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| Cindy Dahlberg with Turbo - AKC Master Agility Championship |
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Hi! My name is Cindy Dahlberg and I am the owner and sole trainer at Jumpin' K-9's Inc. I started agility back in the late 90's with my Australian Shepherd Turbo. I saw people at an obedience training center that were doing obstacle work with their dogs and stayed to watch. It intrigued me and so I signed up for classes. Soon I had the "bug" and since I am the competitive person that I am I started competing.
There are several venues of agility competition in Southern California; we are very lucky out here to be able to have wonderful weather 85% of the time and this means that you can literally compete every weekend in a local event! I chose to compete in NADAC (North American Dog Agility Council) and in AKC (American Kennel Club) as my two primary venues of competition. The reason I chose these two venues is that I liked the games that NADAC had to offer, and I loved their equipment (very safe) and I chose AKC because they had the most trials locally and only offered two runs per day per dog, which kept the cost down. No other particular reasons I chose those two venues. I did not choose USDAA as they did not offer many trials in the area and I did not want my dog jumping 6" higher then his normal jump height to compete in this venue. I was once told by my vet that "your dog only has so many jumps in him," I am a believer in this, so to minimize any injury to him I chose to keep him as a 20" jumper.
I have competed for over 10 years now in dog agility; and love the sport and the majority of the people are very good and kind people. I am a big believer in being kind to others and being kind to your dog. I don't tolerate harsh words, abuse or any other types of actions that are anger filled towards the dog or other people and this usually shows in how I train. People that can't help themselves and have to get angry with their dogs usually end up training elsewhere...I prefer to laugh and enjoy the silly things my dogs and my clients dogs do...they are animals after all!
I am very competitive; I like to win...however on that same note; It isn't the end of the world if I don't. I sometimes have to remind my students that we are out to have fun with our dogs; enjoy the weekends and the comradrey of good friends and get some "fun" exercise!!! Green Ribbons are all that count - we don't need to get a 1st place every time (even though it is fun when you do!) we are there to compete against ourselves - to see if we can do better then the last time, to determine if all our hard training is paying off! Win, lose or draw - FUN is the name of the game and the day it isn't any longer is the day you need to walk away...
I started offering agility training to others back in 2001. The reason I started training is that I could see that "new" people were dwindling in the Novice levels at local competitions. It seemed that most all the competitors were the same old people just with different dogs. I don't think that keeps the sport alive so I wanted to encourage new growth and thought what a better place to do it but in the Temecula Valley where agility was basically unknown to most people out here!
I have trained several hundred people now, many of which have been with me since the beginning and several new people as well. Agility is not for everyone and those people soon find that out after about the first eight weeks or less of training. You can only find out by trying! Those that stick with it, usually end up competing whether that was their intent in the first place or not, but after spending hours of training and practicing at home, it is nice to see it pay off in a competition when you bring home that first green ribbon for qualifying in what you entered!!!
I have never been on World Team, I have gone to Nationals with my dog but did not make the finals; however we did place 16th over all in the Nation and I was pretty darned proud of that! I can teach agility, and I do know how to have fun! I will support you if you need it and if you want it, and will leave you alone if that is what you prefer. I love teaching others how to play the sport and I support the Greg Derrett method in my training method. I look forward to meeting you and having fun with you and your dog throughout your agility career!
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