OUR TEAM

Gerry has been teaching agility since 1997. 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 (regardless of athletic ability) and all dogs can have fun and be successful. With a full range of available skills, handlers can analyze and make effective handling decisions.

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. More importantly than anything though, Gerry believes that agility can enhance and strengthen the lifelong bond that is built between dogs and handlers.

Trevor started training dogs at the age of six. At the age of sixteen, he began instructing his own private lessons and classes. With over twenty years of experience in training dogs, his passion is to use his experiences over the years to help people grow closer to their canine companions. In 2015, he was invited to speak at the Association of Professional Dog Trainers conference on his work with kids and dogs. In 2016, he launched a dog training educational platform called Doggie Dojo. 

When not training dogs or pursuing continuing education, Trevor joins his veterinarian wife in caring for and enjoying their animal menagerie. In addition to the Doggie Dojo Dogs, Daisy and Simon, they share their home with lizards and snakes and various birds. Also chickens and kinkajous (a prehensile tailed animal from South America) and a very fastidious citified pot-bellied pig named Cashew. On the rare occasions they leave their personal zoo behind, Trevor and Malari (aka Dr. Howell) have been known to undertake adventures ranging from zip lining to scuba diving to sampling haunted houses. Closer to home, they enjoy canine agility, therapy dog work, and dog-accompanied hikes.

Kellye has been teaching, training, and competing for over 15 years in dog agility. She began training with Gerry Brown.  She has competed with four of her own agility dogs- a Sheltie and 3 border collies.  She has also handled other owners' dogs in agility competition, as well.  Three of her four dogs have qualified and competed at nationals. About seven years ago, She began working one of her dogs in Susan Garrett's seminars, and began using her system of handling.  That made her rethink how she trained and taught dogs in agility, and began to use shaping as her main focus of training.  She had her own training facility in Waco prior to moving to this area

Hannah had a bit of a unique path into dog training. While she was getting her Ph.D, she started fostering for several herding dog rescues and fell in love with training them before they went to their forever homes.  She learned so much about dog behavior and training from her foster dogs and loved the science behind the training. She started teaching at a local dog training facility in North Carolina, and when she moved to Texas, she decided to try dog training full time and has never looked back!  She has 5 dogs (2 Aussies, 1 Border Collie, 1 Mixed breed, 1 Princess).  She currently competes in agility and dock diving and has also competed in disc and nosework. Her interests are in agility and canine fitness and helping dogs be at their physical peak for the sports that we ask them to perform.  

​Michelle’s love for dogs started at a very early age as she has had the wonderful fortune of having canine companions of various breeds throughout her entire life. In 2000, she fell in love with Australian Shepherds after adopting her first boy, Trevor, and has kept with the breed ever since. Michelle’s addiction to agility began in 2010 with her “once-in-a lifetime” partner, Kyli. Kyli’s over-the-top enthusiasm and drive pushed Michelle’s limits to keep up. Kyli taught Michelle the importance of clear communication, timing and ultimately, teamwork.
 

Michelle currently loves and trains her four Aussies: Kyli, Ridley, Treasure and Riff. Michelle’s dogs have achieved agility championships in AKC & ASCA and numerous agility titles in AKC, ASCA & NADAC. Her dogs also have earned AKC Trick Dog, Fast CAT and CGC titles as well as Farm Dog and Herding Instinct certificates. Kyli and Riff have had the honor of competing in multiple AKC national agility championships as well as ASCA nationals and UKI US Open. Michelle and Treasure also participate in Scent Work. Michelle has been teaching agility classes from Pre-agility to Masters/International levels since 2014. When Michelle is not busy teaching classes, training her own dogs or at an agility trial, you can usually find her taking classes or attending seminars pursuing her interests in agility training, dog health & nutrition and working with sensitive dogs. Michelle is committed to continuing education and sharing her knowledge with her students.
 
Michelle’s primary goals for her handler/dog teams is to have fun and enjoy the journey!

​In the mid 2000’s, you could walk into any Canine Agility Trial in the state of Texas; ask for “Peanut’s Mom” and you would enthusiastically be led to Debbie Vogel …… that is, if you didn’t hear her cheering on her dachshunds in the show ring first!

It was tiny dachshund, “Pretty Boy” Peanut that got Debbie involved in dog training and the sport of canine agility.  When every ounce of this 6 ½ pound package displayed unruly and destructive behavior, Debbie sought out the advice of a behaviorist who put Debbie and Peanut in an agility class.  Amazed at the turnaround in Peanut’s attitude after being given a job to do, Debbie was hooked on learning all she could about canine behavior.
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Training and competing with her dogs for almost 20 years now, Debbie joined the DePaw team in March 2021.  She currently owns and actively competes in agility with her dachshund mix Zorro, her cattle dog mix, Mischief and her blue heeler, Addie.

Cassie decided she wanted to get a dog and get into dog sports a few years into her career in technology consulting. To prepare for getting a dog, she read a number of dog training books and volunteered at Austin Pets Alive. Her first sport dog ended up being a rescue Aussie x American Eskimo mix named Simba. Training Simba from an incredibly fearful, insecure puppy into a (mostly) functional, confident sport dog has been an incredible learning experience for Cassie. Simba and Cassie have been training at DePaw since 2019, and they currently compete in Agility and Disc (and maybe Dock Diving one day, if Simba ever musters up the courage to jump off the dock). Cassie also has a 1-year-old border collie named Apollo, who is her demo dog for classes and is in training for Agility, Disc, Dock Diving, and Herding.

Kathleen lives in Austin with her terrific husband, two great sons who are almost grown, an 11 year old Welsh Springer Spaniel and a young Border Collie.  She's a teacher at heart and has been interested in dog training for as long as her family had dogs.  She saw an agility trial at the “Astrohall World Series Dog Show” back in the 1990’s and thought it looked like fabulous fun!  She's been teaching dog training and agility since 2014 and loves it!

Sue Beckage began training dogs in 2007 as a diversion from her stressful job as a criminal lawyer.  She quickly became addicted to training and competing in Conformation, Obedience, Rally, Agility and Nosework with her Doberman Pinschers.  To date, Sue and her Dobes have achieved over 250 performance titles, including 24 Agility Championships and a Rally Championship.  Sue has been a student at DePaw since 2009 with five different Dobermans.  Her Dobermans have qualified for every AKC National Agility Championship and AKC Agility Invitational since 2012, have all been Finalists in the Doberman Pinscher Club of America’s Agility Top 20, and have all ranked Top AKC Agility Doberman (#1 Nationally).  Her only male Doberman, Comet, finished his Rally Championship at only two years old and is qualified to compete at the 2022 AKC Rally Championship in July, 2022. 
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Sue has been training dogs since 2011.  She has instructed puppy pre-school, companion obedience, Canine Good Citizen and Puppy S.T.A.R. prep classes, as well as all levels of Rally, pre-agility, agility foundations and competition level agility.   She currently instructs Competition Rally, Introduction to Rally, and Competition A Agility at DePaw Dog Sports.

Brent has been training dogs since 1986 with obedience and started agility in 2008 with Depaw.  He has only the second German Shorthaired Pointer to obtain the Agility Grand Championship with Schoena.  He has qualified to AKC Invitationals for 6 years.  Brent also enjoys Dock Diving with his 2.5 yo Ridge who was in the top 10 longest jumping GSPs in the country.  He also enjoys Barn Hunt with his two other GSPs.

Tammi White has had a passion for showing and competing with her dogs since she was a teenager.  Her first home-bred Sheltie, AM/CAN CH. Colite’s Rough-N-Rocky Roads helped her catch the “bug” for showing dogs.  Years later, Tammi handled her Pomeranian, Ch. Glen Iris Light Touch to multiple specialty Best In Shows.  She was able to work with and gain experience from 6 professional handlers over the years then became a fulltime professional handler in 2000.  During this time, she assisted or handled many BIS, BISS, Group and breed winners.  She finished many dogs in many breeds for both clients and her own personal dogs. Due to a major accident, she was unable to continue to handle fulltime so she turned her focus to helping and training others to compete in the conformation ring.   Tammi began teaching puppy classes then advanced obedience classes and finally added in the conformation classes.  Over 15 years’ experience in training owners and dogs, with a passion for creating an environment that is positive and fun for both handlers and dogs has made her a very sought-after conformation instructor.  Her class focuses on building and understanding the communication between the handler and dog by learning hand, body and leash skills.  This training helped to propel several of her students into the top 10 ranking in their breeds for Owner-Handler competition in the past few years. 
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Tammi continues to expand her knowledge in training and working with both her own dogs, her students and their dogs through workshops and mentoring from Internationally recognized handler/trainer, Eric Salas.  When Tammi is not teaching, she can be found training her own Sheltie, Morgan or at dog shows.  Tammi continues to show limitedly while assisting her handler friend and mentoring her students at the dog shows.  She can also be found judging sweepstakes for many breeds as she is known for her gentle hands on young puppies as well as her compassion and support for newcomers to the world of dog showing.  Tammi is the Secretary of the Alamo Area Shetland Sheepdog club and member of the San Antonio Kennel Club & Alamo Area Toy Dog Club.
Tammi brings a vast knowledge of many breeds, dog structure & movement, show grooming and knowledge of over 30 years of dog showing to her classes.  She works with both adults and youngsters who want to learn to show their dogs, improve their handling skills and helping them learn to compete against top handlers.  She is excited to be a part of the DePaw's team and to be able to offer her classes to the Austin area.