USDAA Hall of Fame Inducts Pioneers of Dog Agility
Honoring Tim Laubach; Jim Basic, Diane Carson, Tom Kula and Stacy Peardot-Goudy
USDAA is pleased to recognize the 2023 Hall of Fame Pioneers of Dog Agility, honoring those whose contributions to the sport have had a lasting, significant impact.
Tim Laubach
Since 1988, Tim Laubach has been highly active in the agility community. A founding member of Bexar Regional Agility Team (BRAT) in 1990, he has taught agility and obedience classes for more than 25 years and helped to grow the sport in Texas.
In September 1991, he became one of USDAA’s earliest judges; he has since judged in six countries and served as one of only three lead instructors for judging seminars responsible for certifying others in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Since the pandemic, he has contributed to USDAA’s efforts to set up remote testing for new judges.
Alongside his Australian Cattle Dog, Trouble, Tim was a member of the Pedigree/USDAA National Demonstration Team in the 1990s. After helping to organize the Grand Prix of Dog Agility® Championships in San Antonio in 1993 and 1995, he worked or officiated at 25 Cynosport® Dog Agility World Games.
Tim was recognized for Meritorious Service in 2014 with friend and fellow judge Dave Hanson after they pioneered “the center line” method for course building. The method brought accuracy and expediency to course building, which allows events to run more efficiently. He also helped to interpret rules for course design guidelines across all USDAA events.
Tim has continued to serve as Chief Course Builder for Cynosport; after this year, he will pass the reins to trusted colleagues. In recognition of his 35 years in service to USDAA, we congratulate Tim on his induction as a Pioneer into the Hall of Fame!
Tim Laubach (right) with Ken Tatsch at Cynosport 2023
Jim Basic, Diane Carson, Tom Kula and Stacy Peardot-Goudy
In the earliest days of introducing dog agility to North America, founder Ken Tatsch worked with an Advisory Board of dedicated dog owners who helped support the sport through its formative years. Among those individuals were Janet Gaunt and the late Chris Danielly, who were previously inducted into the USDAA Hall of Fame as Pioneers for other contributions (2014 and 1997, respectively). We are pleased to recognize the remaining Advisory Board members for contributing their ideas and talents in service to the sport’s development, with Jim Basic, Diane Carson, Tom Kula and Stacy Peardot-Goudy joining Janet and Chris in the Hall of Fame as Pioneers of Dog Agility.
Jim Basic, Diane Carson,
Tom Kula and Stacy Peardot-Goudy
The collective efforts of this early Advisory Board helped to build a framework to expand USDAA’s tournament series and to further evolve USDAA’s title certification program by introducing new recognition awards, most notably the Lifetime Achievement Award (LAA) and Top 10.
Jim, Diane, Tom and Stacy were among the country’s first USDAA judges, and along with Janet and Chris, they dedicated their time and expertise to expand the sport nationwide. They are credited with various equipment specifications and were engaged in evaluating performances year to year under USDAA standards to aid in the sport’s evolution.
Other collective accomplishments included developing qualification criteria to compete at the Cynosport, transitioning from manual scorekeeping processes to computerized scorekeeping and establishing criteria for team selection for IFCS international competition.
Their list of individual accomplishments with USDAA is significant, but together, they truly set the standard for dog agility in the United States. We greatly appreciate all they have done for the sport and congratulate them on their induction into the Hall of Fame.