Meet Your Earthdog Judges
Haven’t decided about entering Earthdog yet? Time to get off the fence before you hurt yourself! Chairman Curtis Lake has a great event planned for you at his home ~ 1 hour north of Longview. Now meet your Border Terrier National Specialty Earthdog Judges!
DArcy Downs-Vollbracht: I am committed to preserving the original purpose of the breed and love judging earthdog, conformation, farm dog, juniors, performing temperament testing and therapy dog evaluations.
Tim Carey: I have been a Border Terrier breeder for almost 20 years and an ED judge for 16 years. I am humbled and honored to judge Novice ED at the 2025 Specialty. Having owned several Master level earth dogs, hunted and eliminated rats in real barns with them, and still love running my dogs in ED, I appreciate the opportunity to not only observe your dogs exercise their instincts, but to do so at a National Specialty. Good luck!
Marta Force: I am honored to be invited again to judge earthdog for a BTCA Specialty. I have enjoyed earthdog since 1981 (I was a toddler) and before we had AKC tests. It was then known as go-to-ground and frequently paired with terrier races. My first border came from working stock and arrived to me as a gift from Ian Milne, Huntsman, of the Sedgefield Hunt Club. All subsequent borders of mine descend from that line. I’ve spent more than a few years on both sides of the den – began judging in 1997. Five of my borders have earned ED titles the best known of which was my Leaf who earned EE10 from 10 different states under 72 different judges. Always a joy, I look forward to watching our clever west coast borders work in June!
Dix Dixon: I am thrilled to be asked to judge the Master test at our specialty. I started into Border Terriers in 1997 and started Judging Earthdog in 2008. I have had five Borders, and all have earned Master in Earthdog and four their EE’s. My current Borders have titles in Conformation, Agility, Earthdog, Rally, Obedience, FAST CAT, Coursing Ability, Scent Work, Tracking, CGC, Trick Dog, Farm Dog, Barn Hunt, and titles in NASDA. Besides Earthdog, I judge Barn Hunt (semi-retired), and Farm Dog.
Shelby Russell: I got my first Border Terrier, Terraholm Mudlark aka “Libby” in 1996. I finished her AKC Championship and learned about Earthdog. Libby earned her Master Earthdog title and produced more purposely-bred Border Terriers who finished Championships and earned Earthdog titles.