I thought I was getting a family pet, not a new way of life, when I adopted Arrow from a shelter on Valentine’s Day of 2004, but Arrow had different plans! We began taking agility classes with Dottie’s Dog School in the fall of 2004 as a way to burn off some of his energy, and both of us were quickly hooked on the sport. We competed in a few shows in the late summer and fall of 2005, and by the end of 2006, had accumulated 19 titles from four different agility organizations and were also doing therapy dog work. Arrow is a very versatile dog and loves tracking, herding and rally obedience as well.
In March of 2005, I adopted Tillie, a two-year-old stray, from Glen Highland Farm, a border collie rescue in Morris, NY, and began training her in agility and rally obedience with Dottie’s Dog School shortly thereafter. Tillie and I competed in agility in both CPE and AKC, and she also dabbled in herding, rally and tracking before succumbing to cancer in 2011.
I adopted Zoe from Glen Highland later that same year, and we will soon be entering competitions in rally, tracking and agility.
I became an assistant instructor with Dottie’s Dog School in 2007 and occasionally instruct classes on how to compete successfully in CPE agility at all levels. I am also an intake coordinator for Glen Highland Farm, which involves evaluating border collies in need of new homes and arranging for their transport. I recently served for two years as the Recording Secretary of the Syracuse Obedience Training Club. I live in Manlius with my husband and our terrific son Nicholas.
I credit Tillie, Zoe and Arrow with teaching me to work with dogs of different speeds, motivations and preferred working distances.
My dogs:
C-ATE, C-ATCH Arrow - AKC MX, MXS, MXJ, MJB, XF, TDX, RE, BN; NADAC NAC, TN-N, NGC, TG-N, NJC, O-NAC, TN-O; ASCA RS-N (FFXP), GS-N, JS-N; CPE ExST, ExCL, ExFH, ExJU, ExSN, ExJP, ChST
Zoe - puppy in training
At the bridge:
C-ATCH III Tillie - AKC AX, MXJ, OF, RN; ChCL, ChWC, ChST, ChSN, ChJU, ChFH, ChJP