Elliott Kaplan
I came to dog sports later in life than many. At age 37 I paired up with my 1st dog, Fenway, a Labrador Retriever (this was in 1995). Fenway was a exceedingly active puppy. To help manage this energy my wife, Jane Bronson, recommended I take Fenway to these classes called agility. I followed my wife’s advice. At the 1st lesson (which was outdoors in the rain) after going over a low jump and through a tunnel Fenway looked at me with an expression that said “I love it”. I have been training/competing in agility, obedience, rally, and field since then.
Shortly after Fenway and I started dog sports, Jane started in dog sports. Training and showing became a family affair. For many years, Thursday night date night was training with friends then out to the diner across from the training center for dinner. We currently both compete in agility running Golden Retrievers (my lab recently retired at age 13+) while, as noted above, I also show in other sports.
To give back to the sport that started this adventure, I became an AKC agility judge in 2015. I enjoy watching teams working together. I am especially fond of working with the Novice classes.
I appreciate the honor of judging the agility portion of the Border Terrier National and look forward to watching the teams. Good luck to all.