Photo Credits:
Portrait:  Tom Weigand
Agility:  Ray Zimmerman
Therapy:  Mary Fish Arango

Stormy is my newest competition dog. At two years of age, she is a soft, highly distractible and very sweet dog, who has come to me to teach me patience and make me the best trainer I could possibly be.

Stormy has been a huge challenge to me from the get-go. She was hard to bond with as a puppy, because all she wanted was Lulu (who, in turn, wanted no part of her). She has always been super energetic and  highly distractible (a breed trait, I am told), but is also very soft and easily worried. That posed a big training challenge, as Stormy couldn’t handle not being instantly successful at something… she would get worried and shut down on me a lot. I clicker trained her from the start and spent a huge amount of time working on drive channeling/development and focus on me… that was actually my main reason for putting her in the conformation ring; to give her a low stress, highly reinforcing ring experience.  Stormy easily finished her International Championship at only
18 months of age.

Stormy has taught me the finite details of patience in training and how to break down behaviors into the smallest detail to guarantee success. I had several trainers tell me that Stormy would never be a successful performance dog, but, against all odds, Stormy has surprised everyone (myself included) and started competing successfully in weight pull and agility in the fall of 2005.

Increasing and maintaining her confidence will remain an ongoing goal for us as we continue to grow as a team.

Stormy’s Accomplishments:

#3 APBT WEIGHT PULL ALL STARS PREMIER 2007

WINNER 60LB APBT WEIGHT PULL ALL STARS PREMIER 2007

UKC WEIGHT PULL ALL STARS RANKED TOP 25 IN 2006 AND 2007

3 HITS for Agility NAPBTA Nationals 2007

Ranked Top 25 AST for AKC Agility 2007/08

New UKC Weight pull Champion in only 3.5 trial weekends, pulling up to 2160 lbs.

UAG1 and UAG2 agility titles in only two weekends with all first and second placements.

NA and NAJ agility titles in only two weekends with all placements.

Stormy  became an International Breed Champion at 18 months
of age with a Group 2 and a UCI National Breed Champion at
21 months with Group 2 and Group 3 placements.

Stormy has also earned her RN title and will hopefully start competing in obedience soon.

Stormy is an active participant in the “Paws for Reading Program” at Ventura Public Library and a “Pet Therapist” at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara and Brighton Gardens.