Our Instructors

	Lori Fennell Lori is the Training Director for K9X and teaches beginner agility and distance handling. She trained her first dog, a miniature American Eskimo named Nikita, in obedience at age thirteen. She has been dog crazy ever since. Lori began training in agility with her dog Angus in 2002. They went on to compete together in agility until Angus retired in 2010. Team Angus ran in lots of trials, earned lots of titles, and had the time of their lives doing it. Lori also trained her dog Scout in agility, but he found the whole business too stressful, so he retired early and now holds the titles of champion cuddler, bedwarmer, and cat herder in the Fennell household. Lori currently trains and competes with her dog Lola. Lori and Lola fancy themselves the Thelma and Louise of agility, and if you watch them run, you’ll see that they frequently go off the cliff together. Lori’s interest in dogs and training goes beyond agility. She has taught pet dog training and has a keen interest in canine behavior. She is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and also earned a Certified Pet Dog Trainer designation (CPDT-KA) from the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. For a number of years, she was active in dog rescue and would frequently foster dogs with challenging behaviors to make them more adoptable. She also volunteered for a time at Town Lake Animal Center, both training dogs and teaching other volunteers how to train dogs in the adoption program. She is currently getting her feet wet in rally obedience and finds the experience humbling. Lori has been an active member of the K9X Agility Club since 2003 and loves belonging to be best group of dog people she’s ever had the good fortune to meet. When she’s not doing dog stuff, she enjoys reading, baking, watching movies, and spending time her wonderful husband JP and their friends.
Shari Kolding Shari Kolding has been training in agility since 1999, has competed with three of her own dogs, and has guest-handled for other club members.  Shari has taught beginning agility, distance and games classes for Austin K-9 Xpress, and subs for other instructors as needed.  Her dogs include: Joey (Polish Lowland Sheepdog, retired), with 38 competition titles in AKC, NADAC, and USDAA; Toby (Beagle, 1995-2006), a Canine Good Citizen and NADAC Tunneler; and her youngest dog Grover (Schnauzer/Westie mix), who has more than 10 titles and currently competes in NADAC events.  In their non-agility free time, Shari and her dogs enjoy watching moving on the sofa, eating whatever they can find in the kitchen, and going on hikes and kayaking adventures.
	Sue Lindsay Meet my dogs - Cosmoknot, 9 year old Australian Shepherd, and Emma June, 5 year old Border Collie. They can tell you everything you will need to know about me as an agility competitor and instructor for our club. In every sense of the word, everything I know I learned from these two magnificent dogs.  I brought Cosmo to a Beginner Agility class in Madison Wisconsin the year before I moved to Austin Texas. I joined K9Xpress in the spring of 2004, and have been taking classes, competing, and helping out with classes and committees for the club along the way. I discovered that the agility life was really nice. This was a good, fun hobby. A nice way to spend a little free time, get a little exercise, and give your dog a good way to run a little fat and energy off. What a nice dog sport this was to have found! Sometimes a weekend away in a hotel for a dog trial was just the thing to add a little excitement to the hobby. After all, for a city dog, getting out to the agility field, and sometimes to a dog trial, well, that was a great day! Emma June joined us in the fall of 2006, and nothing has really been the same since. I have learned the difference between taking an Australian Shepherd and a Border Collie to agility class is this- when you take an Aussie to dog agility classes, you do the following: Ten minutes before class, you look around the laundry room, and find his favorite squeaky ball. Yep, right where you left it last week after class. Grab his leash, remember his water bowl, and jump in the car. Off to class! Border Collie? Two hours prior to class, shut the Border Collie out of the laundry room so you can check to see if you can find the tug toy, water dish, treats, Kong toy, crate blanket, slip leash, and regular leash. Make every effort not to make any noise with any of her toys or equipment, or the next two hours will be spent with said Border Collie herding you to the front door. She is more than happy to get your keys, shoes, purse and coat if that will speed things along. Before actual class time, exercise your Border Collie for approximately 45 minutes. Preferably by moving sheep. This necessitated a move to the country, along with the purchase of the appropriately trained sheep for the Border Collie to move. And of course, the acreage and the fencing and buildings for the sheep to live in. The alternative method of exercise is several miles of running, or another favorite is ball launcher or frisbee, or swimming (another expense - pool and weekly pool boy for maintenance). Mind you, we haven't left for class yet.  While you are thinking about class, I'm going to start teaching the Open Class for K9Xpress. I hope you like it.
Mary Marshall Mary teaches the Beginner and Intermediate classes. Her expertise at the early stages of training dog/handler teams is why many continue into the more advanced classes. Mary has Italian Greyhounds, including Echo ,Wyndham, and Abigail, a Rat Terrier Sammie, and a Whippet, Ruby.
ADJUNCT	INSTRUCTOR
Kim Galusha Kim has been training dogs since 1978. She competed in obedience for 20 years and started training in agility in 1993. She has agility trained 7 of her own dogs, Rosa, Rhetta, Wichita, Ezri, Pogo, Trixi and Stella.  Kim has experience competing in all three agility groups (USDAA, NADAC, AKC) and has competed in the NADAC National Championships.  She also runs flyball on Dogz Rule! Ezri (All American) O-OJC O-OCC O-OAC O-TN-O ECS TG-O WV-N HP-N Novice Versatility FDCh CGC Pogo (All American) V-NATCH,  NATCH-5,   S-EAC,   S-EJC,  S-ECC,  TN–E,  TG-E, WV-O, Elite Versatility, 2500 NADAC Lifetime Points, MAD, JM, RM, GM, SACH, FDCh Trixi (JRT) AD, AS, OAC, S-NAC,  O-NCC, O-OCC,  S-ECC, O-NJC, O-OJC, O-EJC, O-TG-N, TG-E,  TN-E,  FDM. Stella (Border Collie) SG, SR, AS, EJS, ECC, O-TN-E, TG-O, NAC, HP-O, FDM. Waiting at the Bridge: Rhetta (Doberman) CD, NAC, NJC, NGC, NAJ, OA Wichita (All American)  NATCH,  S-TN-E, O-ECS, S-TGS-E, WV–E, S-EJS, HP-O, Elite Versatility, 1000 Lifetime Points, AD, ONYX, CGC.