The original Team Pawformance - Zero, Ahsoka and Jedi
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Our story.Pawformance is a syndicate prefix co-owned between Shell, and Nik, both based in Sydney, Australia. We are both heavily involved in dog sports and spend most of our nights and weekends training for, and competing in a variety of disciplines. Our dogs are first and foremost important members of our families, enjoying their (rather cushy) life, sleeping on beds, being fluffy shadows and generally just getting underfoot around the house.
After meeting in 2008, we attended obedience classes together and quickly moved up through the levels, eventually becoming qualified instructors teaching everything from baby puppies to obedience trialling dogs. Over the years, we have expanded the sports we train and compete in and the list now includes obedience, rally obedience, flyball, agility, herding, tracking, treiball, disc dog, dock diving, lure coursing, tricks, conditioning, scent work and conformation showing. Though not considered the easiest dogs to train, we are huge advocates for training with spitz breeds (with the exception of Nik’s obsession with Kelpies!). If you’d like to talk about any of our beautiful breeds, sports, behaviour or training in general, please feel free to get in contact with us! |
The Humans of Team Pawformance
Shell
Shell has loved dogs for as long as she can remember but it wasn't under 2007 that Zero came bursting into her life. A 43kg rescued, fluffy, powerhouse of problems, Zero had come from a bad situation and was hugely dog aggressive.
Rehabilitating Zero gave Shell a love of training and behaviour that quickly spiralled into a dog sport addiction. Shell is an ANKC Lure Coursing Judge, an AFA Flyball judge and is enrolled in the judges training program for Sled Sports (Backpacking). She currently sits on multiple club committees as the President and Chief Instructor of Southern Cross Flyball Club, and the Vice President (CAT) of the NSW Lure Coursing Association. She is also the National Chair of the Dogs Australia (ANKC) Flyball Working Party and sits on both the Dogs NSW Sporting and PR committees. She holds qualifications in grooming, training and behaviour, and canine nutrition and regularly instructs in obedience, rally o, flyball, and agility. |
Nik
Nik has also loved dogs since she was a young child and has vivid memories of staying up late studying her dog encyclopedia and reading about different breeds. At the age of 11 she was lucky enough to get her first dog, a beagle named Toby. In 2008, a few years after Toby’s passing, she was in a position to welcome another dog into her life. After much consideration of which breed to get, Nik stumbled across Keeshonden and instantly fell in love! Almost by fate, the same day she phoned one of the Keeshond breeders, their litter had just been born. Two months later, Jedi entered Nik's life, followed closely by Ahsoka, Pawformance's first Finnish Lapphund and as they say, the rest is history. Though Jedi and Ahsoka have since passed, Nik now shares her home with 2 lappies, Han Solo and Kylo Ren and kelpie, Dexter. She gets out to dog sports whenever she can amongst her family commitments and has passed her love of training onto her two young children.
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What is a syndicate prefix?
One of the great things about pedigree dogs is that it is very easy to tell which breeder they came from, so if you see a dog you like, you can find out who they were bred by, just by looking at their name!
Each pedigree dog has two names - their official registered name (a fancy pedigree name that goes on their ANKC documents), and their call name (what we call them at home). ANKC registered breeders each have a unique breeder's prefix and every puppy that we breed has our prefix as the first word in their ANKC registered name. In our case, that prefix is Pawformance.
Where we differ from other registered breeders is that while most prefixes are owned by a single person, or a couple/family who live in the same house and hold the same ANKC membership number, ours is a syndicate prefix, co-owned by two people with two different membership numbers, who not only don't live together, but often, don't even live in the same state!
We have been best friends for over a decade now and love sharing our prefix with one another. Our partnership means that we always have another person to bounce ideas off of, share successes and issues with and someone to discuss training ideas with.
Each pedigree dog has two names - their official registered name (a fancy pedigree name that goes on their ANKC documents), and their call name (what we call them at home). ANKC registered breeders each have a unique breeder's prefix and every puppy that we breed has our prefix as the first word in their ANKC registered name. In our case, that prefix is Pawformance.
Where we differ from other registered breeders is that while most prefixes are owned by a single person, or a couple/family who live in the same house and hold the same ANKC membership number, ours is a syndicate prefix, co-owned by two people with two different membership numbers, who not only don't live together, but often, don't even live in the same state!
We have been best friends for over a decade now and love sharing our prefix with one another. Our partnership means that we always have another person to bounce ideas off of, share successes and issues with and someone to discuss training ideas with.
Our Memberships
We are proud members of many ANKC State Body and AFA affiliated clubs. Clubs are a great way of connecting with other breed and sports enthusiasts close to us, and throughout Australia. We believe in being active members of clubs and often sit on multiple club and Dogs NSW Committees as well as instructing in obedience, rally, agility and flyball.
How we keep our dogsIt's very important to us that our dogs are included as part of the family - they're given access to the house and yard and can often be found napping on the couch or playing in the backyard. While we used to call ourselves "Pawformance Kennels", we have never, and will never keep our dogs in a kennel environment. Kennels have been found to be detrimental to a pet dog's mental state so we don't believe they're a suitable way to keep pet dogs.
We train and handle our own dogs in the ring, are hands-on with the conditioning exercises they need to stay in peak condition and when needed, we also participate in their injury rehabilitation. We consult with a broad range of healthcare practitioners to ensure that our dogs always get the best care. Our dogs are fed a completely raw, balanced diet. Their meals, including the supplements they are given, are tailored to their individual needs and metabolism. We practice cooperative care, teaching our dogs to not only accept handling but to be active participants in their own care, for every day things like grooming and nail trimming. |
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Our upcoming events
Looking at getting a Finnish Lapphund but haven't yet met one in the flesh? We're always happy to have people come out and meet our dogs. Here's where Team Pawformance will be over the next few weeks. Contact us for more information and to let us know you're coming!