Rick Oswald

I have had dogs (& cats) most of life. My first dogs were Labs & were mostly just family pets and used occasionally for bird hunting. Wanting to try a different breed, I got my first Flat Coated Retriever in 1993 and became hooked on the breed! I got married that same year, and my wife - who has trained dogs since her early teens - started educating me about the proper way to train a dog. It is still a work in progress!

I started taking agility classes around 1999 and have been taking classes and entering agility trials ever since. There are so many things to learn by taking classes and entering trials. It is helpful watching your fellow participants run their dog and getting feedback from them when you''re not sure what you are doing wrong, or getting congrats when you get it right. Failure is a great motivator to learn a new move for the tool box! There are a lot of fine handling details to be learned as you try for that clean run and to shave a second off the clock, while having fun with your dog!

Rick at Trial
My current Flat Coat Violet is almost eight and I am fortunate to have such a willing partner, although when I screw up, she lets me know! In addition to agility, we have also earned titles in Hunt Retrieving Tests, Nosework, Fast Cat, Dock Diving & she has been shown by my wife & her breeder in conformation.

Rick at Hunt Test
With such a proven dog, it would be a shame not to pass on those genes, so after some persuasion, my wife agreed to breeding Violet and we kept one of the puppies - Poppy - who entered her first agility trial in January 2023.

I taught Motorcycle Safety classes for 30 year before transitioning to teaching agility classes in 2022. The experience I learned from teaching those students has been helpful teaching the agility classes. I look forward to the challenges of teaching & learning from my students.