The Phrase, "Gone to the Dogs", is certainly an appropriate one to describe my life, By trade, I am an artist. I have always enjoyed drawing and painting. One of my primary interests, as a child, was animals - dogs, cats, birds, horses, and other nature-related subjects. I have always had dogs they were my friends and companions during my childhood. I enrolled in my first obedience class in the mid-80's with the Alamance Kennel Club. From there... I was hooked. Throughout the years, I have participated in many aspects of training and showing dogs... earning titles in obedience, agility, conformation, herding, and freestyle... on many dogs... both personal, and for clients. Over the years, my dogs and I have earned several awards, as well as, qualified for, and attended the Eastern Regional Obedience Championships. We are proud to have qualified, twice, in the Most Versatile Aussie division at the ASCA Nationals. Another love, is the sport of Tracking... having trained several dogs, and attended numerous workshops over the years.
I am an approved ASCA Senior Rally and Obedience Judge. My assignments have taken me across the United States, and as far away as Germany and Belgium. Other accomplishments include being an evaluator for the AKC's Canine Good Citizen and Star Puppy program.
For over 14 years, I was an instructor of Commercial Art and Advertising Design at the Alamance Community College, Haw River, NC this is where I discovered that I loved to teach. In 1998, I retired from teaching art and began working full-time at the Bon-Clyde Learning Center, in Sanford, NC, one of the east coast's premier dog training facilities. Classes taught ranged from all levels of obedience and agility, to canine tricks, freestyle, and breed handling. Working at Bon-Clyde was very exciting for me. The wide range of seminars and guest speakers that we had, offered valuable training information, not only for me and my dog, but as a major influence in helping me understand dogs and their people, the variety of training methods available, and how understanding the two elements offers a greater, more successful training outcome.
Our facility has expanded over the years (as neighboring businesses have moved), to a 7,200 sq. ft. training center that includes a small specialty store and a Professional Groomer. My love of dog training, the many years spent teaching, along with learning a variety of training skills and methods, has helped me to build a business that I am very proud of and enjoy, each and every day. Future goals are to continue to offer the best in dog training and helping others to understand the wonderful relationship that dogs can bring to us.
