Debbie Spence, Owner & Agility Instructor

Experience
Debbie has been involved with dogs since the early 1980′s, training and competing first in obedience and then discovering agility in 1989 and becoming addicted to this new sport. In 1996, Debbie opened her own agility school, PAWSitive Agility Working School (PAWS), where she has established a notably successful training program that has enabled her students to enhance their bond with their dogs while enjoying the challenges of training and competing in the exciting sport of dog agility.

Training
Debbie has attended numerous agility seminars over the years, learning from nationally-known competitors such as Sharon Nelson, Katherine Leggett, Nancy Gyes, Dave Blackshaw, Stuart Mah, Stacy Peardot-Goudy, Susan Garrett, and Greg Derrett. After attending two of his seminars several years ago, Debbie adopted Greg Derrett’s “System of Handling” (described in a series of articles in Clean Run Magazine in 2003), returning to her agility training school and re-teaching most of the handling and training techniques that were being used at the time. Greg’s system is quite simple, and the results have been extremely successful. Debbie continues to attend Greg’s seminars when he’s in the U.S., and she enjoys sharing what she learns with other agility enthusiasts.

Agility Success
Debbie’s own dogs include three Border Collies and two Shelties. 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 (see his record-breaking run). Tristan won the USDAA Veterans Grand Prix in 2003 and took 2nd Place his first time at NADAC Nationals the same year.

In 1999, Debbie acquired Boomer, a 2 1/2 year old Sheltie and immediately started his agility training. Boomer retired in 2006 after earning his USDAA ADCH, AKC MACH, and NADAC NATCH. Twice during his agility career, Boomer experienced serious shut-downs which Debbie worked through with great success.

As a 13-week-old pup being fostered with Border Collie Rescue of Texas, Senna came to live with Debbie in early 2003. Competing at the highest levels of agility competition, Senna has earned his USDAA Silver ADCH and AKC MACH2.

Cameron, a Sheltie acquired from one of her students in 2004 at the age of 3 1/2, suffered from major fear issues that had to be overcome. Cameron is now successfully competing in agility competition and has earned both his USDAA ADCH and AKC MACH2 titles.

Debbie’s youngest dog, Braedan (a Border Collie), was born in November 2009 and started his agility adventure immediately, attending a puppy agility workshop with Greg Derrett at the age of just 10 weeks. Braedan is anxiously waiting to start agility competition in the summer of 2011.

Victoria Severns, Agility Instructor and TTouch Practitioner

Victoria was introduced to agility by her first Border Collie, Jessie, after experiencing a wide array of dog sports. Much to their frustration, nothing seemed to capture Jessie’s attention until they discovered agility. They started training with Debbie at PAWS in 1997, and the shy, insecure youngster grew into a happy, confident dog. Victoria became an instructor at PAWS in 1999 and has been teaching and training a succession of Border Collies since that time. She and her first three Border Collies (Jessie, Maude, and Moss) competed in AKC, NADAC, and USDAA, earning numerous titles in the various classes. Her youngest, Keenan, is just beginning his agility training and has many lessons to learn (and to teach). Victoria also teaches agility through Dog Scouts of America at their annual Texas mini-camp.

Through the years, Victoria and her canine companions have participated in a variety of other activities including obedience, herding, flyball (Purina Incredible Dog Challenge and ESPN Great Outdoor Games), Dog Scouts of America, Geoscenting, and therapy dog work visiting nursing homes. Victoria is also a certified TTouch practitioner who works with companion animals and their people in private consultations, group classes, seminars, and workshops in the Dallas – Ft. Worth area. In 2010, Victoria joined the judging staff of the second Extreme Mutt Makeover in which shelter dogs are paired with trainers for 7 weeks to learn basic obedience and improve their prospects for adoption.

In an effort to stay current in agility training and dog behavior, Victoria has attended a number of seminars/trainings, including those offered by Greg and Laura Derrett, Susan Garrett, Suzanne Clothier, Chris Zink, Patricia McConnell, and Turid Rugaas.

Victoria’s philosophy for training is based on respect, communication, cooperation, and most of all FUN for everyone.

Nancy Hawley, Agility Instructor

Nancy Hawley has been successfully training animals for 45 years. Her horses have won many awards, including Grand Champion, Futurity Winner, and High Scoring Dressage Horse. She has trained dogs for TV commercials and has also earned conformation championships and produced conformation champions. In the performance arena, Nancy’s dogs have earned multiple obedience titles including one ranked top in the nation for its breed.

Nancy began agility training at PAWS in 1999 with Bandit, an Australian Cattle Dog/Border Collie cross. Bandit finished her NADAC Novice Versatility title in 13 days of showing. Unfortunately, Bandit had a short agility career due to an injury caused by a horse.

Nancy’s next agility dog, Annie, a Border Collie, has titled in AKC, USDAA, and NADAC, and is currently being shown in the upper level classes. In addition to agility, Annie has also competed successfully in AKC Rally and Obedience, has earned a herding instinct certificate, and done therapy work.

Nancy began instructing at PAWS in 2002. Her training motto is: “One rarely succeeds at anything unless having fun doing it.” Nancy believes that agility training is a wonderful opportunity for people to play with their dogs, make new friends, and enjoy friendly competition in classes and at trials. Moreover, almost anyone, and any dog, can do agility. The positive training methods learned can be applied to many areas, therefore enriching our lives.

Susan Shipp, Agility Instructor

Susan has been involved with dog training for over 25 years.  She started with obedience in the early years and has enjoyed agility over the last 10 years.  Susan has been training at PAWS and participating in agility since 2001. She has been an instructor at PAWS since 2005.

Susan has trained three agility dogs.  Reilly, a Flat-Coated Retriever and her first agility dog, earned the AKC Master Agility Champion (MACH), USDAA Master Agility Dog (MAD), and NADAC Agility Trial Champion (NATCH).  In other venues Reilly earned her CDX obedience title, Novice Dock Dog title, and WETT Dog Certificate.

Susan is currently working agility with both her Border Collies.  Tessa has earned several titles in AKC, NADAC and USDAA.  Rush is in training and hopes to enter competition in the summer of 2011.

To continue her dog training education, Susan has attended and participated in seminars in agility, animal behavior, and clicker training conducted by Greg Derrett, Kay Laurence, Karen Pryor, Ken Ramirez, Steve White, Chris Zink, and several others.

Susan believes in having fun with her dogs as they work hard to learn to put the pieces together to build a great team.

Chris Castelli, Agility Instructor

Chris came to PAWS in 2001 with her young, energetic, and somewhat shy Border Collie, Ginger. Thanks to Debbie’s positive methods and patient encouragement, Ginger quickly came out of her shell, and the team became hooked on the sport of agility. They spent 9 fun-filled years training and trialing together and, as an added bonus, accumulated numerous titles in both USDAA and NADAC along the way. Troy, also a Border Collie, is Chris’s current dog and is in training in both agility and herding.

Additionally, in 2007, Chris started training/trialing Annie, a Border Collie owned by Nancy Hawley (also a PAWS instructor) when Nancy’s knees would no longer allow her to run. Considering Chris & Annie only get to train together once a week, they’ve come together as a great team and have earned 23 agility titles.

Chris started teaching at PAWS in 2006 and has particularly enjoyed helping new handlers learn the sport and then watching them go on to have successes of their own.

Peggy Friauf, Agility Instructor

Peggy has been teaching riding (horses) for over 30 years. At the age of 11, she taught her dog to jump using trash cans and rake handles because her parents wouldn’t let her have a horse.

While at a major horse show with clients, Peggy saw an agility demonstration and found herself spending as much time watching the agility as she did the horse show. In 1999, she took her first agility lesson with her Jack Russell Terrier, and in 2001, Dozer earned his first title. In 2004, Peggy started training with PAWS and is now training her 3^rd & 4^th agility dogs (a Jack Russell Terrier and Border Collie). She’s also been helping Debbie teach both beginners and regular agility classes since 2008.

Peggy says agility is a sport she really enjoys, as is helping to enrich people’s interactions with their animals.

Anne Miller, Puppy Agility Instructor

Anne Miller has been involved in dog agility for 10 years. Before being asked to take over the Puppy Agility Classes, she taught Clicker Obedience Classes at PAWS for over three years.

Anne shares her life with 4 dogs: Boomer, an Australian Shepherd, age 11; Oreo, a Border Collie, age 6; Peanut, a Australian Shepherd, age 6; and Hemi (Australian Shepherd), age 1.

After countless efforts to get her overly exuberant and often reactive Aussie, Boomer, to do agility, she found herself diving into every clicker class, dog book, and dog behavior seminar she could find. With the thirst to understand why her dog acted the way he did, Anne found herself in a world she never imagined, attending seminars of such greats as Brenda Aloff, Turid Rugaas, Bob Bailey, and Karen Pryor’s Clicker Expo, as well as Greg & Laura Derrett agility handling seminars. With the vast knowledge she has gathered, plus her own personal experience with her four fur-kids, Anne has established herself as a great asset to the PAWS teaching team.

Hannelore Orkis, Obedience Instructor

Hannelore has over 35 years of experience in animal training. She started in the training arena with horses, and that easily led to dogs. Her passion is focused on positive reinforcement training. Hannelore spends a great deal of time reading, as well as attending a wide variety of seminars, lectures, workshops, and conferences to stay current on the latest trends in both animal & human behavior. To help educate the public, she gives behavioral overviews to rescue groups, vet clinics, schools, 4-H clubs, dog groups, etc. She has been a guest speaker on several radio shows in New Jersey and Oklahoma.

Hannelore is regularly called on to deal with unique dog behavioral issues and situations. She has built a reputation on being able to assist with a variety of cases, especially the most challenging ones. She enjoys helping humans learn about animal behaviors to bridge communication so they can bring out the best in their dog and therefore help him become a delightful pet. PAWS is extremely fortunate to have had Hannelore teaching clicker obedience classes since 2003.

(And, just for the fun of it, Hannelore trained two Betta fish to perform a novice obedience heeling pattern using her reinforcement-based training methods.)

Nancy Strack, Obedience Instructor

Nancy began her agility training at PAWS with her dog, Sadie, in 2001. Sadie was a Doberman/Whippet mix that excelled in agility. Sadie was Nancy’s first agility dog and earned the USDAA Performance Dog (APD) and NADAC Agility Trial Champion (NATCH) titles. Sadie also qualified and attended the NADAC Nationals and USDAA Nationals in 2004.

After Nancy retired her dogs from agility, she took the opportunity to teach the Clicker Obedience class at PAWS. She discovered that teaching Clicker Obedience was much more rewarding for her. Through the wide variety of seminars and conferences she attended, Nancy developed a passion for learning animal behavior. Not only has the information she learned helped her own dogs, but she continues to educate others on the latest trends as well.

Nancy is also involved in Dog Scouts of America with her 10 year old mixed breed, Daisy. They belong to Troop 119 where Nancy is a Scout Master. Not only is Daisy a Dog Scout, but Nancy also had her certified as a Therapy Dog, and they currently participate in the Reading Program for Children at the Irving Public Library and Grapevine Public Library.

Nancy recently began agility training with her new 2-year-old rescue dog, Hank, an Australian Cattle Dog.