AKC CONFORMATION
Sandra became active in AKC dog competitions in 1956. She started with Great Danes, and spent 18 years showing her dogs in the conformation ring. Several Danes of
her breeding ranked nationally one with two All-Breed Best
in Shows to his credit. In 1963 she co-founded the Great Dane Club of El
Paso.
HORSE YEARS
Starting in 1969, the next 10 years was devoted mainly to showing American Saddlebred
horses. Sandra owned three: a five-gaited mare that she exhibited,
and a three-gated mare that she sent to Dodge Stables in Kentucky
to be bred to the reigning stud. The resulting colt became a "jack-of-all-trades; master-of-none" pleasure
horse that Sandra used for local English and western riding competitions,
as well as dressage and jumping.
AKC DOG OBEDIENCE
In 1981 Sandra discovered dog obedience
competitions after purchasing a Standard Poodle puppy and joining the local
training club. A few match wins and she was hooked. OTCH Gambolique,
TD was her Novice A dog and the beginning of a succession of
Obedience Trial Champions:
a Doberman Pinscher (OTCH4 Raventine, UDX),
a Giant Schnauzer (OTCH KaRon's Kontessa),
an English Springer Spaniel (OTCH Sulo's Ledgewood Gypsy)
her male Giant, OTCH KaRon's Jabberwocky,
Pepper (U-OCH/ CH/OTCH22 Heelalong Jalapena, UDX15, HT, NA, OAJ) the Border
Collie that needed more to do, CH/OTCH Skansen's Tequila, UDX, TD,
NA, NAJ her
latest Giant Schnauzer, and first of the breed with both conformation and
obedience championship titles. Golden Retriever, OTCH Auburnmist Golden
Rule, completed his title January of 2006 and on Jan. 13, 2007, Sandra's rescue dog, Jack
Russell Terrier, OTCH Speedbump, UDX2 (Maggie) became the second JRT
and first female of that breed to earn the Obedience Trial CHampion title.
AGILITY
Sandra demonstrated the new English sport, Agility, to the US obedience
community and became an acknowledged pioneer of "British"
dog agility in this country. She was inducted into the USDAA Hall of Fame
- Pioneers of Dog Agility in 2003. Her interest was aroused by a series
of articles published in Front & Finish in 1984 explaining
the British sport. Sandra corresponded
with the author, Angela Chuter of the UK, joined their agility club, and constructed all of the obstacles.
She trained her standard poodle and her husband's dachshund on equipment that she redesigned a bit to be able to raise and lower for all sizes of dogs. That flexibility became a part of the sport in the U.S.
In September 1984 she and her dogs put on an agility demonstration at her club's obedience trial. The interest shown led to an invitation for an encore at the Gaines Western Regional Obedience Tournament in Albuquerque in August 1985. By then there was enough local enthusiasm to put on a two-team competition demonstration.
That demonstration led to a request for a repeat performance at the obedience Classic event in Houston in 1986. Ken Tatsch (founder of USDAA) came to El Paso following a trip to England where he was researching this new sport. The British obstacles were not adjustable and Ken had heard about Sandra's equipment. Together they planned the demo-competition for the Classic. Ken provided adjustable equipment that he constructed in the meantime, and also a team to compete with Sandra's in the demo.
CANINE MUSICAL FREESTYLE
In June of 1994, Front & Finish again published an article
about a new sport that started in Canada called
"Freestyle." By November, Sandra had joined the Canadian organization, Musical Canine Sports
International (MCSI), secured a list of their movements, and
began training Pepper to do as many freestyle
dance moves as she could because this Border Collie needed another activity besides
obedience to keep her busy.
During this time, Sandra was volunteer coordinator for her local humane society and was putting on obedience demonstrations with her dogs at the society's various functions and fund-raisers. When she learned about freestyle, she thought that might be something new and interesting for their audiences. She and Pepper performed their first dance routine at the society's annual "Beauty and the Beast" fashion show in May, 1995. That same month they also gave a demo at their local AKC dog obedience trial - exactly 10 years after demonstrating agility at that trial.. It was the beginning of a succession of freestyle demos she and Pepper would give around the country. Those dancing demos led to requests for seminars, which created the opportunity for her videos and book.
K9 DRESSAGE
In early 2002, Sandra devised a new dog sport she calls K9 Dressage. This competitive sport combines the discipline of obedience along with freestyle movements presented in a format patterned after equine dressage. She believes that requiring the dog to work both sides of its body equally when performing a variety of movements will produce a more balanced and flexible animal. Her K9 Dressage proposal can be viewed by clicking on the yellow star on the home page of this website or at: www.k9dressage.com. A video demonstrating the 3 levels of K9 Dressage competition and how each is judged can be found on the title page of the manual explaining the sport at the www.k9dressage.com website. A K9 Dressage training video in which Sandra demonstrates how she taught her dogs each of the movements was produced and released in July 2007. Both videos can be purchased from the World Canine Freestyle Organization (WCFO, Inc.) . WCFO offers titling classes in this new dog sport. from both live performances and through video competitions.
PERSONAL
Sandra is the mother of 3 daughters and a son. She has 7 grandchildren. Her husband, Michael, is a chemistry professor at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He is also active in the local humane society; having served as president for 5 terms. Sandra has a BS degree from UTEP in Secondary Education.
Sandra's dogs:
Pepper
Jabba
Tequila 
Maggie (JRT) and Ruler (GR)
