Karla has been competing with her dogs in agility, rally, nosework, conformation and hunting since 1999.

She initially never planned on competing in any dog sports, just loved training, but entered in her first agility trial after seeing how much fun her friend was having at a trial. She fast found it addicting!

Karla's deeper journey into dog training began with her second Gordon Setter, Toby. He became reactive to other dogs coming at him or getting to close. It was mostly fear and some resource guarding. She took a lot of different classes, workshops and online classes to learn how to help him cope better. It was a life-long commitment. She learned most dog aggression was based on fear and she needed to help him feel comfortable. The progress made in their training together really showed at UKI agility trials. Toby was calm, happy and received his senior titles in all classes. The experience made her want to study dog reactivity and aggressions issues further.

Karla started instructing agility classes at a club after being asked to by another instructor. She's taught classes for over 15 years, including puppy, adult manners and foundation agility. Additionally, Karla taught classes and coached privates for over two years through 4mydogs, a friend of Karla's business. She also recently received her CGC evaluator certification and is a ProDog Trainer through Absolute Dogs. 

Besides helping others, Karla loves training and competing with her own dogs. It's their special time together, working together. 

She loves the way her dogs seem so happy, even smiling, when they train together, especially in agility. She wants her dogs to have the fullest lives she can give them.

Karla loves to help people and feels so rewarded when students “get” what a coach is trying to show them and the “light-bulb moment” when dogs understand, too. She only uses positive reinforcement methods for her dog training. Training should always be fun for you and your dog!

KARLA KRUECKE

Puppy Focus