Hello MAC members and friends,

My entry into the world of formal dog training and my agility journey started in 1999 with my 3 year old Lab Zoe. At the time agility was something I thought I would do “just for fun” and even told my trainer that I could never see myself competing. It didn’t take long before I was eating those words.

Hailing from just down the road in Waterloo Region, I have been a familiar face around MAC for many years. The third time I ever stepped up to the line was at  MAC’s Spring Fling trial in April of 2002, or as I liked to refer to it, the “Brrrr in Birr” trial. I still have the maps and my notes from that trial in a training journal and it’s fun to look back and see how the sport has evolved.  I think at this point I have gone through the cycle of learning and unlearning everything I know about agility multiple times.

I founded the agility club Jumping for Joy Dogsports (J4J) in 2003 offering both trials and training, have been the host club for two Regionals, and a Nationals, as well as serving on many other Regionals committees through the years.

I started judging in 2007 and am currently training and competing with my 9th dog in agility; surprise, surprise another Lab, who many of you saw in her debut at MAC last year. I also have been a CKC registered breeder of Labs under the name Laurelwood Labradors for over twenty years.

While the pandemic has put a dent in our activities a little, I have also trained and competed in a variety of other dog sports including Field, Rally, Scent Detection and Dock Diving. Through it all, agility is, and has remained, my true love.

As a judge I strive for flowing courses with what have been described to me as “interesting challenges” and I’m constantly working at striking the balance between courses that are doable, while still presenting the appropriate challenges for the different levels and, I hope, fun for both the dog and human competitors. I’m looking forward to a day of Steeplechase with you this year!