Background and Education

Annelise is the founder of Agile Canines Training School which was formally started in 1997.  Annelise grew up with horses starting out riding English Pleasure then going to Hunters and then finally to Dressage and Cross Country riding by the time she went to college.

Annelise graduated in 1985 with degrees in Biology and Psychology with emphasis on Animal Learning and Behavior at Mount Holyoke College.  She spent one year in a Zoology Masters program studying behavior of Moose in Milwaukee and then transferred to a Masters program in Educational Psychology with an emphasis on adult learning and education.  She earned an MS in 1989 and went to Law School and earned a JD in 1993. 

Training

Annelise started training obedience and agility in 1990 in Milwaukee WI with her first dog, an Australian Shepherd named Ashley. She was disillusioned by the harsh methods being used to train dogs in obedience and from the very beginning wanted to explore other ways of training.  Ashley earned a CD and was training in Open obedience and in agility when she died of complications related to cancer at the young age of 2 years.  Annelise started training agility with Stacy Peardot in Milwaukee and was influenced by Chris Bach for using operant conditioning and games for obedience training.

Annelise became hooked on dog training and since that time has owned 10 other dogs including Australian Shepherds, Border Collies and Jack Russell Terriers.  She has earned 11 obedience titles on 4 different dogs in ASCA, UKC and AKC including 4 Open obedience titles and she is currently competing in Utility in AKC and ASCA.

In agility Annelise has earned agility titles from NADAC, ASCA, USDAA, UKC, AKC and CPE.  She has earned championship titles from NADAC, ASCA and USDAA and competed at the NADAC, AKC and USDAA nationals multiple times.  Bradish and Annelise were on the Minnesota AKC State Team in 1998 which placed 3rd in the team competition at the AKC Nationals.  Bradish was on the USDAA top 10 for Jumpers.  Tobie and Annelise were in the 2003 USDAA Steeplechase finals and they have been in the 20” NADAC Elite finals two years in a row.  Tobie and Annelise won the 2001 20” Pre-Elite NADAC Championships.  Leysha and Annelise placed 2nd in the 2003 USDAA Veterans Grand Prix and they won the 1998 20” NADAC Open Championships.  Sonic was on the 2003 ASCA top 10 Merit rankings in Open for 2003 in Regular, Gamblers and Jumpers. 

Annelise started teaching agility in Milwaukee in 1993.  Moved to Minnesota in 1994 and began training agility with Ruth Van Keuren.  Ruth taught her to push herself to be better and not just to “settle” for what she had.  She emphasized teamwork between dog and handler and she was always bringing in new ideas to training.  Through Ruth, Annelise was introduced to Susan Garrett’s methods of operant conditioning as applied to agility training.  Ruth hired Annelise to teach at her school in River Falls WI and supported her in her efforts to create her own agility school.