For as long as Kris can remember, she has spent her entire life with all kinds of animals.  Growing up with as many as 20 dogs at a time, Kris' passion for agility and dog training continues to grow.  Kris' parents were animal rescuers and German Shepherd breeders and their home was filled with animals of all kinds as well as puppies that needed care, socializing and training.  To say that animals have been a huge part of Kris' life is an understatement as she has dedicated her life to rescue, animal welfare and agility. Today, Kris and her husband Chris, enjoy a multi-dog household along with a few farm animals which includes a Kune Kune Pig. 

Kris co-owns Sun Coast Agility with her husband and is a partner in Bratty Paws Dog Plex, a 20,000 sf indoor center in Punta Gorda, Florida.  They specialize in elite level agility training for all dogs.  Kris and her husband give seminars throughout the United States and Canada and have recently been asked to teach in Europe.  Kris is currently running her 4 year old Border Collie Anwar at the International Level.  Anwar is a 2 time World Bronze Medalist from the 2017 World Agility Open. Anwar is also a 2018 IFCS World Team Member and a 2018 European Open World Team member.

 

For the past 18 years, Kris has worked with Keeshond and American Eskimo Rescue in some capacity.  Whether it be rehabilitating dogs for their future homes, behavior training, or puppy mill rescue. Kris specialized in severely abused dogs and aggression cases.  One foster lived with Kris and her husband for 3.5 years to work out his aggression with agility training before he was able to go to his new home.  Most of these dogs were considered unadoptable and were pulled from the adoption programs due to their unpredictable behavior. With Kris’ behavior training, she was able give these dogs a second chance at life.  Rescue work and animal welfare is a passion as well as a promise to give back to the animals that mean so much in her life.

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Always informally training animals as a kid, Kris seriously began training dogs 20 years ago as second career.  She started with competitive obedience and conformation as a teenager with two of her own dogs.  After 8 years of successfully showing her Keeshond, Randall and her Pomeranian, Rushka, in competitive obedience, Kris’s interest turned to the sport of Dog Agility and she has never looked back.

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Since 1997, Kris has trained and competed in the Sport of Dog Agility.    Kris has been teaching agility since 1999 and has seen remarkable changes in the sport for the better.  Kris is a National and International Level competitor and has appeared in the final events of the 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 World Games with her Border Collies; Lochlan, War and Flame.  Kris' 3 pound Pomeranian Melba was also a five time medalist at Cynosport World Games as well as earning multiple agility championships from different venues.

Kris' Border Collie Lochlan, at age 9, made the Steeplechase Finals at the 2009 World Games in the 26” Division.  In 2009 War’s Team placed 8th in the finals out of over 200  teams.  War, Flame and Lochlan consistently posted some of the fastest times of all 26” jumping dogs at major events in their career.  War is a 2008 Cynosport Gold Medalist at 26” and 2009 Bronze Medalist.  Kris has 11 Individual Medals from the Cynosport World Games and 19 Individual Agility Championships from 3 different venues.
 

Kris has been awarded 8 Life Time Achievement Awards from USDAA.  To date, Kris has earned titles and championships on 13 of her own dogs of all different breeds: (Not including dogs her husband runs). Randall, Keeshond, Rushka, Pomeranian, Nadja, Keeshond, Draco, Malamute, Matra, Mudi, Melba, Pomeranian, Lochlan, Border Collie, War, Border Collie, Flame, Border Collie, Hermione, Keeshond, Ugri, Mudi, Gage, Keeshond, Anwar, Border Collie.

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Kris sees each dog/handler as an individual and therefore applies different training techniques to meet each team’s need.  Kris’ foundation training builds confidence and motivation through relationship. Kris clicker trains all foundation behaviors by free shaping and helps her students use these positive reinforcement based methods with their dogs.  With innovative ideas, confidence building and play based training, any dog can learn to love the sport of agility.  Kris believes that all dogs can benefit from agility training as a means to stay fit and engaged in life.

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Formerly from the NYC Metro area, Kris ran two large Agility programs, one in NYC and one in Westchester County.  During that time, she typically taught 25 classes a week with over 150 students, managed 10 plus agility instructors and implemented agility curriculums within each program.

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One of Kris’s main goals is to inspire her students to love working with their dogs and to develop the confidence in their own training to not only build stronger bonds, but also enable them to reach their individual goals within the sport.