American Rettungshunde Sport Association

Melissa has a background in competitive obedience, protection sports, and tracking. She has titled at championship or the advanced level in multiple dog sports with diverse breeds. In the IPO-R world she titled her Dutch Shepherd to F-B with both DVG America and USCA and, with USCA, titled him in advanced area, advanced rubble, and beginner mantrailing (FL-Bn, T-Bn, and MT-Vn). She is preparing a German Shorthaired Pointer for obedience/dexterity and mantrailing in ARSA. Beneficial to help others build skills and prepare for trials, she has taught competitive obedience for over 15 years and has been active in dog sports for the last 30 years. She has earned advanced obedience titles on both non-traditional and "high octane" breeds and tested/trialed in many scent-related sports including tracking, mantrailing, blood tracking, versatile gun dog tests, shed antler hunting, and nosework.

 

For the last five years she has been delving deep into the world of mantrailing both by working her old and young dogs and attending 2,550 hours of mantrailing education for law enforcement, civilian, and sport enthusiasts. She put RH, IGP, UBT, and ASCA tracking titles on her Dutch Shepherd; certified her German Shorthaired Pointer through GAK9 and AMPWDA; when it was the only game in town, titled a lurcher in competitive tracking; and started two rehomed coonhounds for SAR mantrailing.