Capital City Dog Sport Association is made up of an eclectic blend of dog enthusiasts, who participate in a wide variety of dog sports and events. The benefit of meeting as a group to train and share information becomes evident immediately, when someone asks "Has this ever happened...." and of course someone always has personal knowledge of training through such a problem. We encourage and promote good citizenship with our dogs, and assist the local community in events - highlighting our canine partners' amazing abilities and outstanding temperament.
They say "old dog trainers never die, they just drop on recall", and our club is proof of that! Capital City Dog Sport Association was formed in 1979 and holds the unique distinction of having earned more French Ring Sport titles (over 100) and UKC Dog Sport titles (more than 200) than any other training club in North America.
Our Executive Board members have a variety of experiences, which adds to the richness of leadership in our not-for-profit organization.Introductions are:
FOUNDER, PRESIDENT & DIRECTOR OF TRAINING:Cheryl Carlson is one of the best known dog training experts in the industry, and has been training and breeding dogs professionally since 1977; providing guard dog service, teaching family companion dogs (manners, problem solving and behavior modification), personal protection, and physical assistance dogs. She has trained and certified 51 police K-9's to date (many of her own breeding), with teams qualified in patrol, narcotics and explosive detection. She has also certified many other dog trainers in police work. Cheryl enjoys competition with her own dogs, and has earned multiple advanced titles in Competitive Obedience, Agility, Rally, Schutzhund, French Ring Sport, Campagne, K9 Pro Sports, Dock Jumping and UKC Dog Sport. She has also successfully titled in Herding, Terrier Racing and Lure Coursing, as well as earned multiple breed Championships in both AKC and UKC (where she has also earned multiple Grand Championships). She has judged countless personal protection trials throughout the United States and Canada, is the ONLY woman in North America to EVER receive certification as a Campagne decoy (a French sport consisting of bitework, agility, obedience and tracking), and was one of the founders and former President of the North American Ring Association (NARA). Cheryl was also the first woman to be licensed as a United Kennel Club Service Dog Trial Judge for ALL classes of Dog Sports, allowing her to officiate at Police Dog I and Police Dog II certifications, as well as all other levels of certification offered by the UKC Service Dog program. She was additionally certified to select and certify helpers/decoys for the UKC Dog Sport program. Cheryl is truly unique among trainers for her vast knowledge, years of experience and unmatched expertise in EVERY area of dog training.
VICE-PRESIDENT & ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF TRAINING:Debra Hebeler starting training as a child raising Leader Dogs for the Blind.Her first competition dog was a German Shepherd bought for her then young children in 1985, which she successfully showed to a CDX, TD, SchH II, BTr.Not bad for a starter dog!Deb has since fallen in love with the Belgian Malinois breed, and shares her home with three of them… plus her husband’s two German Shepherds.Deb has gone on to title her Malinois in Competitive Obedience, Agility, Rally, French Ring Sport, UKC Dog Sport and Lure Coursing.Her main enjoyment comes from personal protection competitions, of which she has won many, and she has also had the privilege of judging several such competitions throughout the Midwest and East Coast since 2003.
SECRETARY:Carole Field is a Dog World Award winning master trainer and high-in-trial competitor; involved in obedience and protection sports since 1982, and conducting dog obedience instruction in a private, group and club format since 1985.She founded Ruff N’ Stuff Dog Obedience in Chicago, Illinois and was Director of Training for 20 years from 1985-2005.She also served as Instructor, elected Board Member & ultimately Director of Training for Westside Dog Training Club in Chicago (AKC Competition Obedience Training Club) from 1989-1994, as well as Founder & Director of Training of K9 Working Companions from 1990-2005 (Advanced Obedience and Personal Protection Club). Under her stewardship of these organizations, students successfully compiled more than 500 competitive obedience titles.
Carole has titled her own personal dogs in AKC Obedience, Schutzhund, French Ring Sport, K9 Pro Sports and UKC Conformation, Obedience, Agility, Rally, Dog Sport, Dock Jumping, Lure Coursing and Terrier Racing.She is also an avid personal protection competitor and has achieved great success in this venue with numerous dogs.Carole has judged personal protection tournaments throughout the Midwest since 1995 and is a UKC Performance Judge licensed for Family Obedience, Dog Sport (all classes of Protection and Police Dog titles) and Terrier Racing.She is also a nationally published photography and writer specializing in dogs (what else?) and has been a professional member of the Dog Writers Association of America since 1994.
TREASURER:Renae Larsen calls herself an “old lady who loves dogs”.As a decorated member of the Sheriff’s Posse for over 15 years, she was repeatedly called upon to control situations where a show of force was necessary (and not just with guns… she even rode her Posse Horse into a bar to break up an altercation).You don’t want to mess with Renae!She now chooses to maintain a “deadly force” contained in smaller packages, but no less powerful, in the form of three Belgian Malinois.Known for their high flying bites and “hardest hitting” winning grips in protection dog competitions, Renae has also successfully shown and titled them in AKC Obedience, SDA tracking, UKC Dog Sport, Agility and Lure Coursing.
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE:Paul Hebeler is our resident “Mr. Wizard”, designing and constructing any and all equipment imaginable for our many club dog events.Although involved in the club activities back in the late 1980’s when his wife Deb was showing their German Shepherd “Remo” in AKC Obedience, Tracking, Schutzhund and French Ring Sport, Paul personally became involved in training with his large black male German Shepherd “Scorpio” in 2001.Paul went on to successfully show Scorpio in UKC Obedience, and advanced levels of K9 Pro Sports and UKC Dog Sports.Although Scorpio is now gone, Paul is competing with Scorpio’s son “Paladin” and a new youngster “Cutter”, and has earned titles in UKC Dog Sport, Agility and Rally.Paul also excels in personal protection competitions, and is the only handler to win the Advanced Level of the Dog Sports Open Protection Tournament TWICE with two different dogs!(Like father, like son… he won with Scorpio and then again with Paladin.)
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE:Patte Winkel is a long time member of the club, who has successfully shown 4 German Shepherd Dogs to titles in AKC Obedience and UKC Conformation, Obedience and Dog Sport.She also enjoys personal protection competitions, and receives high marks for the obedience and control her dogs exhibit during trials.Patte spent many years heavily involved in Therapy Dog work, regularly visiting troubled children with her amazing dogs; allowing them to see, touch and feel the healing power dogs can bring to the soul.Patte’s youngest dog is also a Certified Service Dog, performing personal assistance functions for Patte.
Below is a listing of some of the accomplishments our current members and their dogs have achieved, which serves as proof of the depth and wealth of experience our club has to offer. Please note that our organization is first and foremost a protection training club, and the more than 400 titles listed below do NOT reflect the hundreds of protection tournaments and trials in which our membership has participated and the tens of dozens of placements they have earned in over thirty years! The tournaments our membership has WON includes:
Acton Tough Dawg Dog Sports Open (multiple times) Fall Brawl (multiple times) Iron Dog (multiple times) K9 Summerslam Michigan K-9 Challenge Mid-MI K9 Club Endurance Challenge Mid-MI Kennels Boot Camp Challenge Midwest “Street Wise” Civil Protection Dog Tournament (multiple times) Mr. K9’s Ladies Only Invitational Sun Dog Series Events (multiple times) Sun Dog Pro-Am Tuff Dog PPDA Competition (multiple times) Windy City K9 Personal Protection Dog Trial
Below is just some of the other "fun stuff" our current members enjoy with their dogs.