sight," Brianna said of meeting Flint after her aunt told her about an advertisement in The Bellingham Herald for a 15-month-old purebred male border collie.

"We just clicked right away."

Even so, hundreds of hours of training and grooming of Flint's rare coat of white hair with black tips remained before they would be ready to compete for state honors.

JoAnn Honcoop, leader of the Lynden-based 4-H club Krazy K-9s, took Brianna and Flint into the group and they won several smaller competitions before the pair entered the novice intermediate division at the state fair.

"I thought maybe I could win my division, but I was absolutely shocked when they also called out my number as grand champion," Brianna said.

"I couldn't believe it was me. I was in a daze." Flint nudged Brianna to the award stand, where she learned that their score of 197 out of a possible 200 points topped every division.

The pair beat out hundreds of other competitors. "Right away, I could see what great camaraderie they had," Honcoop said.

"She has done a marvelous job with that dog. What also makes her so special is how she has not let dyslexia stop her."

"I wanted to work with a border collie because they're known for their intelligence," said Brianna, who grew up in a home filled with dogs and currently shares time with 2Þ-year-old terrier McGee and 11-year-old Labrador/ shepherd mix Maxie.

"Border collies respond well to training and they're also one of the most faithful of all dogs."

Through her 4-H club's study hall, which provides lessons about all breeds of dogs, Brianna has become an expert - pointing out that border collies were originally bred on the Scotland-England border, for example.

"Border collies are the only herding breed that stares down their prey, like a wolf," she said.

"When they're herding sheep, they mesmerize the sheep with their stares and let them know who is boss."

Brianna says she'll return to the state fair four more times, until her 4-H eligibility runs out at age 18.

"Each division is different and each is more demanding, so there will always be new challenges," she said. Meeting challenges Challenges are nothing new for Brianna, though.

An energetic member of Lynden's Calvary Chapel, she loves acting, photography, sewing and horseback riding.

She won her 4-H club's "most inspirational" award for successes in her struggle with dyslexia, which makes learning reading and math difficult.

Brianna passed the written tests that go with dog training with the help of coach Kathy Honcoop, the 4-H club's study hall director.

"We're all so proud of what Brianna has accomplished," said Kathy Honcoop, JoAnn's cousin.

"The kids were thrilled for her, to have someone on our club become grand champion.

What that girl has accomplished despite her dyslexia is nothing less than amazing."

The Jeffers family wants others to know what is possible despite dyslexia.

"We tried everything and we finally learned what Brianna's situation was three years ago," said Paula Jeffers, whose 16-year-old daughter, Kaleigh, is an elite-level Irish dancer.

"None of the standard methods worked for Brianna, but we discovered she could learn effectively with three-dimensional clay figures for words and numbers," Paula Jeffers said.

"She attended a science class at Zacchaeus Learning Opportunities in Bellingham and also is involved with Creative Youth Theater, a drama workshop.

She memorizes her lines through verbal repetition."

Brianna explained that because she is a visual learner, words such as "dog" and "house" aren't as difficult for her to translate as words such as "the" and "courage."

"For a long time, it was so frustrating," she said. "If I tried to read too long, the words would actually seem to wiggle on the page."

"For a long time, I would think, 'What am I doing wrong?'" her mother said. "It was a relief to know it wasn't me or her.

Now we would like to help inspire other children with dyslexia."

by Michelle Nolan

Oct 27, 2003

With thanks to the excellent Bellingham Herald.