Dog sports, and its community, gave Captain Elisa Holland a space to recover and regroup following her 2009 deployment to Afghanistan – a tour marked by tragic events, injuries, and losses.
Captain Holland is a people person and is always there to lend a hand. Weekdays, she’s a Gender Advisor and instructor for the CAF. On weekends, she’s a competitor in prestigious dog sports. On May 8 and 9 she will present her dog, Daisy, at the world-renowned Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York.
Daisy is an 18-month-old Whippet, a breed closely related to the Greyhound. In gaining her Canadian championship, Daisy was undefeated with multiple Best of Breed wins including Best in Sweepstakes and Best Puppy in a multi breed speciality. And now she will compete in the Westminster show, a competition dating back to 1877. This will be the first time either Elisa or Daisy compete in the world-famous show.
Captain Holland is an armoured officer by trade, with more than 20 years of service. She deployed to Afghanistan in 2009-10 with the Provincial Reconstruction Team and then on a UN mission to Mali in 2018-19 as the Gender Advisor to the Canadian Task Force Commander. Over the past 10 years, Captain Holland completed training missions to Tanzania, Senegal, Chile, Turkey, Netherlands, Sweden, Guatemala, and Colombia.
Currently, she works at the Peace Support Training Center (PSTC) within CFB Kingston, training both Canadian and foreign military personnel on a variety of courses including the UN-accredited Military Observer course. She also trains employees of Global Affairs Canada who are deploying to overseas Canadian embassies.
Elisa approached the sport like her military training. She began by attending courses and seminars led by professionals, and then began practicing those skills on her own. She attributes time appreciation, being organized, discipline, rehearsal, and teamwork as foundational skills she’s honed in the CAF that have carried over to help her be successful as a dog handler.
At competitions, Elisa has a reputation of being fair and stepping in to help others; former CAF and US military members seek her out as someone they can relate with. Elisa describes the dog sporting community as a tight-knit group where individuals lean on and support each other. Competencies she’s learned in her hobby which make her better at her weekday job include sportsmanship and being more gentle and less aggressive.
Elisa’s husband, also a CAF member, Army Operations Course staff and her Chain of Command support her work-life balance and pursuit of competitive dog sport, culminating in her upcoming appearance at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. A recent study1 showed offering employees flexibility both combats workplace burnout and fuels productivity. Captain Holland feels that her unit leadership values a healthy work-life balance, and that her situation proves you can serve Canada in a full-time capacity and be successful in outside passions.
