Mary Ellen has a B.S in Accounting from the University of Scranton and was a CPA for 3 years in one of the big firms and then spent another 9 years in private companies as accounting manager and controller. In 2003, she was laid off and spent the summer teaching dog agility to help make ends meet while she looked for another job. She enjoyed it so much that she didn’t think she could go back to the corporate world and she's been teaching agility full time ever since.
Mary Ellen's popularity as a seminar presenter and instructor has grown due to her ability to break things down for students and explain and clarify concepts. She has an excellent eye and is able to pinpoint simple training exercises for handlers to work on at home to improve coursework.
Mary Ellen has been involved in dog training for 17 years. She has achieved an ADCH with 4 dogs, Zoe, Fizz, E-Z and Maizy. Mary Ellen & Fizz represented the USA at the 2006 and 2008 IFCS World Championships in the Netherlands and Belgium. In 2006, they earned 6 podium placements including 3 gold medals. Most recently, Mary Ellen & Maizy placed 3rd in both the Steeplechase and Grand Prix finals as well as 4th in the Dog Agility Masters Team Tournament at the 2010 USDAA Cynosport World Championships. Mary Ellen & Maizy represented the USA at the 2011 World Agility Open (WAO) Championships in the U.K and will be on the team again in May 2012 in Belgium.
Mary Ellen is a regular contributor to Clean Run Magazine and is the author of The Long Jump and Foundation Fundamentals which are both training DVD's and are available at
www.cleanrun.com
Mary Ellen has been an instructor full time for over 8 years and has taught seminars and camps throughout the U.S and Canada.