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 16 years. She's earned an ADCH with 4 border collies, Zoe, Fizz, E-Z and Maizy. Fizz and Maizy both earned their ADCH before the age of 3. Fizz and Mary Ellen represented the USA at the 2006 IFCS World Championships in the Netherlands where they earned 6 placements including 3 Gold Medals. They represented the USA again at the 2008 IFCS World Championships in Belgium. Most recently, 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 Championship. Mary Ellen & Maizy will be representing the USA at the 2011 World Agility Open (WAO) Championships to be held in the U.K. in May.
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.