COMPeTITION OBEDIENCE InstructorS
Carol Reina
My dog training career began in 1994 at Staten Island Companion Dog Training Club. It was a chocolate lab named Seine; he was a handful, yet we got to Open, but more importantly that wonderful Novice A dog got me hooked on dog obedience. With lots of hard work and with the guidance of some of the finest trainers here at SICDTC, I was invited to join the Training Committee. Teaching Beginner classes at Staten Island Companion Dog Training Club gave me the opportunity to sharpen my training skills and help me realize how much I enjoy training dogs. After a number of years I moved on and started teaching in New Jersey. Since 2011 I have been teaching all levels of competition obedience classes at Golden Grange Kennels in Chesterfield, NJ. I joined the teaching staff at Staten Island Companion Dog Training Club in November of 2016 while continuing to teach in New Jersey. And last, but not least, I am currently a recognized AKC-CGC Evaluator.
In a nutshell, I trained a chocolate lab named Seine through Open. In 2000, I started training a Golden Retriever named Hannah who qualified for two All-Star Obedience Competitions in Novice and Open, she also achieved many obedience titles: AKC-UD, UKC-CDX, WC, ASCA-CDX (needed one more leg for her ASCA UD), Canadian-CDX. Hannah was retired young at age 8 due to a leg injury. In 2009, Joey, a Golden Retriever came into my life, this very talented dog qualified for 3 All-Star Competitions (Novice, Open & Utility), and was invited to two AKC Classics in Utility and Masters. Joey presently has his OTCh., his UDX3 and he has his OM4.
In late July of 2016 another Golden named Gracie joined the Reina pack and can't wait to see her progress. She is an amazing dog. I also have a 11 year old yellow lab named Millie that has her CGC and is a Certified Therapy dog with TDI.
Teaching dogs and seeing them develop into wonderful obedience dogs gives me great joy. Equally, watching the bond develop between dog and handler gives meaning to my work. I invite you to drop in and watch a class, see what it's like to have fun with your dog, you will learn.
A WELL TRAINED DOG HAS A WONDERFUL LIFE.
Barbara Wirkowski
Dog training has been my passion and active hobby for over 25 years and being retired from my corporate job as a system engineer, I can actively pursue it. I have trained my own dogs in breed, flyball, agility, tracking and obedience, obtaining championship level titles and national rankings in multiple venues. Obedience is my first love.
I am a certified dog trainer and my dog training experience includes private in-home and in my home (2 week boot camps) pet training, teaching competition obedience classes, working for a kennel training pet dogs for their owners, and titling other people's dogs. I am currently teaching group pet and competition obedience classes at several dog schools in the area.
My dogs (past and present):
Cinnamon (Sheltie mix, college dog and best friend for 15.5 years)
Ch Lorjen Sambuca Girl UD (Belgian Sheepdog) Sambuca got me totally hooked on the obedience sport and also on the Belgian breeds.
Ch OTCh FBCh U-CDX Can UD Winjammers Hot Diggity Dawg UDX, RN, MX, MXJ, NADAC: NAC, OAC-V (Belgian Tervuren) Diggs was my best obedience dog to date and introduced me to the sports of agility and flyball. He is a breed, flyball and obedience champion. Digg's obedience career highlights include 787 lifetime OTCH points, 2 perfect 200 scores, over 50 HITs/HCs, placements in Novice, Open, and Super Dog at Gains events, including 1st place in Open at Classic, 1st place in herding group at AKC Invitational (highest seeded dog after first day), and number 1 Tervuren in obedience many years running.
MACh OTCh Winjammers Never a Dull Moment MX, MXJ, RE, NADAC: EAC, EJC OGC (rescued ILP Border Collie) Neon taught me so much about clicker training. She is my first dog to earn both obedience and agility championships (OTCH MACH dog). Neon has earned many obedience HITs/HCs, and recently she came out of retirement to earn her AKC rally titles RN, RA, RE (all first place legs except for one).
CH OTCH U-OTCH MACH USDAA: ADCH Incyta Way Ahead UDX, OM2, TDX, RE, XF, HSAs, VCD3, TT (Belgian Tervuren) Topper helped me realize my long time goal of earning a CH/OTCH/MACH (3 AKC champhionships)! He also has a UKC obedience championship and a USDAA agility championship. He introduced me to the sport of tracking and we both love it. He earned the TD and TDX tracking titles before we had to stop due to periodontal disease. Topper is also my first dog to earn a herding title.
OTCH(5) UCDX Sprite-Fanfares Kissed by Grace, TD, RE, UDX3, OM6, MX, MXJ, XF (VCD2), TT (Belgian Tervuren) Graice is 7 years old. She is retired from obedience and currently working in agility and herding. She came from working lines and boy can she work! She obtained all of her AKC obedience titles (thru OTCH/UDX) in 2 years obtaining a several perfect 200 scores.
My current dog is a Belgian Malinois, 5 months old. My goal with him is to earn 4 AKC performance titles (obedience, agility, herding, and tracking). I might show him in breed too. He has started learning all 4 venues and showing tremendous potential. I plan to have fun and totally enjoy my pursuits with him and thus his name is “Journey”.
I truly love dogs and believe training should be positive and motivational. Both the dog and handler should have fun. My training is based on understanding and listening to each dog, so their maximum potential can be achieved.
