I have lived with dogs all of my life. When I was twelve years old, I became interested in obedience and wanted a dog of my own. It took me a year to save up enough babysitting money to buy my miniature poodle, Roxy. I trained her through Novice, then she tragically broke her hip. Since then, I have trained and in most cases shown, the following breeds: a springer spaniel, a Shetland sheepdog, golden retrievers, a briard, cavalier King Charles spaniels, another miniature poodle, an English cocker spaniel, and border collies.

In obedience, I have put four UDXs, eight UDs, and numerous CDXs on various dogs. I put agility titles on two of my dogs, Tyler (miniature poodle) and Annie (English cocker). Two of my border collies have rally titles, Jed an RA and Eli an RE. Fortunately, Richard Whorton agreed to train and handle Levi (HC TBC Levi UDX2 OM2 HXAs HXBs) to his Herding Championship. Currently, I am showing Levi in Open B and Utility B in obedience.

My two proudest moments were when Daisy, my golden retriever, won High In Trial over a 400 dog entry at the Minneapolis Kennel Club, and putting 98 OTCH points on Eli (U-UD Lacy's Elijah UDX2 OM2 RE). I had to retire Eli, two points short of his OTCH because of his failing vision; he was crashing jumps.

I've enjoyed my membership at Durham Kennel Club, the opportunity of making friends with interesting people who share my love of dogs, teaching obedience classes, and having a welcoming place to train my dogs.