Training Services

Kathleen has competed in agility for over twenty years, with eleven trips overseas, representing Team USA at the European Open, Agility World Championships, and Border Collie Classic. Kathleen has earned multiple MACHs and a PACH on various breeds, with eight trips to AKC Nationals and several appearances in Challengers and Finals. In recent years Kathleen’s focus has been on UKI Agility, attending the US Open yearly with multiple trips to all four Finals with multiple breeds. Kathleen has podiumed at multiple UKI Cups and Classics in the 20″, 20″S, 16″, 12″, and 8″S height categories.

Outside of agility, Kathleen works for the United States Space Force as a human-performance professional. Kathleen has her Master’s Degree in Sport Psychology, is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and is earning her PhD in Cognition and Instruction.

My Agility journey began in 2011 when I was 10 years old. My first shows and training experiences were through the Colorado 4-H Dog Project here in El Paso County. It didn’t take long at all for me to fall in love with dog training and I realized early on that I had a preference for companion events, particularly Agility.

Competing in agility for over 10 years, I have had the opportunity to handle and work with a variety of breeds and temperaments from Shiba Inus and Basenjis that only played the game because I asked them, to Border Collies and Dutch Shepherds that would practically drag me to the startline in their excitement. I have attended Junior Invitationals in Orlando Florida with two of my dogs in 2018 and 2019, competed overseas in the Junior European Open with one dog in 2019, and became an AKC National Finalist with one dog in 2022.

I believe the most important part of agility is the bond you build with your dog. My priority as a trainer is to make sure dogs and handlers are all having fun, and to set everyone up for success

Accomplishments:

AKC/USA Junior World Team member

Placement at the AKC Junior Invitational

AKC National Agility Finalist

Invited to the AKC Premier Cup

I began my journey with agility in the year 2000 on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. My husband and I lived in Alaska for 30 years. We moved to Seldovia, Alaska with our family the summer of 1980, a fishing village that could only be accessed by ferry or small airplanes. We had many new experiences coming from the flat farming land of North Dakota to mountains and the ocean and great fishing. We lived in Seldovia for six years and then moved to the main peninsula. We were both school teachers and our jobs and our three daughters kept us very busy until our daughters started graduating from high school and it was at that time that my canine competitive journey began.

The breed I chose to be part of our family in Alaska was the Bouvier des Flanders. There were a couple of breeders in Alaska and what I had researched about them they would be great family Alaskan dogs. I was correct. We ended up with three female Bouviers. Not long after welcoming them in our home I started participating in conformation, tracking, and obedience. Agility finally arrived in Alaska and I added that to my list plus rally. It was a time when dog training evolved and clicker training and positive training was the new trend. Thank goodness that is how I started and what I learned from and continued when training any of my dogs. Our oldest Bouvier, Denali, ended up earning the AKC VCD1 title, the second Bouvier in the country to earn this versatile title. Denali was also invited to the first AKC Agility Invitational that was held in California. We did attend. Denali was a great role model for the breed. All three of our Bouviers did do conformation, obedience, tracking and rally.

Next to join our family in Alaska was a border collie named Trek. Trek was brilliant and fast. Trek also did multiple canine events, but what I fell in love with most was agility, so when possible I spent my time there. I actually traveled out to the west coast a couple of times a year as there were not many agility competitions in Alaska at that time. Trek was High in Trial twice in agility at the Rose City Classic. When we moved to Colorado we added USDAA as one of our other agility venues along with AKC. Since there were so many agility trials, I made agility my main focus. Trek ended up in the finals of multiple regional events winning several of them and in the national finals of USDAA and AKC. His highest placing was 4th place. Trek and I also traveled to AKC world team tryouts several times. We never made the AKC world team, but I never gave up and learned a lot about mental management, toughness, not giving up the dream and continued to push my skills to get better and better.

My love for different breeds continued as Jade, a Belgian Tervuren, joined our family as we left Alaska. Jade qualified for several Cynosport events. Jade taught me a lot about expanding my handling skills, as what worked for my border collie, Trek, didn’t always work for Jade. Jade taught me about blind crosses as she did like me out front and that was the only way I could do that. Jade did not have a high Q rate, but she loved agility, so she taught me to look at the good parts of each run and to celebrate those successes.

Now I currently own All American Smarti Marti, a little black streak that brought me to new adventures. Marti and I became part of three USDAA world teams. We traveled to Italy and the Netherlands. Our third trip did not take place as covid hit that spring and teams have not traveled since. Marti is also a national champion with USDAA in the Steeplechase and the Biathlon event. My youngster is a Mudi, a breed just recognized by the AKC. Mudi Blu was invited to the AKC Invitational in 2021 and he won the hybrid event and took second place in two other events. Both Marti and Blu have qualified for the 2022 AKC agility nationals. All my dogs have taught me many things. Some loved repetition, some said “ I got it after a couple of tries.” I feel strongly that the relationship with your dog is the most important thing you can do and build on from the time they enter your home. The relationship gives you that long term team work with your dog and it helps build that they want to be with you in training and trials. They can handle redoing an obstacle or drill because you have taught them it is fun and they trust you. I believe in letting your dog fly and the handler needs to figure out how to keep up. I am an eclectic handler. I find what works for each individual dog and use that skill to get the best out of our team.

Kim McNeill has had dogs her entire life, but her first competition dog, her second basenji, came into her life in 1997.  It was only a short time later that she fell in love with doing agility with her basenjis. That basenji ended up achieving over 30 titles in multiple sports. After titling a couple of basenjis, she acquired a malinois from Malinois Rescue and trained her to master levels in agility.

Kim enjoys the challenge that independent thinkers give her and her training methods reflect the importance of flexibility and thinking outside the box.  She has titled multiple dogs, mostly sighthounds, in different dog sports including conformation, coursing, rally, freestyle, therapy work, barnhunt and of course agility.   Her current pack includes one basenji (retired), a malinois and 2 silken windhounds. When she’s not spending time with dogs, she can be found in her quilting studio, often quilting dogs.

Kim McNeill & the dogs with the tell-tale tails

one fiesty redheaded curly tailed princess:

Zest! Ch, SC, MX, MXJ, NAP, OF, TDIA, RATO, W-FD, W-TFD

the non curly tails:  delightful Devon (UKC Ch, UAGI, NAC, OJC, NCC, TG-N),  and

spicy Spy-C

and of course Digital the brindlewonderkid now in the great beyond- mBiF, group winning, AKC Dual Ch (FC, Ch), RN, SC, MX, MXJ, OAP, AJP, EAC, EJC, OGC, AD, ASFA FCh, TDIAOV, MVB, 2002/2007 #1 agility basenji (AKC rankings)

Jet the tri-ing  – Ch, SC, AX, AXJ, RN, ASFA FCh, NAC, NJC, CGC, TDIA, MVB also in the great beyond

www.falconagility.com
Colorado Springs, CO

“They paved paradise to put up a parking lot” – Joni Mitchell

Bette Green is the owner of Peyton Performance Dogs. She has been involved in dogs for 30 years and has put Agility, Obedience and Conformation titles on multiple dogs. She also founded and continues to run the Old English Sheepdog Rescue of Colorado for the last 20 years.

Bette has been teaching Competition Agility along with Foundation classes for the last 5 years. She loves the positive training and letting the dogs think for themselves. Bette also enjoys seeing the progress in the dogs and handlers! Owning her own training center has been a dream for many years, not only for the teaching aspect but a place that she could use for fundraising for OES Rescue. There were many people involved in making this come true.

Bette currently shares her home with three Old English Sheepdogs,  Layla is 11, Thatcher is 8 and Crystal is 1 year.  Her contact information is  betoes24@cs.com  719-641-1863

I think of Obedience and Agility as an orchestrated “dance”.  I want my canine partner to be a willing participant in working with me and I achieve this desire by keeping my dogs engaged through connection games.  I have been teaching competitive Obedience since 2012 and competitive Agility since 2016.  As an instructor, I feel I must actively compete at the level I instruct.  In Obedience, I have obtained titles through Utility.  I have acquired three MACHS and one PACH in Agility.

My training philosophy is simple.  I want my dogs to learn to think about what they are being rewarded for.  It’s all about choice!  I use shaping techniques to reward the behavior I desire.  A wrong choice creates a “try again”, resulting in delayed reinforcement.  Each skill or exercise taught is broken down into various pieces.  Each piece is learned separately, then incrementally chained together to form an exercise.  My dogs are happy!

Over the years, I have earned multiple “High In Trial” awards in both Obedience and Agility.   Between two dogs, I have qualified for the AKC Agility Nationals for the past six years and have attend four.  At the 2014 Agility Nationals, I ranked 13th out of 88 dogs, in the 24″ division, and was the #2 ranked Golden Retriever.  In 2018, at the Golden Retriever Club of America (GRCA) National Specialty, I won the 24″ Master Agility Standard class and placed 2nd in Master FAST.  In Obedience, at the 2018 GRCA National Specialty, I won the Graduate Open class and placed 15th out of 48 dogs in the Open B class.

Megan Lundberg CPDT-KA began dog training in 2012 in San Diego, CA where her husband was stationed in the Navy. Plans of pursuing her lifelong dream of becoming a veterinarian changed when she discovered her interest in behavior while studying at Colorado State University. This combined love of dogs with newfound passion for learning about behavior lead to the path of dog training. She currently works primarily at Canine Coach, Inc. teaching group classes, Puppy Day School, Adolescent Day School, and private lessons and specialized services like Family Paws / dog and kid safety, and reactive dog class. She has her own business, The Mannerly Mutt LLC, to offer private lessons and dryland mushing.

Megan began taking agility classes locally in 2010 with her first dog ever, Denali, a Siberian husky. She now has two Siberians and a young Silken Windhound in classes, and has competed in AKC and NADAC regularly. She also had a senior rescue 2-legged toy poodle, Amaze-Bobb, who did classes for a year with the approval of his physical therapy team.