Nancy Harms Dog Coach

Patrick was born with Spinal Bifida which is an ailment that involves the incomplete development of the spinal cord or its covering. His parents instilled in him an attitude that he could do things for himself and become successful with the proper state of mind. They were a good team and did not take it easy on him as they lead him to become a competitor with a winning attitude. His older brother was one of the best quarterbacks to come out of his high school. Patrick became the “personal trainer” for the other brother and helped him become a very good pulling guard in football. Patrick saw to it that his brother got himself into the weight room and he began lifting weights himself. Getting to the weight room was not easy since it was up a flight of stairs. Patrick would get to the bottom of the stairs and walk on his hands up the stairs to get to the room. He got stronger and stronger in his upper body and when he went to a bench press tournament in his senior year, he set a state record that stands today. He became his school’s statistics keeper and at the end of the season his senior year he became the first and only All Conference Statistics Keeper. He is now a successful attorney in Minnesota.

Leo & Frieda

Leo age 5 we think he is a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. We found him 3 years ago at the Coon Rapids animal shelter. The woman at the shelter told me the dog would never hunt. We brought the dog home and it was shy of my wife for awhile – 2 weeks or so. But it quickly came around and has been an excellent house dog and hunts like a champion. I entered it into a pheasant hunting competition last year and did not win but placed better than many other hunters. All we have done with him is take him to a dog obedience class sponsored by the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association NAVDHA. He figured out the house breaking by himself. He loves people but we continue to work on socializing him with other dogs.

Frieda age 2 is a German Wirehaired Pointer. She too was at the same shelter and we got her in January 15, 2009. She was found by a family running wild and they kept her for 30 days trying to find her owners and then gave her up to the shelter. She immediately fell in love with Ruth but remained terrified of me and most men until about July of this year….6 months. Now she is adjusting well and learning to deal with strangers a little better. She too hunts and loves to retrieve anything from balls to wild game.

We have found getting dogs from the rescue to be very rewarding and cheaper than buying a puppy and raising it. We paid around $250 for each dog and a pup for this breed is $600-1,000.

The Quickie Shark Story

I knew I wanted a non-motorized way to get around and exercise myself. Since I am in a body brace which keeps me out of a wheelchair, I cannot sit down. So I had to find something that would allow me to stand or lay down while operating it. I went to the Courage Center in Golden Valley to a hand bike expo one spring and saw a number of different types of hand bikes. After surfing the internet I found a Quickie Shark model that looked perfect. I asked around town and found a guy who owned one. He was nice enough to let me come look at it in his garage. I knew immediately it was the frame and platform I needed to build on.

So I bought one and waited for 3 months for it to be shipped in from Germany . Quickie makes wheelchairs but this was made in their German subsidiary. When it got here in late July of 2008 I began work to modify it. By Mid August I had a working prototype. Ruth said it looked too high at the center. She was right. I rolled it and hurt my left arm which still pops when I move it certain ways. I then lowered my center of gravity considerably but I am still careful on it.

The dogs love it as much as I do. Being leashed to it and then later buying them pulling harnesses was an afterthought but it hit me sometime after ordering the bike We notice when we do not exercise the dogs as they begin to run off the property when let out without their electric fence collars on and act up in the house.

Roger and Sue Lee Ringwelski

A few months after losing Zeke, our canine companion of 14 years, I started looking for ‘the perfect’ dog again. We were looking for a dog that would be a loving companion, help around the place with varmint control and guard our chickens against marauders. With Nessa we got so much more than that.

Right from the start Nessa was as smart as a whip. She was always looking for things to do…things to explore. We ended up making her a little agility course in the yard when she was just 9 weeks old so she could stay occupied. She just LOVED it!

When I took her to puppy class Nancy encouraged everyone to give the dogs things to do and introduce them to more and more new things. I decided I’d like to try my hand at some type of ‘show’ activity with Nessa and I decided on confirmation showing as a first activity. After the puppy class was finished Nancy again encouraged me to just ‘go for it’ with the show plans for Nessa.
I did a lot of research on showing Rat Terriers, (Nessa’s registered breed), for conformation and started to practice at home with her. When she was old enough to participate I took Nessa to her first fun show. It was an AKC ‘fun’ day that also had many other activities for people to try with their dogs. We spent the whole day there trying out different fun activities like agility, earth dog, conformation, weight pulling, rally and obedience. We all had a wonderfully fun day!
After practicing more of what we learned at the fun show I decided it was time for Nessa and I to get into the real show ring so I signed up for two full days of shows up in the Twin Cities. I had major butterflies not knowing what to expect, where to go or how things ‘worked’ in the show scene. To add to that I didn’t know how Nessa was going to react to all the dogs and activity there.
With a deep breath I led Nessa in and went through the same motions we had been practicing for the last couple of months. The judge looked her over, had us move around the ring and in just a few minutes it was finished and Nessa was on her way! We went in the Terrier Group class for that show and got a group 2 placing, (second place).  In that first weekend of showing for her she got 2 Terrier Group 1’s, a Group 2 and a Group 3. She stayed 2 nights in a motel and traveled over 200 miles.
What a little trooper she is! We are a team! It is just delightful to do something like this together ?with my dog. Our plans are to show at least one more time in ?conformation class, hopefully getting a ‘Champion’ title for Nessa. Then ?maybe we’ll start doing some agility, weight pulling or tracking. The ?future is wide open for whatever we decide is the most fun!