Shannon’s Bio
Shannon describes her job as “dancing with dogs”. The ballet happens when you work with your dog as your partner, with them bringing their skills to match your direction. This is the ultimate of joys.
As with most young girls, Shannon’s love affair with animals began with horses and dogs. Years of riding led to the ownership of more than 100 horses and the management of two stables. Urban sprawl eventually squeezed out these stables, and Shannon began working for a large and small animal veterinarian. During this time she began training her first obedience dog, a German shepherd. She began competing and winning multiple obedience titles on this dog and several others. After five years of hands on experience with veterinarians, Shannon took a job with one of the top dog trainers in the Midwest, who specialized in problem dogs. At that time, she was given her first Border collie, one of the “problem” dogs. Attending a sheep-herding clinic for Border Collies provided Shannon with a new passion for the ultimate training challenge.
Shannon spent several years training and competing in Border collie trials as a hobby. In the early 1990’s, Shannon started a full time business, training handlers of various herding breeds and their dogs for sheep herding trials and waterfowl management. The success of this training and the enthusiasm of the handlers she helped have resulted in top herding awards for many of Shannon’s students
Shannon’s definition of a good dog trainer is, “someone who knows how to allow the dog to do what you would like”. The personalities of the individual dogs and various breeds offer Shannon the opportunity to demonstrate the success of this philosophy.