Braedan is the newest addition to the Spence menagerie.  Born in November 2009, Braedan has just recently embarked on his agility career.  At 21 months of age, Braedan completed both his AKC Novice Agility (NA) and Open Agility (OA), as well as his Novice Agility Jumpers (NAJ) and Open Agility Jumpers (OAJ) titles.  Debbie is looking forward to great things from Braedan.

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Acquired from Border Collie Rescue of Texas (Houston), Senna came to live with Debbie at the age of 13 weeks in March 2003 and turned out to be a great addition to the Spence menagerie.  He loves agility, playing tug, and chasing frisbees, squeaky balls, and all the vehicles coming into and leaving the PAWS agility field (from the inside of the fence!).  Senna actively competes in AKC and USDAA agility and has a Master Agility Champion 2 (MACH 2) and USDAA Silver Agility Dog Champion (ADCH) and Platinum Tournament titles, respectively.

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Cameron was acquired from one of Debbie’s agility students in May 2004. Born in October 2001, this little Sheltie had fear issues to overcome (which caused freezing in the agility ring), but he’s now enjoying life to its fullest and excels at agility.  Cameron has his AKC MACH 2 title and USDAA ADCH.

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Born in 1996, Tristan is Debbie’s third Border Collie. He was a “wild thing”, and Debbie had to learn to work with a high-drive, fast, intense dog.  In addition to a USDAA Bronze ADCH, NADAC Superior NATCH, and AKC MACH, Tristan held the Clean Run Ultimate Weave Pole Challenge record from June 2003 to August 2004, completing 60 weave poles in 12.77 seconds.  Tristan won the USDAA Veterans Grand Prix in 2004 and took 2nd Place his first time at NADAC Nationals the same year.  Retired from agility at the age of 12, Tristan is enjoying his retirement by begging for treats from Debbie’s agility students.

Watch Tristan’s record-breaking run

In February 2000, Debbie acquired Boomer, a 3 1/2-year-old Shetland Sheepdog. With no previous training whatsoever (either obedience or agility), Debbie immediately started her positive training methods with Boomer. He caught on more quickly than she expected, and within a few months, Boomer was entered in his first agility trial where he earned a qualifying score in NADAC Jumpers. During his career, Boomer earned his USDAA ADCH, his NADAC NATCH, and his AKC MACH titles.

Catcher

In 1995, Debbie acquired Catcher (also a Border Collie) from rescue at the age of 7, and he started his agility career shortly thereafter. Although Catcher loved agility, his personality was such that he required lots of praise and reward for a job well-done. Debbie had to make sure to keep Catcher’s training motivational and fun. After earning 13 agility titles in three different organizations (USDAA, AKC, and NADAC), Catcher retired from agility at the age of 12 1/2.

Kallie, a Border Collie, was Debbie’s first agility dog. Because little was known about how to teach agility in its early years, Debbie had to overcome significant training challenges with Kallie, who went on to obtain her USDAA Agility Dog (AD) and AKC Agility Excellent (AX) titles before retiring at age 11.