Kevin-Neil Klop, CPDT
Although people have been saying that I'm certifiable for a long time, they weren't talking about dogs. I recently passed my certification and am now a Certified Pet Dog Trainer (CPDT). This certification required taking and passing a 4hour, 250 question test.

For more about the CPDT program, please refer to the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and/or the Certification Council for Pet Dog Trainers.

At 41 years of age, I bring a diversified background to training. While still in High School, I was a teacher's aid, helping with a 5th grade classroom. During the summers, I taught horseback riding (English/Hunt style) at a day camp.

After graduation, I became, in turn, a computer programmer, a news photographer, a high school teacher (eventually becoming the chairman of the math and science department), a contract instructor, a course designer, and a lead trainer for PetCo. During that time, I also became a certified SCUBA instructor, a certified First Aid instructor, and a few other things.

Over the course of my life, I've shared a house with 12 dogs, 7 birds, and 3 cats, with the household currently down to three of my own dogs ("Nimbus" "Cirrus", and "Matilde"), one cat ("Echo"), two humans (Anne and Kevin), and a varying number of fostered animals. We're active in three rescue agencies and our local humane society. We continue with Dog Agility trials with Nimbus and Cirrus.

We're competed in the Belgian Sheepdog National Agility competitions, and are SO proud of our girl, Nimbus (pictured below). Out of four events, Nimbus took first in three of them, coming home with six ribbons in total.

Nimbus-the-wonder-dog is continuing her streak. To date, she has never come home from an agility event without at least a third place or better ribbon. Your dog is never too old to start learning. We got Nimbus as a rescue when she was four years old. Two years later, she is tearing up agility courses.

Meanwhile, Cirrus has started his agility career at the ripe age of 8 years old. We began training him for agility and after 1 1/2 months of training, he entered into his first agility trial coming home with both a first and a fourth place ribbon out of four events entered.

Most recently, Nimbus and Cirrus competed in the "Black Cat" Halloween agility trial in Vancouver, WA. Between them, they brought home 11 ribbons out of 12 events, including making their dad very proud of them taking first and second place in their first-ever snooker runs.

Ribbons are nice, of course, but far better is to see your dog coming off the course with tail and head held high, prancing along with that expression that seems to say so clearly, "Gee, daddy, that was fun! Can we do it again?" A ribbon without that is just a waste of satin. However, that expression with or without a ribbon lights up your entire week.

That's what we aim for. That's what we want you to aim for - the expression, not the ribbons. Always keep in mind what's important - and it ain't the satin!

Nimbus and Kevin
Cirrus	Tilde