Simply put, Ella Hennen loves dogs. Whether you find her volunteering or training for a show, there is a 99% chance you’ll find a dog by her side.

Ella, a junior at MHS, has found the perfect hobby combining two of her favorite thing: dogs and helping people. Since March, Ella has been volunteering at the Humane Society once every other week after fellow 11th grader Kelly Endres introduced her to the opportunity. Ella works with the dogs, although she doesn’t consider it work. But the most important job she has, and what she considers the most rewarding, is bringing people to the dogs, letting them form connections and hopefully take one home. “It’s when people say ‘Yeah, we’ll take him.’ It’s the moment when you get to see the dog go to a home,” says Ella. “Because the dog doesn’t know it, but they’re going to get out of here and actually have a family.”

Not only does Ella spend time volunteering, she also trains for dog shows with Rikki, her labradoodle. “It’s a lot of prep work,” Ella admits, “I had to train for a year and a half before my first show.” They have been doing shows for two years now, training once a week at Dog Works in Eden Prairie. She competes in the agility category which calls for speed and the ability to get through obstacles such as jumping over hurdles, running through tunnels, up ladders, and across unbalanced teeter-totters. Given the difficult tasks and the hours of practice that come with, it’s surprising Ella has maintained her interest in the demanding hobby. When asked about what appealed to her most about dog shows, she replied “You start at a very low level. You start with having the bar on the ground, the teeter-totter flat. When you go through all of the work to work your way higher, it’s cool to see it pay of Also, I got a really big ribbon last time, so that’s really cool, too.”

A big ribbon aside, Ella makes a difference in our community by connecting with man’s best friend. Like many of us, she cannot imagine living without her dog. She puts in time at the Humane Society so other families can feel the same way, and feel the puppy love.