Karen
I am excited about this opportunity to work with a variety of people and dog breeds. It is exciting to see the progress each team makes and the success each team has in whatever they choose to do in performance areas. I will be working with teams in the rally, obedience, scent work, and therapy areas of performance. I am a very positive based trainer and believe in having fun with your dog and the dog having fun.
Obedience is the basic foundation for all events in dogs sports. So it is important to continue training for the life of your dog. It will make the bond between the team stronger each day. I have attained a UD on a golden and am presently working toward a UD on a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.
I am an AKC Rally judge, approved for all levels. I started out in rally at the first rally trial at 12:01 am on January 1st, 2005 in Rapid City, South Dakota. I competed with two golden retrievers and earned the rally novice RN title. I was hooked on the fun and excitement of rally and started my journey to become a judge. I enjoy teaching and judging rally. I love to see people progress and earn titles. It’s also fun to just see people work their dogs if they aren’t into competing. I am presently working 4 Chesapeake Bay Retrievers in rally at the novice, intermediate, excellent, and master levels. We are working Carley on her RACH title. I have numerous titles through RAE and Master level. I have been attended the Rally National competition for the past 4 years with 3 different dogs.
Scent work is another one of my performance sports. I started with NACSW in 2006 and continued to become a CNWI with NACSW. I am required to do continuing education each year to keep my CNWI (Certified nose work instructor) certification. I became an AKC scent work judge in 2017. Both organizations are fun to be part of and trial. You don’t need to trial to enjoy scent work, it is a team building sport that is fun to see how you and your dog communicate and work together.
Therapy work is an extremely satisfying job for each team. You help people in a variety of areas. You can go to libraries, hospitals, retirement homes, airports, and etc. I have been doing therapy work since 1996 with my golden retrievers. I became an evaluator for TDI, inc. in 1997 until 2019. I then became associated with ATD in Wyoming and became an evaluator in 2019.
I enjoy working with new teams that want to do therapy work in their community and let other people enjoy their animals. It is very rewarding to evaluate new teams and start them on their therapy dog journey. Any dog can do therapy work with the correct temperament and training. It is a team training, as the handler and dog need training to be successful as a therapy team.
I am really looking forward to working with any client that wants to enjoy their dog and have fun. The bottom line of dog ownership is enjoying your time with your best friend and they enjoy being part of your life.