Nancy started in barn hunt over six years ago with Valley Dog Sports when Karla Sanders, the original owner of VDS, was teaching and encouraged Nancy to bring her reactive dog to class. Grace loved finding the rats and for once her reactivity did not get in the way of her having fun. Nancy was hooked on barn hunt after that class! Grace competed for several years before retiring and becoming the BH 101 class demo dog. Since Nancy started out in the sport with a reactive dog, she specializes in helping owners with reactive dogs. Barn Hunt is a sport where reactive dogs can shine, and she understands the relief many handlers have in finally finding a sport their dog can succeed in. Nancy has a new barn hunt dog, Dio, who she is looking forward to training.

In 2021, Nancy bought VDS from Karla and has taken over providing training and trials for the Portland and Willamette Valley. Nancy's training philosophy is for handlers to learn how to be good teammates with their dogs in the ring. Unlike other sports where handlers are in control, our dogs lead us in barn hunt, and we have to learn how to support them. Nancy really enjoys helping new handlers and dogs find the joy in the hunt. As a trainer there is nothing more satisfying than to have a handler say, this was so much fun, I can't wait to come back. Nancy and the VDS trainers love working with handlers and dogs. We are very grateful to have such a wonderful Barn Hunt family who encourages and supports each other and cheers everyone on in the ring.

Marika and Luke, her Cardigan Welsh Corgi, started their Barn Hunt journey in April of 2022. They continue to enjoy traveling around the Pacific Northwest to trial with different clubs. Marika has been teaching Barn Hunt at Valley Dog Sports since March 2023. She loves helping people learn the sport and find new ways to play with their dog!

Marika teaches private lessons and group classes for VDS.

Valley Dog Sports has a total of eight trainers! We will be updating with more information soon!