Diana with her dog, Lassie.
Diana Smith has over 25 years of training experience and is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer
(CPDT). She has over
1000 hours of
study with some of the world's leading dog behaviorist including Dr. Ian Dunbar and John Rogerson.
These course studies focused on treatment programs for separation anxiety,
phobias, aggression issues (over ten types), obsessive compulsive disorders, as
well as genetic and medical influences on these problems.
In addition, Diana has worked with local animal shelters and rescue groups
training volunteers on temperament testing and behavior management. Diana is a
Canine Good Citizen (CGC)
Evaluator and holds classes for this program several times a year. Also,
Diana has shown competitively in obedience, agility, rally, conformation, field trials, and
working trials with several titles. Eight years ago Diana developed the first
Austin area summer program for children and teenagers with their dogs (Club
Pup). During the school year, host and advisor to the Travis County 4-H Dog
Starz and Austin Dog Alliance Kid's Club.
Trevor with his dog, Blitzen.
Trevor Smith has 14 years of training experience. Currently he
is studying to achieve his Certified Pet Dog Trainer (CPDT).
He is also in continuing education through Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT)
and apprentices with Diana Smith. He competes with his dog Blitzen at various
competitions throughout the year. Blitzen also plays a key role as Trevor's assistant
in basic obedience, agility, dock diving,private lessons, and Club Pup.
Lacy with her dog, Pie.
Rally and Competition Agility Instructor
Lacy
Browning has been teaching obedience classes in
Austin,
Texas for 16 years and began
teaching agility classes six years ago. She has been a member of Capitol Dog
Training Club since 1991, serving as President, Vice-President, Secretary, and
Director of Publicity. She was editor of the Canine Communique newsletter
for nine years.
Lacy also developed and wrote an on-line dog training class for Barnes and
Noble that they sold to
Netscape
Learning
Center.
She
often had over 2,000 people taking the course from all over the world. She is a
published author of several dog training magazine articles.
Lacy shares her life
with a husband, David, and eight dogs: four American Eskimos, one Golden
Retriever, one All-American, and two Dachshunds. Lacy and her dogs compete in
obedience, agility, and Freestyle dancing. She has done tracking, hunting and
water rescue training (obtaining a water rescue title) with her Golden
Retriever, Pie. She also performs with Pie, and her toy American Eskimo Dog,
Elf, doing tricks at children's birthday parties and local events. Lacy and her
dogs have participated in dog drill teams, square dances, and two of her dogs
have even been in commercials.
In addition to
teaching for Capitol Dog Training Club of Austin, Lacy also teaches classes at
Hearts and Paws
Dog
Training
Center. She has taught a variety of classes at
Hearts and Paws, including agility, obedience, tricks, and rally.
Lacy is a past recipient of the prestigious Kennel Ration Metal for Good
Sportsmanship Award. In addition to belonging to Capitol, she is also a member
of the Lone Star American Eskimo Dog Club. She has judged agility trials for the
Southwest Jack Russell Terrier Club of America several times. She has also
judged obedience trials for the Greater Austin West Highland Terrier Club, the
Texas
State 4-H Obedience
Trials, and the Southwest Jack Russell Terrier Club of America.
Helen Dorrance, Picture Pending
Helen Dorrance Conformation Class Instructor
Helen Dorrance has been showing dogs in conformation for 31
years and has been a breeder for 26 years. She has owned and/or bred over
40 breed champions. Helen’s first breed is Golden Retrievers, but she also
owns and has shown American Eskimos and Italian Greyhounds.
Over the years, Helen has also owned a Papillon, Pomeranian, Labrador
Retriever, English Cocker Spaniel, and a mixed breed. Her latest
addition, as of a month ago, is a
Nova
Scotia
Duck Tolling Retriever puppy.
Helen has been an AKC conformation judge for 6 years and is
licensed to judge Golden Retrievers, English Cocker Spaniels, Labrador
Retrievers, American Eskimos and Junior Showmanship. She has competed in
obedience since 1977 but once AKC endorsed agility trials, obedience trials went
by the wayside.
Helen has been an AKC agility judge for 3 years and has
actively competed in agility for the last 12 years. She has run 11
different dogs in agility over those years. She has put 56 agility titles
on various dogs, including 2 MACHS on an American Eskimo and is working on
MACH 1 with the daughter.
Helen is also extremely active in several breed and all-breed
clubs:
Hearts and Paws 
