Thursday, May 8th in the Great Hall at Purina Farms
Obedience Chair: Jeanine Daugherty & Rally Chair Trish Gautier
Judges: Randy Capsel (Obedience, also Agility) and Charlotte Mielziner (Rally). Their bios and photos appear below.
Closes: Wednesday, April 16 at 12pm Central Time
Secretary: Foy Trent
Premium (online entries)
Judging Program (will be linked when available)
Obedience and Rally are Most Versatile Malinois events within the III. venue (highest number of points from one run counted for MVM).
Volunteers Needed: please contact Jeanine Daugherty (obedience) and/or Trish Gautier (rally).
Obedience
Regular Classes: Novice A • Novice B • Open A • Open B • Utility A • Utility B
Optional Titling Classes: Beginner Novice A • Beginner Novice B • Preferred Novice • Graduate Novice • Preferred Open • Graduate Open • Preferred Utility • Versatility
Non-Regular Classes: Brace • Team • Veteran
Rally
Regular Classes: Novice A • Novice B • Intermediate • Advanced A • Advanced B • Excellent A • Excellent B • Master
Non-Regular Classes: Choice • Rally Pairs Novice • Rally Team Novice
Randy Capsel, Ogden, Iowa
Randy began competition training in 1981 in obedience and field trial venues. He grew up always having an English Springer Spaniel in the household, with his parents having introduced him to English Springer Spaniels in the mid-1960’s with the purchase of their first Springer. He feels fortunate to have those early experiences with a dog being conformationally sound while also possessing a high drive in the field during pheasant hunts. Those early experiences instilled the appreciation and importance of maintaining the versatility of various breeds. He continues to enjoy time afield on upland and waterfowl hunts with his canine companions.
He participates in obedience, rally, agility, hunting tests, tracking tests and, as time allows, the conformation ring. Over the years he feels fortunate and blessed to have been able to achieve a combination of Utility Dog titles, Master Hunter titles, various tracking titles including Champion Trackers, Agility titles including multiple MACHs, as well as breed Championships, accompanying many of those performance titles. He feels especially blessed by his canine companions having qualified multiple times for the AKC National Agility Championship, AKC National Rally Championship, and the AKC Agility Invitational. He began judging field events in the late 1980’s, adding obedience judging in 2000, and during the past few years also adding agility to his judging privileges, with the goal of giving something back to the sports for which many fantastic judges have contributed to his competition experiences over the years.
He has served on numerous committees and/or officer positions for the English Springer Spaniel Field Trial Association, the Welsh Springer Spaniel Club of America, as well as the local Ames, Iowa all-breed dog club and regional breed clubs. Randy wishes the very best of enjoyment and luck to all competitors at the 2025 American Belgian Malinois Club National Specialty, and future successes in all their canine endeavors.
Charlotte Mielziner
In over 30 years of training, writing about, judging and competing in canine sports and behavior, Charlotte Mielziner has garnered a long list of credentials. Included are a BA in Behavioral Sciences and certification in Canine Behavior from Purdue University. She taught young handlers agility, obedience, showmanship, tricks, drill team and rally for 4H Clubs. She still teaches and trains at both Westinn Kennels and North County Obedience Training Club.
An award winning writer, she wrote “Good Dogs Bite Too,” a dog bite prevention manual for Visiting Nurses and “Sammies in the Kitchen,” for Spirit of St. Louis Samoyed Rescue. For nearly ten years she was the Rally Editor and contributor for the AKC USASA Journal. Other works for children and adults are in development. She is an Obedience and Rally judge for the American Kennel Club (AKC) and Australian Shepherd Club of America (ASCA).
All in all, Charlotte considers herself lucky to live in the Midwest and gets to take her dogs to work with her!