Hi! I'm Lynn, the owner/trainer at Creekside Canines. But first let me introduce the dogs of Creekside Canines. They have all played (and continue to play) a huge role for me in the constantly evolving sport of agility.

Photo Left: The pack as of June, 2022 after swimming on a hot day. Psychic (top left), MindReader (Psychic's son - top middle), Wing (aunt and great Aunt - top right) and Gale (niece of Psychic and grandniece of Wing, cousin to MindReader - bottom).

Current competition dogs: test

MACH2 Psychic. (MACH2 OffOn Done With Smoke & Mirrors MXG MJG )
Two time Master Agility Champion Psychic is my dream man. He is a son of the legendary flyball dog, Sooner, and out of SSR Mirage (OffOn Border Collies, Las Vegas, NV). Psychic is very serious and intense about every task he undertakes. He jumps in the 20" master division and has incredible speed and power. He now has a credit as an animal actor where he did an amazing job filming a commercial for a venture capital company and has landed a significant role in an upcoming horror film. When not working, he's a joy to live with and has never met a stranger be they human, canine, feline or anything else. Psychic was bred in late Oct, 2021 to a lovely Jimmy x Vixey bitch (Thompson Border Collies) - TBC Arya in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. 8 pups were born on 12/29/21 and of course I had to keep one of his sons (below). NOTE: At 10 years of age, Psychic is in semi retirement, running here and there just because he loves it, while I concentrate on training his son. One more amazing fact about Psychic that I will now say - Psychic has NEVER had an injury in his entire career. That is something not many dogs can boast who run as hard and fast as he has his entire career.

MindReader (OffOn Arya's It's Like You're Psychic OA, AXJ)
MindReader (aka Reader or MR) is Psychic's son born on 12/29/21 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Standing at 21.5" tall, this boy has great structure and a wonderful temperament. So far, he has been the easiest dog to train that I've ever worked with. And the timing couldn't be better as agility is ever changing and I am now putting more complex training and skills on this boy than I have done with previous dogs. MindReader made his competitive debut in early May, 2023. In only 4 trials, he earned both his Novice and Open titles. He then titled quickly in in Excellent Jumpers so is now running at Masters Level in JWW and Exc in Standard. I've never had a dog come up the ranks as quickly as this one.

Gale (BreezyBlue's Throw Caution to the Wind MXB, MXJ)
Gale is a niece and grandniece to Psychic and Wing (below). She was bred by Ginsey St. Croix near Atlanta, GA and is the daughter of Ginsey's well known Party (a Sooner daughter) and sired by Joan Lawson's Epic. After a great deal of thought, I have decided to retire Gale from competition at only 7 years old because I cannot run 3 dogs. She is an amazing agility dog but she and I have never been a great fit. Gale is my new assistant instructor. Students who want to feel the adrenaline rush of running a super fast dog can have the opportunity before they commit to buying their own potentially super fast dog. She gives some of my students the opportunity to run a very fast trained dog to get the feel of things when their own dogs are very novice and they are struggling with the handling. Gale is happy to run with anyone.

Gone but Never Forgotten

MACH2 Wing aka "the Princess", the 2-time Master Agility Champion. (MACH2 On Target's A Wing & A Prayer MXC, MJC)
Wing was a Sooner granddaughter from OnTarget Border Collies in Las Vegas, NV. Wing was a very consistent competitor with a 90-95% Q rate (qualification rate) but didn't live for it the way Psychic and G ale do so I retired her from competition at age 7 when Gale started competing. Wing was the official errand girl, the finder and bringer of any and all toys lost on the property. She loved to swim in the pool and snuggle by the fire in winter. Wing had some health issues later in life and we said goodbye in April of 2023 quietly and peacefully. She was my ever faithful sidekick. At home, some part of Wing was almost always touching some part of me so I am missing her terribly. She was also a calming presence in the house of cats and dogs and the atmosphere has changed without her.

Cirque (Holther's Cirque du Soleil MX AXJ)
Cirque was my first border collie and is not related to the others. He came from Holther Border Collies near Savannah, GA. Cirque was my first super fast dog and the reason I began training with Annette Alfonso which certainly changed the course of my life. Cirque passed quietly in 2021 of old age.

Maggie (Sylvan's Beyond Magnolia MX2 MXJ2)
Maggie was a stunning rough collie who became my first agility dog. And what an amazing agility dog she was. She was athletic, driven, fast and she loved the game.Her sire, CH Sylvan's Above and Beyond, was a well known conformation dog who won Best of Breed at Collie Nationals in 2005. But Maggie proved the she was way more than just another pretty face. Some of the times she set in jumpers were fast enough to place with the border collies in the 20" division which is practically unheard of. Tragically, Maggie was lost to hemangiosarcoma (a deadly cancer) shortly after her 7th birthday.

Some history (and brags)... I've been involved in competitive sports most of my life. Like many agility people, my background is in horses. Originally from northern California, I competed successfully for many years with Quarter horses in western pleasure, stock seat equitation, hunter under saddle, trail, etc.

After moving to the Florida Keys, my competitive nature led me to sailfish tournaments whereI was fortunate to win a number of tournaments including a $50,000 Trifecta consisting of the Don Gurgiolo Sailfish Tournament, Holiday Isle tournament and Key Largo tournament. The photo below on the How 'Bout It was taken moments after lines out was called on the 3rd tournament when we realized we had won. The one below it was the champagne celebration upon our return to the dock.

 

 

During this time, I lost my old Norwegian Elkhound so I purchased a lovely rough collie puppy. My sweet Maggie. This pup made it clear early on that she would not be content to be a typical pet dog. She needed a job and needed it fast. Maggie and I discovered agility and the rest, as they say, is history.

Name Dropping... In the course of my agility life, I've been helped by many "name" handlers/trainers including Ann Braue, Karen Holik, Stuart Mah, Jenn Crank and, Jenni Leino (One Mind Dogs, Finland.) But my primary trainer for years in South Florida (and now in SC) is the amazing Annette Alfonso. Annette is now the Head Coach of the AKC European Open Team! Although she's very high in demand, Annette makes time to come to Creekside usually twice a year for seminars and workshops for my students.

In addition to the direct training, I also participate in online training offered by a number of trainers and handlers such as Daisy Peel, Silvia Trkman (Slovenia) and One Mind Dogs (Finland).

How I train & teach... sort of. My early training was based on the Mecklenberg - Awesome Paws Handling System (APHS); however, handling styles or "systems" are evolving constantly. At present, several Europeans are a strong influence on way we train and run our dogs. Building on that training is the incredible One Mind Dogs team of Finland which I am blending with APHS. I do my best to keep up the trends and apply them as I feel they best suit myself and my students. I do NOT believe that one size fits all. I try hard to be flexible in my teaching and to find solutions for each dog/handler team that will work the best for THAT particular team regardless of whether it fits into any particular system. My goal is always to keep things clear and consistent for both the dog and the student.

My focus has an emphasis on dog training. I feel that the better dog trainer we are, the less perfect of a handler we have to be. I also feel that since many in agility are of a certain age and perhaps not in the best of physical condition, that we can learn to run and train our dogs using distance handling so you do not have try to keep up with your dog.

What I like about teaching.
I think the best part about teaching is the variety of dogs and students that I get to work with. Most of the time I feel that I'm learning as much, if not more, than my students. Once again, one size does not fit all and every dog is an individual. I love the challenge of finding what motivates each particular dog. And there is nothing I love more than to see that magical moment when the lightbulb goes off and I see that a dog and/or their owner really GETS what we're working on at that moment.

See me run... :) If you'd like to see some agility in action, you can see some of my public YouTube videos here. I also have some private videos which will be available to you if/when you become a student at Creekside. These training videos will be your backup for things we'll be going over in class.