Our Mission: Here at The Collie Cottage our mission is to provide superior care to our guests in an incredibly fun and safe environment.   We practice an interactive play group philosophy as well as provide unlimited personal attention.  We are all about those special touches and want to be your pup’s favorite home away from home.  We want every dog racing to the play yard doors the instant they set foot in our building.  Our staff should be their extended family and our resort the place they yearn to come to over and over again!     Our Staff:     Susan Mitchell Brown Chief Executive PAWSifer Susan has always had a love for animals and wanted to make working with animals her profession. Her best memories include dogs and she is happiest in the company of dogs. After 20+ years in the high tech industry, her dream finally came true. In 2002 she began teaching agility classes part-time for world-renowned agility competitor and trainer Gerry Brown at DePaw Agility Training Center. At DePaw, Susan found her true home. She and her oldest Border Collie Jazz have thus far enjoyed a very memorable and successful career in the sport. Susan hopes to equal or even exceed that with her young Border Collie Psych. After seven years of teaching agility, training dogs and keeping friend’s dogs in their home, Susan and Gerry decided to branch out from the agility school and open a boarding kennel, The Collie Cottage Pet Resort & Spa. They wanted the kind of kennel where even she would happily and without reservation leave her own two precious girls (and that’s not an easy place to find). Susan and Gerry felt they could offer a very special kind of kennel. Susan has empathy for those who have to travel and leave their dogs and wants to offer a resort where the dogs have a fabulous get-a-way and their owners are guilt and worry free when they leave their dogs. Hence, the client who is tormented about leaving his or her dog is Susan’s and The Collie Cottage’s ideal client. Susan has not yet met a dog that did not call her friend. She has spent more than eight years training dogs, and continuing her education with respect to dogs. She is most at home out in the play yards participating in play groups. Her true love and respect for dogs is apparent to everyone who steps through the Cottage front doors – especially the dogs!   Gerry Brown PAWSident Gerry Brown is a nationally and internationally recognized agility competitor and trainer. Gerry competes actively in both United States Dog Agility Association and American Kennel Club Agility venues. Gerry began competing in October 1995 with his female Border Collie Larrie. Gerry and Larrie qualified for every AKC National Championship from 1997 to 2003. From 1997-2004 Gerry and Larrie had multiple placements at National Competitions in both the AKC and USDAA agility venues. In 1998, Gerry and Larrie were selected by the AKC to represent the United States at the FCI World Agility Championships in Maribour, Slovenia. They earned the right to compete again as a 2000 U.S World Team member in Helsinki, Finland when they won the first AKC Invitational Tournament. A defining moment for Gerry came when it was apparent that Sterling, his second Border Collie, was going to enjoy at least the same level of success as Larrie. This makes Gerry one of only a very few trainers/handlers to train multiple dogs to compete at the level necessary to represent our country at the FCI World Championships. Sterling outpaced Larrie’s illustrious accomplishments early in her agility career by winning her first AKC National Agility Championship in 2003. Since then she has won another 4 National Championships between the AKC and the USDAA agility venues. As a result of her AKC accomplishments Sterling had the privilege of representing the U.S. at the FCI World Championships for three years in a row. She is one of the most decorated dogs in agility competition. Sterling’s next (personal) goals are to continue her AKC MACH titles, her USDAA Lifetime Achievement Awards and to spend as many afternoons as possible hanging out in play group at The Collie Cottage. On the training front, Gerry has been teaching Agility since 1997. For the first five years, he taught all levels of agility at the prestigious FlashPaws Agility Training Center in Houston, Texas. In 2002 he moved to the outskirts of Austin, Texas and opened DePaw Agility Training Center in Manor. Gerry teaches a variety of skills so that all handlers and all dogs can have fun and be successful. Above all Gerry believes that Agility should be fun for both the handler and dog. He looks for positive and creative ways to motivate dogs through timely and well-placed rewards and through playing games with the dogs that result in the desired behaviors. Gerry believes that agility can enhance and strengthen the lifelong bond that is built between dogs and handlers. Gerry’s success in competition and training has gained him considerable National recognition as a trainer and is a highly sought after instructor. He presents seminars across the country to individual groups and clubs and has become a regular at many popular Camps. It is apparent to everyone who knows him that training dogs and handler/dog teams is his passion in life. It was only natural to branch out beyond the agility sport and open The Collie Cottage Pet Resort & Spa.

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