Nancy Gyes

NANCY GYES

Read about Nancy in her bio.

Jim Basic

JIM BASIC

Read about Jim in his bio.

Annie Pyle

ANIE PYLE

Annie has been training dogs for competitive sports for 15 years. She started her agility career in 2001. Since then, she has been an 8-time finalist at the USDAA World Championships and AKC Nationals, placing 2nd in 2004, 3rd in 2006, and 2nd in 2007. She is a 4-time USDAA Regional Champion in Grand Prix, Steeplechase and DAM team events and 2-time AKC Challenger Round Finalist. She has won top three placements in both ISC/State Team Tournament and individual rounds at multiple AKC Nationals. Annie is currently the resident agility instructor at the Clean Run Training facility in South Hadley, Massachusetts and is a regular contributor to Clean Run magazine.  Her students compete both nationally and internationally and their dogs are among the top ranked in the country.

Ashley Deacon

ASHLEY DEACON, 2011 FCI World Champion

Ashley has had a lifelong love of dogs, which started as a child in the North of England with the family pet – a hooligan Jack Russell terrier called Patch. Patch was an accomplished escape artist and Ashley always took on the responsibility of chasing him down on his escapades through the neighborhood, luring him in with cookies and returning him home. These early dog “training” experiences kindled a desire to own a well behaved and obedient dog and particularly one that didn’t continually seek to run away. After finishing college Ashley emigrated to the USA, where he has lived for the last 15 years. In 2002 Ashley decided the time was right to own a dog of his own. After doing much research he settled on an obscure French herding breed, the Pyrenean Shepherd. He was attracted by their natural intelligence, smallish size and rustic appearance.  He was mainly looking for a biddable hiking and running companion that he could train. Just before Thanksgiving 2002 Luka arrived on a Continental flight from Cleveland to San Francisco. Luka’s first year was spent in puppy and obedience classes. She was not a very confident or outgoing puppy, but she loved the training routine and this helped her grow in confidence. After 1 year of obedience classes, Ashley and Luka discovered agility and started to take weekly agility classes at Power Paws Agility in San Jose. The rest, as they say, is history…

Ashley and Luka have many accomplishments in the 7 years that they have been competing. Their performances in national and international events have continued to improve as they have refined and fine-tuned their teamwork.  They have won the Steeplechase finals at USDAA Nationals an unprecedented 5 times, including 4 consecutive years from 2007-2010. In 2007 and 2009 they won both the Steeplechase and the Grand Prix finals. In September 2009 Ashley and Luka helped the USA Medium dog team take a silver medal at the FCI World Championships in Dornbirn, Austria. Ashley and Luka posted the highest combined score in the team competition. Later the same year they participated in the 4th AKC Invitational, where they placed first in all 5 rounds of competition.

Luka missed 3 months of agility competition during the early part of 2010 after sustaining a strained ligament injury during a winter vacation. However, Luka returned in fine form in 2011. At the 2011 AKC Nationals Luka won both rounds of the ISC State Team competing at the 18″ jump height. She then went on to win the AKC National Championship at 16″, placing first in 3 out of the 4 rounds of competition (including the final). Most recently, Luka and Ashley were selected as members of the 2011 AKC World Team, which competed at the FCI World Championships in Liévin, France. Luka celebrated her 9th birthday at the event by winning the individual gold medal, with the highest combined score over the jumping and standard agility rounds, she also took 1st place in the standard agility round to seal the gold medal.

Over the last year Ashley has started competing with his young Pyrenean shepherd, D’Ash, who recently earned 6 double-qs in 9 days of competition in Excellent-B to qualify for the 2012 AKC Nationals in Reno, where he will compete against his big sister Luka!

MACH3 ADCH-Platinum Luka De La Brise (DOB 10/07/02)

First Pyrenean shepherd MACH and ADCH

International accomplishments

FCI Individual Gold Medal, World Champion Medium Category (2011) FCI Team Silver Medal (2009) AKC World Team 2008 (Helsinki, Finland), 2009 (Dornbirn, Austria), 2011 (Lievin, France) AKC World Team Tryouts Winner 2007, 2008, 2009 (both categories each year)

AKC accomplishments

AKC National Agility Champion 16” (2007, 2011) AKC Invitational Champion 16” (2006, 2009)

 USDAA accomplishments

Lifetime achievement award Platinum

USDAA/Cynosport Grand Prix of Dog Agility Champion 16” (2007, 2009, 2011) USDAA/Cynosport Dog Agility Steeplechase Champion 16” (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) USDAA Cynosport DAM Team Silver (2006) with Terry LeClair/Heath and Silvina Bruera/Maja

La Brise Durendal D’Ash  AX AXJ (DOB 8/4/08)

Qualified for 2012 AKC Nationals.

1st place IHC Standard and IHC Jumpers at 2011 USDAA Southwest Regional.

Tori Self

TORI SELF

Tori Self is a 20 year old student at the University of Florida who has been involved in the sport of dog agility for 8 years. Tori started agility in 2004 with Labrador retrievers and a border collie, and now primarily runs her young border collie, Revolution (Rev). Tori and Rev are five time National Finalists, two time National Champions, two time AKC/USA World Team Members and 2012 Crufts USA Agility Representatives.

In 2009 Tori and Rev attended their first National Championship together, where they won the 22” USDAA Steeplechase Finals and placed 5th in the 22” Grand Prix Finals. In 2011 they competed together at the AKC Agility Nationals, earning the title National Champion again, this time at 26”. They were then later selected to represent the USA at the 2011 FCI Agility World Championships, where they placed 1st in Team Jumping and 5th in Individual Agility. Representing the USA in the International Agility class at Crufts 2012, Tori and Rev placed 2nd and 3rd in the first two rounds and took 5th overall. They have placed multiple times at the AKC World Team Tryouts competition, most recently placing first cumulatively on day 2 to earn a spot on the 2012 AKC/USA World Team.

Tori is also a frequent blogger, writing about her adventures with Rev as they journey through competitions in the United States and around the world together. Recording the ups and the downs, the highs and the lows, the training challenges and successes, Tori is constantly musing about something on her blog, www.hippiedogs.com.

Mia Grant

MIA GRANT

Mia Grant has worked with dogs her entire life and discovered agility in 2000.  She has been teaching agility for over 10 years and has had the pleasure of helping a diverse variety of dogs and people.  Mia and her border collie, Vic won silver medals in the Biathlon and Team events at the 2012 IFCS World Championships.  Mia has been in 12 National Finals over her career with her amazing teammates Max, Finn, Starlet and Vic, including a Performance Grand Prix win with Finn in 2008 and a 3rd place in Grand Prix with Vic in 2011.  She and her teammates have been ranked in the Top 10 fourteen times (with 3 different dogs) and all her dogs are in the USDAA Hall of Fame.  Mia feels the fun of the sport is the most important thing for both the dog and the handler.