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Beth Gutteridge & Heidi
|  | | Beth and Heidi at last year's competition. |
Events: Agility, Big Air
Born: Groton, Mass.
Resides: Northwood, NH
Occupation: teacher
Age: 40
Height: 5'7
Weight: 160
Marital Status: S
Participating Since: 1995
Competing Since: 1996
Background: Beth is an elementary school teacher and has been competing in her spare time during spring and summer for the last four years. She will be attending the Great Outdoor Games with her dog Heidi and competing in the Agility event and the Big Air event. It will be their first time competing in the Big Air event, for which they've been training by jumping off diving boards and into lakes for the past few months. Heidi is 7 1/2 years old, so she will be one of the older and more experienced dogs in the competition. Beth also trains a deaf Great Dane with hand signals. This canine competitor has one flyball title and has appeared on the television show "Animal Planet" and PBS.
Beth competes in about 12 to 15 tournaments a year and this keeps her weekends busy for about 3 to 4 months. The thing that she loves about the sport is traveling and meeting so many different people. She says that the most important thing in competitions is to keep a close relationship with your dogs and to play off of each other to bring out their best when it counts.
Competitive History: USDAA Grand Prix Nationals three years running; USDAA Steeplechase 10th place finish,1998 (Heidi was the only Labrador Retriever to qualify for the finals); Heidi has three fly ball titles, all earned in one weekend
Strengths: Great physical condition, enthusiasm for playing games, and tons of energy
Weaknesses: Age (7 ½ years), first-time competitor in the Big Air competition
Predictions: Beth says that Susan Garret and her dog Stoney are the ones to watch; also, an Aussie named Blu is very fast and competitive.
Injuries: None
Personal Bests: 10th place at Steeplechase in 1998
Coaches/Mentors: Ruth Hobday, a trainer from England, has been very influential, as has trainer Susan Garrett
Sponsors: All Dogs Gym  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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Heidi wins big air gold.