Click on an instructor’s name for biographical information
Doug is a rotating instructor for Conformation/Show Handling. He has shown dogs for many years and currently owns Irish Wolfhounds.
Chris Irvine currently is one of our rotating handling instructors. He is also teaching Rally at the club. He has Basset hounds that he shows in multiple sports.
Nancy is one of our handling class instructors. She is a current AKC judge and owns Dachshunds and an American Foxhound.
Amy is co-teaching the Advanced/Excellent Rally classes with Brenda Lemon. Amy started out teaching dog obedience and rally by assisting with classes and learning from the judges in the field. She has owned multiple breeds and worked with even more breeds in multiple sports, she currently has English Foxhounds and Longhaired Miniature Dachshunds. She is active in obedience, rally, tracking, fast cat, and confirmation currently but has also participated in agility. She has multiple dogs with titles in different disciplines. Some of the things she states are her proudest accomplishments are having 3 English Foxhounds with breed club Versatility titles (meaning the hounds have achieved titles in multiple sports), earning an RE with her 2-year-old dachshund Tink, and volunteering with multiple shelters/rescues to help their dogs become more adoptable.
When my first Obedience partner, Juno, won alternate high-scoring GSD in pre-novice at a 1990 match, I
was hooked. Together, my dogs and I have earned over 60 titles in 5 AKC sports, mostly Obedience –
including OTCH’s, 200’s, and multiple invitations to the NOC and Westminster. In 2023, Frankie retired in
the AKC’s Top Ten All-time Obedience Aussie. More importantly, my dogs have been my greatest
teachers, and feeling like dance partners when we’re working is the best!
My students and their dogs have earned many Obedience titles from Beginner Novice A through OTCH,
and I’ve been thrilled each time. With “Obedience: the Bond made visible” as training motto, I aim to
help owners realize their goals by becoming effective team leaders and handlers through positive
engagement, consistency, and clear communication with their dogs.
Brenda currently teaches our Advanced/Excellent Rally classes. She owns Malamutes who are accomplished in Rally, Obedience, and Weight pulling.
My love for dogs and obedience training started in 1973 when I met my neighbor, Carol
Lee Benjamin, and I got my first Golden Retriever, Heather, for
obedience. I discovered Chesapeakes and met Sue Cone who encouraged me to start
titling my Chesapeakes. With the help of instructors this was all made possible. I
have enjoyed and titled dogs in Beginners, Novice, Open, Rally, hunt tests, Dock Diving,
CATS, Fast Cats, CGC, Pet Therapy, High in Trials and the show ring Best In Shows in
US and Canada.
Being a breeder and puppy lover, I started Developing Training Programs and teaching
KPT in 1998. My other love is Pet Therapy work and i have been involved since 1990
developing therapy programs for major medical centers in northern New Jersey. I also
worked my therapy dogs during 9/11 and have continued working on advanced
therapy dog programs.
I am currently an evaluator for Bright and Beautiful as well as AKC CGC/Trick Dog. I
am currently an instructor for Wilmington Kennel Club for Pet Therapy Classes,
Beginners and Competition.
Joanne Silver
AKC Platinum Breeder
Betsy is an instructor for our Puppy classes. She is an AKC CGC evaluator who shows her Labradors in Obedience and Rally.
Sue teaches our Scentwork classes
Linda Miller teaches obedience at the club. She is an accomplished obedience handler and instructor. Linda owns Standard Poodles who compete in Obedience, Fast CAT, and Hunt tests.