Tennessee Handlers Enjoy Home Turf for Cynosport
Meet Kellie and Tim Verrelli of Watertown, TN
Kellie Verrelli and her husband, Tim, were first introduced to agility in 1995. They had taken a local dog class with their English Springer Spaniel, Rockie, where the trainer suggested that Rockie could channel his love for running and jumping into agility. Rockie preferred to work with Tim, but Kellie wasn’t left out. She started competing with her young Scottish Terrier and was instantly hooked.
Since then, Kellie has worked with a few different breeds including Giant Schnauzer, Hungarian Pumi and her current love, the Mudi. She will be heading to Cynosport® with Moon, a 4 ½-year-old Mudi she bred herself. They have already collected many championship titles (including breed, rally and Barn Hunt) and look forward to continuing their agility journey.
“We have done so many things together in Moon’s short life,” Kellie said. “We are still working on our agility titles, which are taking a little longer. I mostly train myself and work with a trainer who offers classes here on our farm, Never Go Back Ranch. My one goal with Moon was to teach her proper lines, and with that, we have some really great distance skills to let her run and scream, even though I’m a bit slower.”
Kellie is a retired database administrator but keeps busy maintaining and managing the 19-acre ranch, which is currently home to 27 sheep, 7 cattle, 25 chickens, 4 Scottish Terriers and 2 Mudis. She also teaches agility classes, rents the arena out for agility and Barn Hunt shows, and works with Moon and her young Scottish Terrier, Nessie, in both sports.
For those visiting Tennessee in October, Kellie said: “I don’t do a lot off the farm, but there are some really great hiking trails and even cool waterfalls nearby. Many competitors are like us when going to a show — we are in such a
hurry to get there and, once we’re done, such a hurry to get home — but it’s important not to miss the vacation part of your trip!”
Kellie’s husband, Tim, will also be at Cynosport this year, serving as chief scorekeeper. As a software developer by profession, Tim knew there had to be an easier way to manage agility trial secretary data, and in 1997, he wrote a program to simplify the various processes for Kellie. USDAA adopted the program in 2005 and has used it ever since.
Tim was named to the USDAA Hall of Fame in 2016 for his meritorious service contributions to the sport as a judge, competitor, software provider and course reviewer. In addition to its use at Cynosport, his software is used by more than 300 clubs internationally to support USDAA, IFCS and other organizations.