From left to right: Maizey, Anne, Kylie and Zip
Anne Swan teaches Agility, Rally Obedience, Reliable Recall, Fun with Focus classes for GVDC and occasionally offers Competitive Obedience classes as well. Anne earned her CPDT-KA (Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed) Certification through the international organization of the Certification Council of Pet Dog Trainers.
After graduating from UC Santa Barbara, Anne discovered her love for training dogs when she added a spunky Cattle Dog mix named Kiwi to her life. Anne has been training and competing in Agility for the past twelve years and Rally Obedience for five years and has truly enjoyed the time spent working with her dogs Kiwi, Zip, Kylie and Maizey.
Canine Behavior is a field that Anne finds fascinating, and attends conferences and seminars annually with many of the top Behaviorists both Nationally and Internationally. Anne organizes and hosts APDT Rally Trials for Goleta Valley Dog Club, Inc. every year.
Anne’s Teammates
Kiwi
SwanSong’s Kiwi MX, MXJ, PDIII, ATD, NGC-V, NAC-V, FM
Photo by Richard Todd
Photo by Dynamic Dog Photos
Kiwi has been a skilled and patient teacher and was Anne’s first official Agility and Flyball dog. Kiwi was ranked in the Top Ten Australian Cattle Dogs in Agility for several years and in 2004 she became a National Champion in the 16″ Standard Agility class at the Australian Cattle Dog National Specialty. Kiwi was also a National Finalist in the Performance Grand Prix at the 2004 USDAA Agility National Championships in Arizona. Kiwi became a National Champion by winning the Performance All-Around Standard class that year and her second place finish led to Reserve Champion in the Performance All-Around Jumpers class at the 2004 USDAA Nationals. Kiwi returned to agility after a tendon injury and surgery and competed in the 2004, 2006 and 2007 USDAA National Agility Championships. She qualified into the Semifinals of the Performance Grand Prix and finished 8th overall in 2006.
Photo by Dynamic Dog Photos
Kiwi retired from Agility in early 2008 and crossed the Rainbow Bridge in March of 2009. She is deeply loved and dearly missed and Anne is eternally grateful for the adventures and fun they shared together. Kiwi was Anne’s close companion, teacher and teammate and Kiwi’s love for a ball was one of her trademarks.
Zip
PC’s Zip Drive ADCH, ATD Bronze, AX, AXJ, RAE, TM, ARCHX, RL3, RL2X, RL1X2, FDCH, OGC, CD, RE, CGC, TDI, AXP, AJP
Photo by Dynamic Dog Photos
Photo by Richard Todd
Zip is a 14 year old blue-merle Border Collie and is quite a character. He likes to remind Anne that a sense humor and patience are necessary qualities when training dogs. He has a zest for life and brings his high level of energy and heart to both agility and obedience.
He competed at the 2005 USDAA Agility National Championships by qualifying for the Steeplechase, the Grand Prix and the DAM (Dog Agility Masters) team competition. Zip qualified into the semifinal round of the Grand Prix at the USDAA Nationals by placing very well among some of the fastest dogs in the sport. In addition, he competed in the 2006 USDAA Nationals and won the Semifinal Round of the Performance Grand Prix and earned a spot in the Performance Grand Prix Finals. He won the 16” Performance Power and Speed class in 2006 as well. Zip had a great year at the 2008 USDAA Agility National Championships and finished 4th overall in the European Standard class. Zip participated in the 2009 USDAA Agility Championships, qualifying to run in PVP Team, Performance Grand Prix and Performance Speed Jumping. Zip competes in both AKC and APDT Rally Obedience, and has been nationally ranked in APDT Rally from 2005-2008. In AKC Rally, Zip finished his RAE Championship title in 2011 at the age of 12 years old, performing beautifully while dealing with a cancer diagnosis at the same time. In 2006, Zip became the #1 Nationally Ranked RL1 Dog, as awarded by the APDT Rally organization. In 2008 Zip has earned his APDT Rally Championship titles, both the ARCH and the ARCHX. Zip competes in AKC Rally Obedience at the Excellent Level. He also earned his ASCA and AKC Novice Obedience titles, has several titles in Flyball and is a certified therapy dog.
Photo by CameraAnimal.com
Zip’s greatest asset is his immense desire to try and keep trying, his desire to please sometimes outweighs his ability—this special quality is called “heart” and it cannot be trained, animals either have it or they do not. Zip has a great deal of heart and Anne appreciates his resilience as he was a large part of her learning process.
Zip has a great deal of heart and Anne appreciates his resilience as he was a large part of her learning process. He is now retired from competitive dog sports, and enjoys long walks on the beach and the trails—Zip’s favorite past-time these days is taking his time in sniffing all the things he finds interesting.
Kylie
MACH SwanSong’s Pretty Brilliant APD, ATD Silver, ARCH, RL3, RL1X, MXB, MJB, XF, RN
Photo by Nancy Latthitham, Gold Coast Photography
Photo by Tien Tran Photography
Kylie is an Australian Cattle Dog and is 7 years old. Kylie is very smart, she loves to perform her various tricks for treats, she learns new things quickly and is a little spitfire on the agility courses. Kylie likes to do just about everything in her life very quickly; she will zoom around an agility course and can also scarf a bowl of hot dogs floating in water during GVDC’s annual Hot Dog Bobbing competition.
Kylie loves training and trialing in Agility and took to it very quickly as a youngster. Kylie has competed in the USDAA Agility Championships in 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2008 Kylie earned a spot in the Performance Speed Jumping Finals at the 2008 USDAA Nationals, she finished 5th overall. In 2009 Kylie and Anne paired up with another friend and her Australian Cattle Dog for the PVP Team Event at the Southwest Agility Regional Championships, where they finished 1st overall. Kylie also finished 2nd overall in the Performance Grand Prix and Speed Jumping Finals. At the 2009 USDAA Championships, Kylie and her teammate finished 6th overall in the PVP Team event out of 116 teams. Kylie achieved National rankings for 2009 in USDAA Agility; 6th in Standard Level 3 and 10th in Jumpers Level 3.
Photo by DogSportPhotos.com
Kylie competes in AKC Agility, and was the #5 Australian Cattle Dog in the USA for 2011 and was invited to the AKC Agility Invitational. In October 2011, Kylie earned her AKC MACH title, the highest title in AKC agility that the organization offers. She was also the High in Trial ACD at the Australian Cattle Dog National Specialty in October 2010. Kylie finished her Rally Novice title with top scores at the ACD Specialty, and competed as part of a 4-dog partnership for Team Rally too. Kylie competes in APDT Rally as well and finished her Rally Championship title in 2008 with top scores. Anne feels fortunate to have such an enthusiastic and talented partner in Kylie. She is a nice blend of athletic and sweet and is a loving, mellow couch potato at home who loves her food and treats.
Maizey
MACH2 SwanSong’s Kiss From Kiwi MXS, MJS, XF, T2B, RN, CGC
Photo by Mary Fish Arango Photography
Maizey in the weaves at an Orange County trial
Maizey is a 4 year old Australian Cattle Dog and Kylie’s half sister. She joined the Swan family in May of 2009 and quickly made herself at home. Maizey is kind, intelligent, athletic and has a funny sense of humor.
She loves to take things off counters when she thinks nobody is looking and can be seen trotting around the house with a variety of treasures such as stolen socks, oven mitts, cordless phones, the aquarium’s fish net, tree branches she finds outside and plastic water bottles. Maizey enjoys having her active mind put to work and has a repertoire of various tricks and skills that she will happily show off to anyone who wants to watch. Maizey is an outgoing and friendly girl, and enjoys saying hi to her friends and meeting small dogs. Anne loves spending time with Maizey, she is silly and fun and brings laughter to the household every day.
The Girls and their ACD Ribbons
Maizey started her agility trialing career in 2010, enjoying playing the game and quickly moving up the ranks. In October 2011, Maizey earned her AKC MACH title, the highest title in AKC agility, and became the youngest Australian Cattle Dog in history to earn this. Maizey is Anne’s first dog with multiple MACH titles, and Anne is so proud of her super girl! December 2012 found the whole Swan family in a cross-country drive to the AKC Agility Inviational in Orlando, FL. Maizey earned an invitation to the event, one of only 3 Australian Cattle Dogs at the Agility Invitational. Maizey had 5 clear rounds for the weekend, and finished as the top ACD at the Invitational, and the High Scoring Dog with a Rally Title. She was 3rd overall in the competitive 16″ class, earning a trip to the Finals to top off the weekend. In June 2012, Anne and Maizey competed in Agility in the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge Western Regionals and finished in second place by 4 tenths of a second! At the 2012 AKC National Agility Championships in Reno, NV, Maizey ran clean in all of her runs for that weekend and finished 20th out of 150 dogs in her division. In October 2010 Maizey competed in Agility and Rally at the Australian Cattle Dog National Specialty. She earned the award for Fastest Time Overall in Jumpers with Weaves the first day, and had numerous High ACD in Class awards for Agility. Maizey won a Novice Rally class, and was part of a 4-dog team that won the Team Rally class at the Specialty. She now competes in the Excellent B division in AKC and will be starting trialing in USDAA in January 2011. When not doing agility, Maizey loves going for trail runs with Anne’s husband, Mike, and romping on the beach. Anne is looking forward to more fun with Maizey in both Agility and Rally, and is so happy to have such a fun-loving teammate.
