Hunterdon Canine Center LLC

Buzz 3/12/97 - 3/10/2009  His last snowfall.

As a young child, Terry Walker would accompany her mother, Elsie, to her weekly obedience training classes at Manorcrest Dog Training School and to various dog shows and obedience trials.  Needless to say it didn’t take long for Terry to want her own dog to train and show. 

 One day, while they were at Elsie’s Dobermans breeder’s (Phyllis Farrer) house, Phyllis had a litter of Lhasa puppies.  It was somehow suggested maybe Terry might want a puppy.  After some consideration and pestering by Terry, her parents thought a puppy would be OK but were concerned about the grooming of a Lhasa.   They mentioned this to Phyllis who also had a litter of Pembroke Welsh Corgi pups.   Terry’s father thought these were the strangest looking dogs and always joked they were made up of all spare dog parts.  Terry on the other hand fell in love with them.  

That puppy was a birthday present that ignited a lifelong love of dogs, obedience training, competitions and all dog sports.    Fourteen months after this puppy arrived, Terry and “Pokey” attained their Companion Dog title with multiple class placements and Highest Scoring Junior prizes.

Today, 37 years later, Terry’s passion for dogs, obedience training/showing, therapy dog work and all dog sports continues to grow.  This passion also influenced some of her past careers, including a groomer and veterinary technician.  She began teaching obedience classes while in 4-H 30 years ago and became and AKC Obedience judge 4 years ago.  

Over the years Terry has loved and trained many dogs including 8 Pembroke Welsh Corgis, 4 Flat-Coated Retrievers, a German Shepherd and a Border collie; three of whom have been rescue dogs.   To date they have attained many obedience, agility and rally titles along with breed championships in both the US and Canada.  They have also competed in multiple obedience tournaments (Gaines, Detroit Windsor, All Star Performance Dog) including the AKC National Obedience Invitational Tournament with multiple placements.  Terry and her dogs also participate in therapy work, herding, field training, flyball and DockDogs.

Terry’s training/teaching philosophy is based on a strong relationship between the dog and handler.   First and foremost is having a great “pet” dog in everyday life.  Her teaching methods focus on trust, fairness and reliability to further enhance the bond and enjoyment between dog and handler.    Terry feels the most rewarding part of training is having those big brown eyes looking into her eyes asking to train some more.   “It’s a wonderful feeling to have this beautiful creature want to be with you and do something you both love.”

Teaching others has many rewards including seeing her students accomplish their goals.  However, Terry feels the most rewarding part of teaching is seeing the relationship between her students and their dogs grow into a wonderful, trusting partnership.

Terry currently shares her life with  “Quest” (an 8 year old Flat-Coated Retriever), “Bess”  a 2 year old old PW Corgi and "Jax" a 1 year old PW Corgi rescue along with 3 housecats, 3 barn cats, her fish, multiple chickens and a peacock.

Training also takes part in Terry's other career as a Training Specialist.

She has also earned her Training Certification.