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About Me
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My name is Katherine Martucci...
I am a 17 year old
home schooled
high-school junior working towards becoming a veterinary surgeon,
possibly focusing in emergency medicine. I am currently enrolled in
Bellevue College's Running Start program and am working towards
getting my AAS degree. I
have owned dogs since I was 6 and have been seriously working and training
them for the past 3 years. My own family includes three dogs:
Popcorn
and Peanut, the little shih-tzus, and
Dazzle the border collie, as well
as the occasional foster dog. |
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Although I have
always been obsessed with dogs, getting Dazzle really marked the start of
the time that I started working with them. Once she joined the family my spare time became devoted solely to working
with her and building our communication...and not much has changed since
then. Dazzle has learned quite the vocabulary and knows well over 100
commands - and that is just counting the verbal ones! Dazzle is also a
great Agility dog and competes at the Elite level in NADAC and has plenty of
alphabet-soup letters listed after her name. At the tender age of 2
she competed in the 2007 NADAC Championships where she finished 2nd Runner-up in her division; we were the youngest team competing that year. This year we
returned and she not only won her Regular division, but also the JH-Versatility
Award. Dazzle also does some disc and will be acting in her first
short film this spring.
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Kat and Dazzle
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photo by Joe Camp |
When I am not working with my own dogs (or my friends'
dogs, or the neighbors' dogs) I am most likely taking pictures of them.
Not too long ago I got my hands on my first dSLR camera. Much like the
way it went with the dogs, I have always loved taking photos but about 2
years ago I really got infected with the Photography bug and am now
hopelessly obsessed and find myself drooling over expensive pro-lenses on a
regular basis. And so,
Agility Pup Photography was born. I now take photos of dogs
competing at local agility trials (or, more accurately, trials wherever
Dazzle and I happen to be) as well as some of the adoptable animals at the
Humane Society, and have also done a couple private sessions.
Photography is not my main focus, but it is a great hobby that helps offset
the cost of dog trials!
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On top of all that, if by any chance I have an ounce of spare time
left, I spend it rock climbing, hiking, biking, running, downhill skiing,
or...well, I think you get the idea...doing something outdoors.
Last summer I taught my first trick classes at NW Paws at Play
Doggie Daycare and this coming summer I will be teaching some other
trick/clicker classes at Every-Buddy's Agility Fun. We will most likely set
up one class for puppies and beginner dogs, and a separate class for dogs
that already have some clicker training experience. |
Going back to the doggie side of things, I currently volunteer at the
Seattle Humane Society helping Ali Johnson with the Agility classes
offered there as well as doing a wide variety of other jobs under the
official title of Foster Coordinator Assistant. I am also part of the
DBS (Dog Behaviour and Socialization) program which is dedicated to teaching
shelter dogs obedience and life skills that will help them become more
adoptable
Popcorn, Dazzle, and Peanut
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