Diane Goodspeed

After a decade or so of training dressage horses, Diane switched to training dogs. It was in 1992 that she began training her first obedience dog, a little Lhasa named Sandy. In between work as a business analyst and having two children, Diane trained Sandy to complete their AKC CD, CDX, and UD and attended two Pupperoni Eastern Regionals. With their obedience titles complete, Sandy and Diane took up agility for fun and Diane was soon hooked. Her first Border collie, Kayla, earned her CD and CDX quickly so they could focus on agility. Kayla earned her AKC novice agility title in April of 1999 and completed both excellent titles eighteen months later, qualifying for the 2002 Agility Nationals where they finished 30th. Kayla earned her MACH later that year and completed her UD a year later. She then shifted to herding. With Kayla retired from agility and happily chasing ducks around the backyard, Diane got her first sheltie, whom the kids named Demon.

The little sable sheltie was a surprise birthday present from Diane’s husband, Richard. After a few years of training hiccups and bobbles, they quickly became a competitive force in the 16” division on the East coast. In 2008, they finished 3rd at the AKC Nationals and in 2010 they won a spot on the AKC World Team heading to Germany. With two clean rounds, they finished a solid 15th in Individual medium dogs in their first international competition. In 2012, they competed in Sweden at the European Open where they were both Individual and Team finalists. In 2013, they again won a spot on the AKC International Team. At the European Open in Belgium, Demon and Diane put down a clean round in the medium dog Team Finals helping USA1-Medium finish 7th. Demon retired from agility after Belgium and moved onto doing nosework.

Diane is now working with her second Border collie, Kenzie. This young team has moved steadily through and into a new handling system and is now qualified and ready for the 2014 AKC Nationals and tryouts for the European Open. Diane is also training two young shelties, Bazinga and Bizzy, for agility, obedience, rally and nosework.

Working with many different breeds in multiple dog sports has allowed Diane to develop her skills as a competitor and to share this knowledge with her students. She understands how to have fun with her dogs while competing at the highest levels.