Meet Monique Feyrecilde

monique@agilityfun.com or (425) 221-1882

I have been teaching with the Seattle Agility Center since 1999. As a young child, my family adopted our first dog, Baby. An amazing animal, she took the time to teach me about being gentle, loyal and loving. Baby was a great little dog and my most devoted friend. She slept with me every night and was my shadow during the day, even riding on the handlebars of my bike (I cringe about the latter as an adult). She also taught me how to train a dog - a skill I began teaching to others in 1995 on an informal basis in Portland, Oregon.

Having grown up with such a terrific teacher as Baby, I had little choice but to devote my life to caring for animals. During most of my week, I work as a licensed veterinary technician. I have been at the same practice since 1997, and serve as their hospital manager and head technician. Though Baby has crossed over, she lives on in my memories and photographs. Currently, I share my home with a wonderful and helpful husband, Salamandir, 4 dogs, Paddy, Magick, Allie and Zora, 3 cats and a bullsnake. Read more about my dogs on my EAT member page!

I frequently refer to Paddy as my soulmate in dog form. She was born in November of 1997 to a feral mother on the Muckleshoot reservation. At 2-days-old, I began fostering her and a littermate through MEOW. When it came time for the pups to be adopted into new homes, her brother was easy to let go, but Paddy clearly needed to stay with me... or I needed to stay with her. Sometimes these lines can be a bit blurry. So, I broke my lease and moved into a bigger house so I could keep the dog.

In February, 1999, it was Paddy who lead me to Doug and Diana's training center at the Aqua Barn. Shortly thereafter this website was born, and I began teaching classes for Seattle Agility Center as well. I had been teaching private lessons for a number of years, and looked forward to adding group classes to my schedule.

I enjoy working my own dogs for fun and competition. We train and compete in obedience, rally obedience, agility and herding.

My teaching philosophy is based on developing a strong working relationship between each handler and dog. No behavior problem, obedience or agility woe is a single, isolated incident. Dogs are complete beings and deserved to be viewed as such. I take a big-picture approach to dogs, training, and life in general.

Teaching is something I greatly enjoy. Thanks to Doug and Diana, on a weekly basis I have the opportunity to do so. I derive a great deal of gratification from watching relationships grow between dog and handler, and hope that in some way I help each member of a team understand the other just a little better.