About A4P
The group was conceived in September 2007, and after training sporadically for a few months, we finally began regular training over the summer of 2008. Since those early meetings, our dogs and handlers have gone from strength to strength, and you can see some of our achievements here.
The majority of our handlers compete at Kennel Club and British Agility Association competitions throughout the North of England, although some do travel further afield. We have 8-10 regular handlers, with around 12-15 dogs between them, and several more experienced "drop-in" handlers who train with us every month or few weeks.
About the Founders
All Four Paws was brought about by the hard work of four handlers.
Katie Ford has three dogs, a Large Lurcher called Poppy, a Large Crossbreed called Jet, a Whippet x Collie puppy called Fly. Katie began training for agility in 2003 with Poppy, who qualified for Crufts in two different events and was increasingly successful in agility before injury halted her career. Poppy now occasionally makes an appearance in Veteran classes, but is mainly retired. Jet is Katie's fast, enthusiastic and multi-talented dog, who competes in Primary (BAA) and Grade 3 (KC). Fly was born in Feb 2010, and will be doing agility and flyball in the future.
Katie has also qualified for the National Cleverdogs Finals with both dogs, dabbled in competitive Obedience with Jet, and has qualified for the UK DiscDogs Finals with Poppy. However, her first love is BFA flyball, and she dedicates most of her free time to training and competing with Jet in Open and Multibreed tournaments.
Katie is currently in her fourth year studing Veterinary Medicine at the University of Liverpool.
Leanne Szostak has two dogs, a Medium Crossbreed called Kim, and a Large Working Sheepdog called Dylan. Leanne got involved with pet obedience, agility and flyball in 2001. Initially, Leanne was primarily involved with BFA flyball, but she continued to train for agility and dabbled in competitive agility in 2004/5. Since starting to seriously compete in 2006, Leanne and Kim have gone on to qualify for and compete at various national finals, and Kim also won the BAA Introductory Medium Dog of the Year award in 2007. Kim is now semi-retired, but occasionally competes in Novice (BAA) and Grade 5 (KC). Leanne's young dog Dylan came out in 2008 and currently competes in Novice (BAA) and Grade 4 (KC).
Leanne still competes in BFA flyball with both her dogs, and occasionally also runs her mother's crossbreed rescue dog Mollie. She currently works in Halifax, and she designed and created the All Four Paws logo and website.
Emma Tasker has two dogs, a Medium Crossbreed called Bailey and a Hungarian Viszla called Diva. Since beginning to compete at agility in 2005, Emma and Bailey have brought home dozens of top-5 placings, and Bailey currently competes in Introductory Jumping and Primary Agility (BAA), and Grade 5 (KC). Diva was born in Jan 2010 and is currently getting up to all kinds of puppy mischief, but will hopefully be doing agility and flyball in 2011.
Emma has worked with dogs and horses for many years, but has also cared for small animals, reptiles, and spent a summer working with wild animals in South Africa. She also competes in BFA flyball, and is currently working for the NHS.
Sarah Mulley has three Border Collies; Floss, Sam and Skye. She has been involved with dogs for several years, dabbling in pet obedience and ringcraft, but began agility in 2004. Sarah took a few years off to concentrate on showing her youngest dog Skye, but after a successful show career, she brought all her dogs back to agility. Sarah now competes primarily in BFA Flyball with Sam and Skye, although she still shows Skye and fits in agility with Floss when she can.