Clean Run - August 2013 - 39

Trainer: Ann Braue
Base: Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Years competing in agility: 11
Venues of competition: AKC and USDAA
Number of national competitions:
USDAA 8, AKC 10
International team member: 8 times,
competed 6 (pulled from competition in
2006 and 2012 due to injury)
Dogs: Border Collies: Scream, age 9;
Synner, age 5; Suspect, age 2; Spree, age
11.5, and Demi, age 13, are retired.
Greatest accomplishment: “How does
one choose?”Winning the USDAA Dog
Agility Steeplechase Championship for
the first time in 2004; winning the USDAA
Grand Prix of Dog Agility Championship
in 2008; making the AKC/USA team the
first time; being asked to represent the
US at Crufts; winning the Large Dog Team
Silver medal in Norway.
Best piece of advice to give: “Enjoy the
moment. Don’t worry about the Q. Let the
Q be the by-product of what you know
you can do!”
Favorite treat: A container of “trail mix.”
Zukes, Real Meat, Buﬀalo Bites, freezedried liver are the main favorites.
Favorite training tools: Clickers,
MannersMinder
Piece of technology that has
benefitted her training: “I love my iPad
for recording training sessions.”
The most diﬃcult part of training:
Finding the balance between teaching
and working with other people and their
dogs, and still having the enthusiasm to
train her own dogs. “There are days when
I will just take my dogs out to play in a
field or take them swimming just to take
a break from agility.”
August 13

| Clean Run

Training
with the Stars
Ann Braue

By Sally Silverman

It is the teacher in Ann Braue, she believes, that influences so much
of what she does in agility—her training, handling, and her teaching of others. An elementary school teacher for seven years, teaching
developed in her an abundance of patience and understanding, particularly about how learning styles can vary. And, as a teacher, seeing
the “Aha!” moment when the human or canine student “gets it” is a
significant part of the reward.

Farewell to the Schoolroom
Though she is now a dog training professional, that was not what Ann had
in mind when she rented her first dog
training facility. She was very happy
in her chosen career, teaching children
in grades two through five. Outside of
school, she was passionate about competition obedience. What frustrated her
was not having a place to train when her
schedule allowed. So in 1991 she rented
a small building that would be available
to her at any time. To pay the rent, she
taught classes. The number of classes
grew; people wanted more. “I started to

crunch the numbers,” she recalls, “and
wondered, ‘what if? Could I do this
full-time?’” By 1993, when the renewal
of her teaching contract came due, she
debated until the last possible day. She
chose not to renew her contract. When
she announced her decision her husband
Mark sent her a big bouquet of ﬂowers.

A Change in Direction
At that time, obedience still had her attention, and she maintained a robust teaching
schedule while competing at a high level.
Obedience, she believed, was real training, while agility was merely people run39

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Clean Run - August 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - August 2013