Heart Dog owner, Kathleen, spent the first thirty years of her life training and showing horses. She was a professional horse trainer and riding instructor until, at the age of 34, she went to medical school and became a Podiatrist. In January of 2000, she discovered dog agility.
She started with “Maggie,” the Border Collie she had at the time and successfully showed her in several agility venues. Maggie went on to acquire several advanced titles in CPE and AKC and the Accomplished Agility Dog championship title in USDAA.
In 2002, Kathleen rescued “Annie,” an eleven month old Border Collie. Annie went on to get the C-ATCH championship title in CPE and has the Gold Agility Dog Championship title, Gold Performance Championship title, and Tournament Masters-Platinum title in USDAA. She also has the Platinum Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2005, Annie was a finalist in Dog Agility Masters Team competition at the USDAA National competition held in Scottsdale, Arizona. Sadly, Annie passed away August 19, 2017, at nearly 16 years old. She is very sorely missed.
In 2006, Kathleen acquired “J.B.,” an eight week old Border Collie from Nancy Gyes and Jim Basic. J.B. is now 14 years old and retired from agility. He has his Gold Agility Dog Championship title and the Platinum Lifetime Achievement Award title. He also has his Gold Jumpers title, Platinum Standard, Platinum Gamblers, Platinum Snooker, Platinum Relay Pairs and Platinum Tournament titles.
In November 2017, Kathleen was very fortunate to find “Joule” (registered name: PSF’s Measure of Energy), a 10 month old Border Collie. She had been returned to her breeder because she was too much dog (read: too active and smart) for her owners. Kathleen finds Joule to be a pure joy to live with and to train for agility. She is so very smart, fast and focused. Joule has indeed lived up to her potential. She is an amazing agility dog. Joule did very well in the few competitions she ran in prior to the pandemic, winning or placing in every Biathlon class (international style courses) in which she was entered. Kathleen is looking forward to continuing Joule’s agility career when competitions start up again.
Kathleen’s dog training philosophy centers on positive reinforcement for both the dog and handler. Through positive reinforcement training, the dog/handler relationship is nurtured and strengthened. She believes that training and agility, above all, should be fun and enjoyable for both the dog and handler!
Heart Dog Instructor Laura Hartwick, aka, TeamSmallDog, is the full time instructor at Heart Dog Agility. She’s been competing in agility for over 20 years, and teaching agility since 2010.
Laura’s owned and competed with many breeds in those twenty-some-plus years, ranging from her border collies to her proud members of the Small Dog Mafia, weirdo little terrier-heeler-whotheheckknows rescue dogs, all of who were consistently ranked in the USDAA Top Ten. She currently competes with her two incredible border collies Banksy and Bader.
Banksy’s illustrious agility career includes podium placements in the 16″ and 20″ divisions at most large West Coast UKI and USDAA events. In 2024, Banksy won the silver medal in Medium Agility at the 2024 Purina Incredible Dog Challenge this year and the Steeplechase and Grand Prix Finals at the USDAA Western Regionals. Banksy finished out 2024 as a finalist at the USDAA World Cynosport Games Steeplechase and Grand Prix, taking bronze in the Steeplechase finals.
Bader’s 2024 achievements include winning the Weave Challenge at the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge in Huntington Beach, the silver medal in the Inaugural UKI International ICE event, gold medal at the USDAA Western Regionals Grand Prix Finals, bronze medal in the UKI West Coast Open Overall Masters Series, invitations to the Chicago UKI Invitational and Purina Incredible Dog Finals in Missouri, and being a USDAA Cynosport World Games finalist in the Grand Prix.
Laura loves working with everyone, from brand new beginners starting foundations through masters/international level handlers, by finding a way to create clear, fun training by breaking it down into small enough components to help each individual team with what they need most to succeed. In all those years of training and competing, she’s gotten great at shaking things off when a course or skill conquers her, and then getting to work training it, she’s happy to help you learn to do the same thing! These days, independent skills are a high priority for her, to allow for less management and more precise distance on course.
Before going to the dogs full time, Laura was a long time equestrian professional in the hunter/jumper world, and also a regular columnist and illustrator for Clean Run Magazine. When she’s not too busy running around with dogs, she’s an artist, too. Watch her dogs in action on her youtube channel, or find out more on Laura at www.laurahartwick.com.
Banksy Western US and National Events:
2024 World Cynosport Games Steeplechase Finals Bronze Medal
2024 World Cynosport Games Grand Prix Finalist
2024 USDAA Western Regional Steeplechase Final Gold Medal
2024 USDAA Western Regional Grand Prix Final Gold Medal
2024 Purina Incredible Dog Challenge Western Regional Medium Dog Silver Medal
2023 USDAA Western Regional Steeplechase Final Silver Medal
2023 UKI International Champion IAC3 and IWAC2
2022 UKI West Coast Open Speedstakes Finals Silver Medal
2022 UKI West Coast Open Games Challenge Bronze Medal
2022 UKI West Coast Open Pentathlon Bronze Medal
2022 UKI West Coast Cup Games Challenge Gold Medal
2022 UKI West Coast Cup Biathlon Silver Medal
2022 UKI West Coast Cup Overall Bronze Medal
2022 USDAA Western Regional Grand Prix Final Silver Medal
2021 USDAA Western Regional Grand Prix Final Silver Medal
2021 USDAA Western Regional Steeplechase Final Silver Medal
2019 USDAA Western Regional Steeplechase Final Silver Medal
2019 USDAA Western Regional Grand Prix Final Silver Medal
2019 USDAA Western Regional Biathlon Bronze Medal
2019 UKI West Coast Cup Games Challenge Silver Medal
2018 USDAA Western Regional Steeplechase Final Bronze Medal
2017 USDAA Western Regional Steeplechase Final Bronze Medal
2016 USDAA Western Regional Steeplechase Final Gold Medal
2016 USDAA World Cynosport Games Steeplechase Semi Finalist
2016 USDAA Agility Dog Champion
Bader Western US and National Events:
2024 World Cynosport Games Grand Prix Finalist
2024 USDAA Western Regional Grand Prix Final Gold Medal
2024 USDAA Western Regional Steeplechase Final Bronze Medal
2024 Purina Incredible Dog Challenge Western Regional Weaves Gold Medal
2024 Purina Incredible Dog Challenge National Finalist
2024 UKI West Coast Open Masters Bronze Medal
2024 UKI West Coast Open Gamblers Final Winner
2024 UKI ICE Inaugural International Silver Medal
2024 UKI International Champion IAC5 and IWAC4
2024 USDAA Agility Dog Champion
2023 UKI West Coast Open Games Challenge Gold Medal
2023 USDAA Western Regional Steeplechase Final Gold Medal
2023 USDAA Western Regional Grand Prix Final Silver Medal
2023 AKC ISC Belgian Waffle Cup Gold Medal
2023 AKC ISC Red Poppy Cup Bronze Medal
2023 AKC ISC Red Solo Cup Gold Medal
2023 UKI West Coast Classic Masters Gold Medal
2022 2023 USDAA Western Regional Steeplechase Final Silver Medal