I’ve had dogs since I was a child. Ginger was our first family dog and she was a Cocker Spaniel. As an adult, I’ve had a smorgasbord of dogs: a lab/shepherd mix, a golden retriever mix, and a husky/shepherd mix. Then I stumbled upon the Norwegian Elkhound. I’m embarrassed to say that I purchased my first Elkhound from a pet store. I knew nothing about the breed but thought he was cute and furry. Since the early 1990’s I’ve had 5 Elkhounds: Thor, Thor Junior (TJ), Hannah, and my current partners in crime, Nikolaus and Magnus.
I began taking training classes many years ago at a dog training center in Connecticut. Back then, the instructor’s philosophy of training dogs was to make the dog understand “I’m your mother and I could kill you, but I won’t if you obey me”. Boy, has dog training come a long way since then!! I believe that an active dog is a good dog, fostering the relationships are essential, and rewarding the behavior you want works much better than punishment.
My eldest dog, Nikolaus is a therapy dog. We were certified as a therapy team through Pet Partners in December of 2016. He is a 60-pound lap dog who loves to be petted. Pre-pandemic, we worked at Forestview Elementary School, Wright School, Duke Regional Hospital and the North Carolina School of Science and Math. In addition to therapy work, Nikolaus has earned one leg toward his Rally Novice title.
Magnus is three years old, and we are involved in the Scent world because of his great sniffer. He and I have been working with an individual coach on tracking for over a year. We hope to enter a TD trial in the fall. Magnus loves Barn Hunt!  We entered a trial in April. He earned his first leg toward the Novice title and high score/first place in the event.
I have been a member of the Durham Kennel Club for about two years
and have truly enjoyed the companionship and mentorship. I’ve taken many, many courses at the club and every instructor has been welcoming, positive and encouraging, giving me the confidence to enter competitive events with my dogs.