Kristy Netzer

At the age of 13, Kristy Netzer discovered her love of dogs. She began working as a groomer's assistant and then made a fateful deal with her parents. If she earned enough money, she could purchase her own dog. At $2.50 an hour, it was a daunting task. But Kristy met her goal. She and her Golden Retriever, Calypso, hit the dog obedience circuit. After receiving her CDX, Kristy attended the first-ever USDAA agility seminar in Southern California. The teamwork, competition, and fun attracted her to this wonderful new sport in 1989. In 1993, Kristy was a founding member of the first officially sanctioned USDAA club in Southern California, West Valley Dog Sports. In 1996, WVDS asked Kristy to teach agility classes. She realized the next best thing to running your dog in agility was teaching dog agility. After encouragement from some very good agility friends, Kristy hosted her own agility seminar. The seminar was so successful that she began her own training school, Happy Dog Agility. Kristy has earned the USDAA ADCH title on three dogs, Zippity, Jubilee, and Dabbie, and has achieved numerous other agility accomplishments.

Kristy now teaches and trains in Tennessee. She has coached 6 time Agility World Team member, Jean Lavalley with her dogs Cheer and Sprint. She has exceptional skills at helping her students fine tune their teamwork. She recognizes that one training method does not fit all and makes adjustments based on the needs of the dog and the student. Kristy is also recognized as a leader in the sport for distance handling. She has helped countless handlers who have physical ailments such as bad knees, ankles, back problems, and other issues that limit their mobility to be highly successful in the agility ring with their dogs. She has written numerous articles for Clean Run magazine and created the DVD, "Dial Up The Distance" which is still a top seller amongst instructional videos.