Da Paws Place

Blynn Baker – Train iT! Agility 2013

Why Agility?

I swore I would not walk around some ring, without a dog, twirling around, and pointing with my hand at things that were not there.
I did not foresee, that one year in Enumclaw, by watching Barb Benner’s Malinois do a tremendous send and 90 degree left turn into a set of weave poles then wrap her body around it and come out the other end just as excited as when she went in,  I was hooked.   Before my life with dog’s…less than perfect. 

Training Influences: 

There have been several trainers that encouraged me in the early days: Gloria McGrath, Ann Marie Silverton, Janice De Mello, Sylvia Bishop, Patty Russo, Mary Gutknecht, Lisa Bowers, Jill Crawford and many others who I have yet to meet and work with.  In more recent years Daisy Peel thru the Awesome Paws Handling System.
Many principles from the above still influence training decisions today. 

Blynn’s Bio:

Blynns’s joy for training animals started back before the 1980’s with her Morgan Quarter horse cross - Cinnabar.  She says that she enjoyed the games classes more than the pleasure classes.  They earned High state Gymkhana and Games awards.  She and Cinnabar enjoyed trail rides in the hills and pastures of Alaska along the China Hot Springs road.
As a teenager she enjoyed the company of shelties which Blynn says are not the same drivey and adventuresome shelties of today.  She trained her companions, Shadow and Shady,  in obedience at the local fair grounds.  She said “Shady and I went on to compete in competition obedience for a few years with many HIT awards along with top 25 in the breed nationally a few times.
WIOC was an achievement to be reached for back then and we were on the state team at each level, Nov, Open, Utility. With a Runner up in Novice for overall states. Open 6th overall and Utility I think was a 4th place over all. We had never competed in Utility but, there we were on the team!
In the mid 1980’s she and her Mom moved to CA after her fathers sudden passing.  Her mom had always wanted to be in warmer weather so off they went with a few shelties in tow. There she played in obedience again with her sheltie Loni and earned her CD (Loni is her sheltie version of Kitt, dear and sweet and loyal).
Blynn’s current youngster is a “blue” male border collie named Ray (DOB: Feb 2010). He is a super boy, growing up and having fun chasing Gem in the fields. Blynn explains” Gem was not too happy when the day came that Ray could out run her and she told him so.”
“Ray and I were Teamwork from the start. He is the type that wants to be right 100%...okay 98% of the time. He has a soul made for me and is a great joy to live, train and compete with. He is a soft dog and has taken me time to work thru the differences between him and Gem (to be mentioned later  ).” “Along with other agility accomplishments, (see Ray’s bio) he is also a nice herding dog and has a PT and ASCA STD title….time is a challenge to come by for more training and competing - someday though.”
Blynn competes in AKC, yet feels most at home in USDAA. She is looking forward to attending the AKC nationals in Pennsylvania in March 2014 and plans to attend the AKC World Team Tryouts in May. 

Ray’s bio: MACH, ADCH Riverun’s High Definition, PT, STD


AKC Portland Rose Classic - Jan 2012 2nd  overall ISC classes, Jan 2013 2nd in Standard ISC. World Team Tryouts -  May 2012, 2013  placed well. Ray earned his MACH in July 2013 at age 3. AKC Nationals 2013 – placed well in Jumpers and T2B.