Our Instructors

Maureen Lemke

Maureen started training in agility in 2007 with Mikey and Missy, her two 7-year-old very obedient, medium-sized mixed breed litter mates. They were great at performing obstacles, loved to be in the ring, but saw no reason to rush instead preferring to enjoy the course at a leisurely pace. A judge once said, “Well, your dogs are happy”. As they got too old to compete
(after earning 1 NADAC title each over several years), a variety of friend’s dogs were used to feed Maureen’s agility addiction until she could train more of her own.

Wilson the mini Aussiedoodle arrived on the scene and advanced to the Elite level of competition then decided that weaves in the ring are not something he is willing to continue. He now lives his best life at NADAC trials doing only the courses he loves. Most of Maureen’s training efforts are currently directed to the newest member of the Lemke pack, Widget, a Jack Russell-looking pup.

Maureen currently teaches the Level 3 Novice class and subs for Level 2 Foundational Skills class. Having trained very diverse dogs of her own, she enjoys helping handlers and their dogs learn new skills and improve old ones utilizing the Ts of training, (proper) Timing and Treats (food or toy). Her third and favorite T is Trialing. NADAC trials are her happy place due to the
fun that she, Wilson, and Widget have in the ring and the commradery she enjoys with the many friends she trials with.

Jan Daley

Jan Daley started agility training around 1998 at the suggestion of a pet dog obedience instructor. Her first dog, Mocha, was doing 3 ft vertical jumps from a standstill and the instructor declared, “That dog needs agility.” Jan said, “Agili-what?” And thus began her dive into dog sports.

Jan primarily competes in NADAC and USDAA, but has dabbled in UKI. Her reason for training is to build the bond and trust with her dogs. “All the time, sweat, and tears spent training are worth it when you and your partner come together as a team,” she says. Jan loves watching the novice dogs in competition. “It’s exciting to see the dog gain confidence and to see the teams come together at this stage.”

Jan currently teaches Level 4: Intermediate.

Kim Galusha

Kim has been training dogs since 1978. She competed in obedience until she saw an agility demo at a local park and quickly gave up competitive obedience for the exciting sport of dog agility.  She competed in her first agility trial with her Doberman, Rhetta, in 1994. She has agility trained and competed with 10
of her own dogs – Rosa, Rhetta, Wichita, Ezri, Pogo, Trixi, Stella, Lupe, Stormy and Trek – ranging from 8 pounds to 60 pounds.

Kim competes in USDAA, NADAC, and UKI. Pogo was the highest scoring versatility dog with ZERO faults at NADAC National Championships in 2009.  Lupe (Chihuahua) and Stormy (All Breed) have both placed in the USDAA and NADAC Top Ten over multiple years. Lupe and Stormy competed in the 2022 at
NADAC Championships, UKI US Open and USDAA Cynosports and qualified for finals in all three national competitions. Lupe, one of the highest scoring Chihuahua’s of all time, has earned USDAA Masters Tournament Silver, USDAA Lifetime Achievement Award Bronze, NADAC NATCH #6, UKI International
Agility Champion Award. Stormy has earned USDAA Lifetime Achievement Award Bronze, NADAC NATCH #4, and UKI International Agility Champion Award. At the 2023 USDAA South Central Regionals, Stormy took first in Biathlon. In Steeplechase, Lupe took first place and Stormy took second place and in Grand Prix, Lupe took first place and Stormy took second place.   Pogo and Lupe are both in the NADAC Agility Hall of Fame.

When not on the agility field, you can find Kim and the dogs out searching for the next best hike, swimming spot or beach.

Here is a great article about Kim, Lupe and Stormy – Puppy Rescues Bloom into Agility Stars

Lauren Goldberg

Lauren is the current training director for Austin K9X and is committed to offering classes that allow everyone to find a comfortable and fun class for their human-dog team to develop and thrive.

She started in agility with her blue heeler, Truco, in 2012. She currently competes in NADAC, UKI and USDAA venues with her border collie, Ziva and has just started to compete with her young pup, Niko. Ziva has won multiple awards in each venue and has her USDAA ADCH, UKI ISD and NATCH 5, Platinum NATCH 3 and Speed Star NATCH which is awarded to dogs
whose speed is considered to be in the top 5% of all dogs competing in NADAC. Niko has started strong – earning his Starters Jumpers and Gamblers title in his first two USDAA trials!

Lauren is co-instructing a Level 6: Masters Handling class, which is new to our teaching lineup
and will meet once or twice a month. She has taught each class level and is working with the
other instructors to coordinate curriculum and smooth the transition between classes.

Lauren participates in other dog sports training and competitions (including disc, dock diving
and nosework).

Charlie Hackenbruch

Charlie always wanted to do agility and taught her husky mix Zaboo how to do jumps, tunnels, and 6 weaves in the backyard as a kid – but took the long way around to it as an adult. As a young adult she took in Blaze, a dog who was very fearful of humans and dogs, and as a result was creating problems from those big emotions that came out explosively. She thought she’d “fix” him and he’d make the perfect first agility dog. Instead, Blaze brought her down a dog training journey where she immersed herself in learning about body language and behavior modification, and later on she helped other people with their reactive dogs professionally. She was graciously given the opportunity to learn from trainers who trained a variety of animals at a creature conservancy, and she got to practice her training skills with some of the smaller, safer animals like porcupines and binturongs prior to moving to Austin.

Mako, a deaf Australian Cattle Dog, was a complicated foster of hers that she kept – and her current agility dog (we got there!). She currently trials with him in NADAC, but plans to start in USDAA and UKI as well. Blaze is now 11, with his days of being a menace to strangers, jumping fences and chasing cars far behind him. He now enjoys a simple life taking short hikes and cuddling with her cat, Zephyr. Charlie cares strongly about building rich and varied reinforcement histories, taking and responding to feedback from the dog, and she is a huge fan of errorless learning methods because of the nature of her previous training background. She feels that the dog and human’s emotional experience comes first, and the specifics of the behavior second – it’s most important for the dog and human to both feel comfortable and love the game! If that is prioritized, it’s easier for everything else to fall into place.”

Charlie is currently teaching the beginner class.

Nancy Heger

Nancy has loved all animals since she was born and has been training dogs
since she was 7 years old.  Nancy went to Cameron University (MI) to become
an animal behaviorist and dual majored in Biology and Psychology.  Later, she
got her PhD from UT-Austin in Zoology majoring in behavioral ecology.  This
education gave her a good background in training concepts (psychology) and
behavioral patterns across the animal kingdom (Biology). 

She began doing dog agility to help her Papillon mix named Deodgie (pronounced D. O. G.) with confidence issues. Deodgie was a natural and got 4th place in USDAA Gamblers in her 1st agility trial on Oct. 4, 1998. Deodgie used to strut so proudly after a good run and together they achieved NATCH2.

Nancy has also run a fast Maltese (Yeti) and an Ibizan Hound (Phoenix) in agility.  It is not easy to train an Ibizan Hound, but Phoenix gave her the best agility run of her life when she ran a jumpers course clean and well under time – Nancy was high on speed for a week!  Also, training an independent, aloof, but sensitive, large sight hound taught her how to be a better trainer overall. 

Nancy is currently training 3 small dogs in agility, LouLou (Chihuahua mix), Jet (Papillon) and Benny (Maltese). She has competed in NADAC, TDAA, AKC, USDAA, and UKC and her favorites are NADAC and TDAA for their focus on dog safety. She chaired the first NADAC trials in Texas to offer Tunnelers, Weavers (TAG June 2002) and Touch N Go (K9X March 2004). She also attended the first TDAA trial in Texas (Feb. 2007) and loved it since her little Papillon mix was one of the big dogs and thus was less stressed in that environment compared to regular trials. She has taught beginners agility in the past and is currently teaching Pre-Agility.

Mike Stinson

Mike has been around herding dogs his whole life. He and his wife, Eva have had Australian shepherds and Blue Heelers for over 35 years. He started agility in 2014 as a way to build confidence in Rosie, a very shy dog that they had recently adopted.

They competed primarily in USDAA while in Arizona and have added NADAC and ASCA since moving to Austin. Rosie now competes at the expert level in most trials – a big accomplishment for a dog who was absolutely terrified the first time in the ring. Tiger Lily competes at the Novice level when she isn’t running out of the ring to say hi to all of her new friends at the trials.

“My biggest breakthough was when I realized that Rosie didn’t care if we got a Q or not. She just wanted to make me happy. I’ve tried to adopt the same approach.”

Mike currently teaches Level 2: Foundation Skills