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Instructor: Lisa (Li) Hirtle Lisa has been a life long dog owner and lover. Her 1st dog was a shepherd x beagle mix named Daisy. Daisy was Lisa's 1st unofficial agility dog! Agility wasn't a formal dog sport back then, but Lisa trained Daisy to balance on logs, walk across ramps, jump over things, etc. When Daisy was getting old, Lisa adopted a shepherd x lab mix who she named Lucy or Lu for short. Lucy was a terrific dog and as Lisa says, "If I had asked her to jump through a burning hoop for me, she would have." Lucy passed away the summer of 2006 from cancer, she was 12 years old. In 2002 Lisa was give the opportunity to take a 3 week old Pembroke Welsh Corgi who had severe eye injury. This little puppy became known as Clara and has been taking the world by storm ever since. Clara did end up loosing her eye permanently, but Lisa is always telling us, "I'd be in severe trouble if she had 2 eyes! She's so smart and keeps me on my toes enough as it is!" With Clara, Lisa changed her training methods to all positive reinforcement. She had seen the physical damage that traditional choke chain method training had done to Lucy through severe arthritis in her neck and upper spine and decided to never train that way again. Lisa and Clara started taking agility classes when Clara was about 2 years old with another local facility, then soon found out about Maplewood. She has been a dedicated student ever since. She and Clara are doing excellently in NADAC agility having completed their Novice Versatility titles as well as a number of Superior Novice Titles in different classes. They also have their AKC Novice and Open Jumpers titles and Novice Rally title. Clara is also the dog in "Clara Across America." Which is an adventure that Katrin participates in too! :-) In 2007 Lisa bought her 1st dog (all previous dogs had been given to her from various rescue situations), Ryan, a Vizsla, who she waited over a year for! He is her 1st male dog and 1st dog she hopes to compete in conformation with as well as agility and obedience. She is also considering training him for Hunt Tests, and is just trying to find a positive trainer with experience in pointing breeds for that. He is a joyful little boy, with his ears flying and his non stop energy. He has already begun some basic agility training and obedience training. Lisa has also been a Veterinary Technician for over 20 years and currently works at a bustling clinic in Norwell, MA. We call Lisa the "Super Tech" and "X-Ray Queen"! We recommend all of our clients with dogs needing OFA or other structural x-rays to go and see Lisa! Because one of the vets at her clinic specializes in canine reproduction, Lisa also usually knows who in the area has or is expecting puppies of many different breeds. This is a huge help to many clients who are looking for a puppy or adult dog. She currently feeds her dogs a raw diet and is a believer in alternative medicine for animals. She takes Clara and Ryan for chiropractic and acupuncture treatments, as well as utilizes other alternative medicine techniques. Lisa thinks it is unfortunate that so many of today's veterinarians are not on-board with the current research for vaccination protocol and diet. Lisa began teaching Maplewood agility classes in 2006, and help to design the curriculum for our ABC agility (now Communications) course. She is a huge asset to our staff! She and her pups have their own web site at www.maplewooddog.com/lisa In 2009 Lisa also opened her own dog training school on the South Shore. Visit R + at www.rplusdogtraining.com for more details! |
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