Hi there, and welcome to my first blog post!
My name is Cassie Kennedy, and I have had a passion for training dogs since I was eight years old. It all started with my Golden Retriever who I named Fathom, I got him as a gift from my parents after our family’s dog Daisy had passed away. From the time I got him when he was a puppy, I always wanted to teach him to do tricks. It was until three years later I started training him to do agility. I had no idea what I was getting into at the time, as I was only eleven years old. We faced a lot of struggles in training, but I didn’t let it bring my spirits down. We kept at it, kept training for a year, until finally…one whole year later, we placed first in our trial! I was twelve years old, I was so happy I could not believe it!
It wasn’t until later I got my first Border Collie, Tiki. She was the smartest dog but also developed a lot of reactivity issues due to being attacked at four months of age. I started teaching her tricks as an outlet to cope when taking her out in public or when we were at competitions. Doing the tricks with her helped give her something productive to do to help take her focus off the other dogs around her. Although she still would have episodes of reactivity, she helped me grow as a trainer and I learned how to properly manage reactive dogs. I am so thankful for the lessons that she taught me, and would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for her.
Two years later, I got my second Border Collie, Stoke. I began training him from the day I brought him home. When he was a bit older, I started competing in agility and disc with both him and Tiki. I also put on a few trick demonstrations with them as well, and later started my stunt dog show which I named The Ohana Dog Show. We were later discovered at a local dog event and invited to perform at baseball games for the Clearwater Threshers and the Tampa Tarpons. I have also performed at events such as Woofstock with my dogs.
Ren, my third Border Collie, came along shortly after we got discovered performing at the baseball games. Much like Stoke, I started training with him from the moment I brought him home. Since I got him to be my service dog, I brought him most places with me and took all the opportunities I could to socialize him. Ren started performing at a much younger age, and did his first demonstration when he was only three and a half months old!
I am now continuing to train Ren and my other dogs for agility, canine freestyle, dock diving, flying disc, tricks and stunts. We have also started doing a bit of film work (which I LOVE), but I am also continuing to run my own dog training business and blog while doing so. I hope that you all will enjoy following us on our adventures.
Check back soon for another blog post on training. Until next time!