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Instructors   

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Past Instructors

 

Click on Name to view Instructor's Bio

Sybil Carroll Lisa Christman Jay Kessel
Sally Gichner Susan Bankauf Carol Mount
Jeri Prekop Gina Ryan
Debbie Lazaro Lynda Hammond

Past Instructors

Here are some recent Video(s) of some of the JAG instructors handling their own dogs

Sybil Carroll has been helping dogs and their people connect for fifteen years. A lifetime equestrian, she often incorporates training strategies from the horse world to bring balance, structure, and joy to her canine clients. Her passion for agility began over ten years ago with a boxer named "Capone." This wonderful dog challenged and inspired her, and she has been hooked on the sport ever since. She enjoys teaching agility because there are so many opportunities to train creatively and set dogs up for success. Her classes balance fun and games with control and attention in a way that both dog and handler find reinforcing. Capone has since retired and has happily filled the roll of demo dog and best friend.

Keep an eye out for up and comer "Flex" the Corgi competing in AKC and USDAA. Off the competitive agility course, Sybil's dogs have been seen on Bravo's Project Runway, the runways of New York’s fashion week and have worked with such national campaigns as Target, Neiman Marcus, Whole Meals, and PetSmart.

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Lisa and TieLisa Christman has been involved in the world of dogs since the age of 10 when she received her first puppy. By age 12, shw was walking and "training" all the neighborhood dogs...at 15, she enrolled her family's German Shorthaired Pointer in obedience class at the local YMCA and from that day on was hooked on training dogs and learning what made them tick.

In her 20's she began training and competing in Obedience with her Shetland Sheepdog, earning titles in the US, Canada and Bermuda. After a small break to raise children and open a business, she once again pursued the Obedience world but this time with a Dalmation named Murphy that she rescued from the Humane Society and a Border Collie (mix) from a rescue......during this time she discovered the wonderful world of agility and has never looked back!

She has trained and handled many different breeds (her own dogs and her client's) and has reached the highest level in the canine sport of agility, earning a Master Agility Championship title (MACH) on 3 different breeds. Many of her students have also gone on to earn this title with their first dog.

However, she never lost her love of training in obedience, tricks, therapy and pet dog training and has built a successful career teaching group classes and private lessons for the pet dog owner.

In her spare time she works as the Lead Dog Trainer and Handler for an animal talent agency, All Creatures Great & Small and has trained many of the dogs you see on commercials and in print ads today! Her own students are often picked for these roles!

Lisa is also very involved with and very passionate about the world of canine rescue and has fostered & re-homed many, many dogs over the years. You will often see her in class and at the shows with her current "foster child".

She has been a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) since 2000 through the present, and continues to take annual continuing education classes to update her training skills. She is Well versed in many training techniques and with her background and training she can evaluate what a dog needs and use the appropriate methods for each individual dog, because each dog is an individual.

Lisa has studied under many of the world's leading trainers, Suzanne Clothier, Ian Dunbar, Patricia McConnell and Pia Silvani to name a few whose books are widely read.

With Lisa's passion for agility, in 2001 she became a founding member of the Jersey Agility Group (JAG) and continues to be very active both as a member and as an instructor for the club. She had also been an active member of the Bayshore Companion Dog Club since 1987 and began teaching classes for them in 1997, these classes include Puppy Kindergarten, Beginner Obedience, Canine Good Citizen, and all levels of agility training.

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Sally Gichner has been active in dog agility for nearly 15 years and is a respected AKC agility judge. She has been teaching agility for the past 10 years and has experience with multiple breeds. She understands the differences between big and small dogs, the challenges presented by different breeds, and handling issues created by when a handler has physical limitations. Sally's first agility dog (now retired) is Belgian Malinois who obtained AKC's MX and AXJ. Sally currently runs Shetland Sheepdogs MACH2 Nova and Bridget AX AXJ. She also has a Belgian Malinois, Amie MX AXJ competing at the Excellent level.

Click here to view recent video of Sally

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Carol Mount started training agility in 1992. Carol is an AKC and USDAA Judge that has trained her dogs to hundreds of titles in multiple agility venues, flyball, herding, lure coursing and in obedience. She has written several articles for canine magazines and newsletters including Clean Run and Basenji Bulletin. Carol has been nominated twice for Dog Writers Of America awards and has won the DWAA's Maxwell Award.

She is currently showing a Chinese Crested, MACH2 Louie-Louie XF AD ONYX at the Championship level. Louie is one of the top ranked Chinese Cresteds in Agility and Flyball. He has attended the AKC National Championships, the AKC Agility Invitationals and has always been ranked in National Crested standings.

Her up and coming dog, a Belgian Malinois, Fusion, is in Excellent and burning up the flyball lanes.

Always ready to work a challenge, Carol has trained and shown multiple "difficult" dogs like her rescue Belgian Malinois MACH "Sega", Basenji "Strider" AX AXJ CDX AD etc, Rescue Basenji "Ginger" OA OAJ CD etc, a Powderpuff Crested "Theory" NA, and, of course, "LOUIE!" She has also trained a Border Collie "Quest" CD MX MXJ FM, that both she and her husband, Paul, ran. "Peyton" is her husband's newest Border Collie that she has also helped train in herding. Carol has taken numerous seminars with top trainers over the years like Linda Mecklenburg, Elicia Calhoun, Wendy Pape, Ann Braue, Nancy Gyes, Joan Meyer, Ali Roukas-Canova, Olga Chaiko, Silvia Trkman, Sue Tovino, Jo Fraiser, Ian Fraiser, The Boltons, Guy Blancke. This list is no where near complete -- but shows Carol has a wide range of knowledge to complement her work with more difficult dogs. To view more details of Carol's and her dog’s accomplishments, visit her site at http://jumpfast.net/

Click here to view recent video of Carol

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Jeri and TagJeri Prekop has been involved in agility since 2000. She has placed multiple MACHs on 2 of her Shetland Sheepdogs, Kip and KC. She has qualified and competed at the AKC Nationals -- running in the Finals with her sheltie KC, and the Challenger Round with her partner, Tag. She has also competed in the Grand Prix final round at the USDAA Nationals.

Jeri likes to analyze courses from a technical point of view and is good at tailoring handling choices based on the individual handler/dog team. Jeri's newest partner,Ticket, has has just hit the circuit and can be heard barking up a storm during his runs.

Click here to view recent video of Jeri

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Gina Ryan of Monmouth County NJ, owns and operates “Northstar Natural Dog LLC, a raw dog food company, is an all breed handler, trainer, and agility competitor. Gina is a member of Collie Club of America, Bayshore Companion Dog Club & Jersey Agility-JAG. She practices Anusara yoga and is an advocate for natural health alternatives for herself and for her animals. Gina has been competing in performance and conformation events with horses and dogs since the mid 1970's.

She was introduced to agility at its start in the late 1990's. Her first dog was a rough collie who was a top placing competitor in all breed obedience. Her current smooth collie “Ryan” is competing at the excellent level and is a Herding Group placing American and Canadian breed champion and has placed at National Specialties. His kids are close to finishing their conformation titles with multiple best of breed awards and are showing great enthusiasm in their agility training. Gina is also currently training a whippet and has worked with many other breeds from various breed groups, including a bloodhound, dog de bourdeaux, basset hound, samoyed, great pyrenese, and komondorok among others. From a very early age Gina has been interested in animal behavior, training & competing. Gina's training methods have evolved over the years from her long time exposure to performance horses. She learned the mechanics of jumping, timing, striding, and course strategy from working with numerous hunter and jumper riders. A great influence came from working for USA Olympic team grand prix jumper rider Nona Garson. Gina’s years of training & riding dressage horses has given her a unique perception for what an agility run should look like. “For me, like a dressage ride, it should appear synchronized, effortless & elegant, like poetry in motion.” Likewise these elements are necessary for excellence in the conformation ring. Gina’s eye for structure, balance, movement and self carriage allow her to get the most out of the dogs she handles and trains. Several of her novice students have handled their very first dogs to major wins as well as AKC championship titles with in a very short time after beginning training. Gina utilizes positive methods with the use of clicker training. Her goal in training her own dogs is to bring them to their highest potential both physically with cross training & conditioning and mentally with interesting & diverse positive training methods.

Her goal for her students is to make the training experience as stimulating and as motivating as possible while focusing heavily on relationship building between dog and owner. If students are looking frustrated or confused she breaks things down until she sees progress so that each session shows a step up the ladder in learning for the participant Gina stays current with her training methods by attending classes from a diverse team of instructors and seminars from many different venues. She believes that there is something to learn from every training situation whether it may be what TO do or what NOT to do. Conscientious, gentle, and respectful methods are what she seeks from her journey in learning with all animals.

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Debbie Lazaro has been training dogs since 1993. She first began showing in obedience and then started agility in 1997. Throughout the years, she has had a number of great canine partners. All of these special dogs were different, and taught her invaluable lessons, both on and off the course. Some of these dogs include:

Retired:

Zach, Belgian Tervuren - TCh/MACH pointed but retired from active competition due to health issues/injury He still achieved his Ch, UDX, U-UD, MX, MXJ, MX-P, MXJ-P, S-EAC, S-EJC, 1 leg shy of his NATCH, placements at Allstar, ABTC National, Puperoni Regionals, Gaines Classic, Perfect score of 200 in obedience, 19 High in Trials
Kayla, mixed breed - U-OtCh, UDX, S-EJC, S-EAC, placements at AMBOR Nationals, 2 HIT’s 12 High Combineds.
Nikki, Boston Terrier - AX, AXJ, placemants at Allstar
Riot, Belgian Malinois - Ch, CD, U-CD, AD, AX, AXJ, EAC, EJC, O-TNE, EGC, ETG
Miranda, Rescue GSD - U-CD, TN-N, HIC
Sami, Rescue GSD - U-CDX, OA, OAJ, HIC, TDI
CJ, Rescue GSD - CGC
Debbie's current partners include:
Shane, Border Collie - MAD, TM, GM, RM, JM, SM, AX, AXJ, XF, CDX, EAC, EJC, EWC, EGC, O-TNE, working towards his ADCH, MACH and NATCH
Mynx, Belgian Malinois - retired Military dog, who just recently debuted in USDAA and NADAC, earning her NAJ-P, PD1, PSK2, PJ2.
All of her dogs have competed at the highest level in their venue- Masters, Excellent B, Elite. Each of her dogs were different, ranging in size, temperament and drives. However, she was able to bring out the best in these dogs by figuring out what in particular worked for that individual dog. In addition to agility and obedience, Debbie has participated in various dog activities, such as herding, conformation, Schutzhund, Therapy Dog work, is active in Malinois Rescue and has also consulted with the US Coast Guard. Debbie stresses the importance of foundation training, training in drive, finding what motivates each particular dog, consistency in handling and cues, finding the most efficient path, as well as focusing on details while still maintaining fun for both handler and dog. She currently instructs for JAG and Hunterdon K9, and is the owner of Fast Pawz, which hosts an annual NADAC trial in Staten Island.

Click here to view recent video of Debbie

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Lynda Hammond TBD

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Jay Kessel TBD

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Susan Bankauf TBD

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