Volhard Training Camp 2008 - Staff
It took the Volhards many years to assemble a truly outstanding team of instructors to teach at their Camps. Every member of the team is an experienced and knowledgeable instructor, as well as seminar presenter. All share one common goal: to make the Camp experience the absolute best it can be for the participants and their dogs.
Betsy Blackford is an obedience and agility instructor with Best Friends Obedience, Inc., in Lexington, KY and is a member of the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors. She and her dogs are active in agility, obedience, rally and tracking. She is owned by three Australian Shepherds. Training dogs to be placed for the local humane society led her into 13 years of rescue and re-homing work with adolescent and adult Aussies, and a house full of special dogs. She enjoys training, trialing, and spending her days of retirement in the happy company of her dogs.
Larry Lavoy instructs at East Longmeadow Dog Obedience Training Club. He is active in dog rescue with Faces Dog Rescue in Springfield, MA, where he does puppy aptitude tests on litters for placement and consults on behavioral problems. Founder of K9 Relationships where he does private training and behavior consults and anything dog related. Titled 2 GSD's and is understudy to 5 GSD's. Other interest: photography.
Theresa Richmond owns and operates Mahogany Ridge in Malta, NY, a multifaceted dog training facility that offers private and group classes, doggy daycare, dog related clinics, workshops and camps. This year marks her 10th year of Kidscamp!, a week-long day camp for children and their dogs. A certified agility instructor under Julie Daniels, Theresa is a follower of the Hatfield/Mah approach to teaching agility. Theresa most enjoys long walks with her dogs in the woods and sitting with the old dogs at the local animal shelter.
Karen Schlipf teaches for New Friend Dog Obedience (with Pinny Wendell), does class and private instruction, and is a canine massage therapist. She is also a member of e National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors. For several years Karen was a member of the Newfoundland Club of America Working Dog Committee, and for 13 years an instructor for Fox Valley Dog Training Club in Chicago. She has titled Newfoundlands in conformation, obedience, water and draft work. Karen is a computer graphics designer.
Dennis Shea is lead Instructor D&S Obedience School, together with his wife, Susan. He competes in AKC obedience and agility, and has titled 2 Labs, a Poodle and a GSD. Dennis is a Professional Engineer and his hobbies other than dogs are martial arts and running.
Susan Shea, RN, operates and instructs at the D&S Obedience School, together with her husband, Dennis. She has titled a Dalmatian, (2) Poodles, a Shepherd and a Lab in AKC obedience and agility trials. She teaches nursing and her special interests include alternative approaches to health care. She has begun working on her Doctoral research on the "Effects of Pet Therapy on Geriatric Patients.".
Pinny Wendell has operated New Friend Dog Obedience School in Chicago for the past 20 years. She was past Trial Chairman and instructor for Fox Valley Dog Training Club, and was a member of the Working Dog Committee of the Newfoundland Club of America. Pinny is a member of the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors and exhibits her Newfoundlands in obedience, draft and water work. Pinny is also a Certified Yoga Instructor.
Mary Ann Zeigenfuse owns and operates Best Friends Obedience, Inc., the largest training school in Central Kentucky. BFO has 16 instructors and teaches 12 classes a week at all levels of obedience and agility, as well as Rally. She is a long-standing member of the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors, a licensed veterinarian technician and supervisor at a large veterinary hospital. She has been teaching dog obedience classes since 1980 and her most famous "student" was the White House Springer, Millie, during the first Bush administration. She is competing with her Australian Shepherd in Agility, working on his MACH; Obedience, working on his UDX; Rally, working on his RAE and Tracking, working on his TD. She is the author of Dog Tricks: Step by Step (Howell Book House), and is a regular contributor to several training periodicals.