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ABTC Agility CommitteeJean Matushek, Chair Jean bred, trained and handled “Disney,” the first MACH Terv and the third to become an ADCH. Disney had also been ranked as the top AKC agility Terv for several years, tying for AKC’s Top Agility Dog (all breeds) in 1997. She has also been honored as the ABTC’s top agility dog. Disney was a USDAA Nationals finalist in each of the three years she competed, placing 3rd in the 30” division in 1997 and 5th in the 26” division in 1999. Disney was the Large Dog Agility Silver medalist at the inaugural Great Outdoor Games in 2000, her last official competition. Jean was also instrumental in the training and handling of her husband’s dog “Jordan,” the first MACH (and MACH2) Belgian Sheepdog. Jean has trained and titled dogs in conformation, obedience, tracking, and flyball, as well as three flavors of agility. She’s also ventured into the herding arena with her Malinois “Quiz.” Jean and her husband Kurt live in Elgin, Illinois with their fur kids. While Kurt may have gone to “the dark side” with his border collies, Jean remains faithful to Belgians, Tervs in particular, for their intelligence, sensitivity, sense of humor, agility and beauty. She is honored to be called upon to promote the breed’s agility. As Chair of the ABTC agility committee, she can be reached by e-mail at kjmatushek@mindspring.com. Julie Symons Julie and Rival have qualified for every AKC agility nationals since 1998. They competed at both the 1998 and 2000 Nationals and were invited to compete at the 2001 AKC agility invitational based on their 2nd place finish in one of the individual JWW national rounds. Their biggest accomplishment was in 2002, where Julie and Rival were awarded “Ultimate Dog” for their combined obedience and agility scores at the All Star Performance Dog Association. This led to their “cover girls” photo in the February 2003 issue of Front and Finish! In 1998, a core group of people in the Rochester, NY area formed a local backyard agility club. Julie became an instructor for the club and has been hooked on teaching and trialing ever since! She also teaches on her own under the name ‘Canine Rivalry’. In addition to agility, Julie has titled dogs in obedience, herding, conformation, flyball, and most recently tracking. Julie also shares her life with her husband Ken, their son Ryan, and 13 year old all-American Dreyfus. Julie works part-time at Xerox as a Software Engineer. Email: Rival@rochester.rr.com Linda Knowles  Linda started going to dog shows when she was 12,
but wasn’t allowed a dog of her own until she was a senior in high school.
Her first dog, Bonnie, was an ILP’d Lhasa Apso that Linda retired from
the Utility ring at age 12 with one leg – out of about 70 shows!
After retirement from obedience, Linda started tracking with Bonnie. When
Bonnie was 13, Linda was finally able to add another dog to her household. She chose a Belgian Tervuren, as she wanted a dog that could
do everything. Linda named her
first Terv “Breeze”, as she knew that training her would be much easier than
the Lhasa! Breeze truly lived up to
her name. She had her UD by age 3,
and earned 8 UDX legs that didn’t count, as the title didn’t come into
effect until the following year!
Linda and Breeze started showing in USDAA agility in 1991. Breeze was the first American-owned Terv to earn the USDAA’s Advanced Agility Dog® title. Linda and Breeze attended the ’94 USDAA Grand Prix Championships in Houston, TX, where they also competed in the very first AKC agility trial (placing 2nd in Open 24”). Breeze also placed 4th at the 1996 USDAA Grand Prix Championships. After retirement from obedience and agility, the team returned to tracking, where Breeze earned her TDX at age 11 to become Snowflower’s Spring Breeze UDX TDX MX AXJ PT, VMAD JM, EAC EGC EJC! Linda served as the TNT Agility columnist for several years, and established the ABTC Agility Rankings in ’95, which she continues to maintain to this day. She also was an assistant teacher at Westside Agility Training for several years. She currently serves as Treasurer for the Redwood Belgian Tervuren Fanciers and Palo Alto Foothills Tracking Association clubs. She is currently competing with Mercy (ADCH MACH Snowflower Mercy By Moonlight VCD3, SACH JCH-Br GCH-Br SCH-Br RCH, CL4, HIC) in AKC, USDAA, and occasionally CPE agility, as well as obedience, and is training for Variable Surface Tracking. Email: Linda_Knowles@amat.com
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Jean
first fell in love with Tervs in 1978, became an ABTC member in 1985, and became
addicted to agility in 1991. In 2001, Jean retired from a 20+ year career as a
veterinary technician to teach agility.
Julie
first became involved in agility in 1996. Her first (and only) Belgian Tervuren
Rival (Ch OTCH MACH Chateau d’Vie’s Hors de Pair UDX2 HT TD) was one year old when
she signed up for a local agility class.