In 2004 Cathie fostered Sebastian, a two-year old male Sheltie who was highly intelligent and extremely energetic, but lacked any sort of discipline. He quickly learned house manners and basic obedience, but he needed more. In searching for something other than obedience, Cathie found agility and rally. That was the start of Cathie’s training and competing in canine performance sports. Cathie and her dogs continue to compete in a variety of sports such as agility, obedience, rally, herding (sheep and ducks), ratting and scent work. For “fun” her dogs run in Course Ability and FastCAT. Most recently she started competing in AKC and UKC conformation. As training techniques continue to evolve over the years, Cathie has continued to train and embrace the new methodologies. Cathie enjoys training dogs and their owners. She believes having well-mannered dogs makes their homes happier. She also promotes training and trialing, believing the bond created while working as a “team” is one of the best experiences. Cathie has put championship titles on her dogs in agility and rally; Her Mollie earned a Grand Champion Versatility Title from the Association of Working Shetland Sheepdogs. She is a World Cynosport Rally judge (WCRL); AKC Farm Dog Certification evaluator; AKC Agility Course Test (ACT) evaluator; AKC Fit Dog Certified Trainer; and AKC CGC, Trick and S.T.A.R. Puppy Evaluator/Trainer. Before retiring to Florida, she and her husband, along with their Shelties, lived in Northern Virginia. She worked in telecommunications and IT security, retiring from the Federal Government as a director and from IBM as an associate partner. When not taking classes or trialing, she was training students in agility and rally.
