As a young child, Terry Walker would accompany her mother, Elsie, to her weekly obedience training classes at Manorcrest Dog Training School and to various dog shows and obedience trials. Needless to say it didn’t take long for Terry to want her own dog to train and show.
One day, while they were at Elsie’s Dobermans breeder’s (Phyllis Farrer) house, Phyllis had a litter of Lhasa puppies. It was somehow suggested maybe Terry might want a puppy. After some consideration and pestering by Terry, her parents thought a puppy would be okay but were concerned about the grooming of a Lhasa. They mentioned this to Phyllis who also had a litter of Pembroke Welsh Corgi pups. Terry’s father thought these were the strangest looking dogs and always joked they were made up of all spare dog parts. Terry, on the other hand, fell in love with them.
That puppy, given as a birthday present, ignited a lifelong love of dogs, obedience training, competitions, and all dog sports. Fourteen months after this puppy arrived, Terry and “Pokey” attained their Companion Dog title with multiple class placements and High Scoring Junior prizes.
Today, 40+ years later, Terry’s passion for dogs, obedience training/showing, therapy dog work and all dog sports continues to grow. This passion also influenced some of her past careers, such as those as a groomer and veterinary technician. She began teaching obedience classes while in 4-H in 1979 and became and AKC Obedience judge in 2004.
Over the years, Terry has loved and trained many dogs including 8 Pembroke Welsh Corgis, 4 Flat-Coated Retrievers, a German Shepherd and a Border Collie, many of whom have been rescues. They have attained numerous obedience, agility and rally titles along with breed championships in both the US and Canada. They have also competed in multiple obedience tournaments (Gaines, Detroit Windsor, All Star Performance Dog) including the AKC National Obedience Invitational Tournament with multiple placements. Terry and her dogs also participate in therapy work, herding, field training, flyball, and DockDogs.
Terry’s training/teaching philosophy is based on a strong relationship between the dog and handler. First and foremost is having a great “pet” dog in everyday life. Her teaching methods focus on trust, fairness, and reliability to further enhance the bond and enjoyment between dog and handler. Terry feels the most rewarding part of training is having those big brown eyes looking into her eyes asking to train some more. “It’s a wonderful feeling to have this beautiful creature want to be with you and do something you both love.”
Teaching others has many rewards including seeing her students accomplish their goals. However, Terry feels the most rewarding part of teaching is seeing the relationship between her students and their dogs grow into a wonderful, trusting partnership.
Terry currently shares her life with “Quest” (9 year old Flat-Coated Retriever), “Bess” (3 year old old PW Corgi), and "Jax" (3 year old PW Corgi rescue) and "Traveler" (4 month old Flat-Coated Retriever). She also lives with 2 house cats, 3 barn cats, multiple chickens, and a peacock.
She has also earned her Training Certification.
