​UK9BG Club Member Spotlight: Connie Sandbach

Connie Sandbach has always had a deep love for animals, with a particular fondness for dogs. Her family always had dogs growing up, but her demanding career, which involved long hours and frequent relocations, initially prevented her from owning one on the road. That changed in 2017 when she got Milo, an Aussie mix who sparked her passion for dog training and canine sports. Together, they explored a variety of activities, including scent detection, obedience, rally-o, barn hunt, and agility with the In-Sync crew in Edmonton,AB. She also dabbled in canicross, trailing and earned Milo’s TDCH trick titles. Her journey with Milo ignited a passion for trick training, leading her to become a DMWYD Certified Trick dog instructor, Stunt dog judge and Animal Actors Certified Evaluator, although she is no longer active in these programs she still enjoys training her own dogs in them. Connie also did Online Certs through Karen Pryor such as Dog Trainer Comprehensive Course, Puppy Start Right for Instructors, Dog Sports Essential and many more. Unfortunately, Milo developed severe vehicle anxiety, which meant he could no longer travel with her so his sport career was limited.

A new job location brought Connie to Sundre, AB, where she joined obedience classes with Milo and connected with members of a local PSA club. Initially planning to get a German Shepherd puppy from a breeder in Sundre (Jennalee Arsenault), fate led her in a different direction. When the litter resulted in a singleton puppy (Syn), the breeder offered Connie a 9-month-old green dog named Birdy from Zeren GSD. After a two-week trial period, Connie decided Birdy would be a permanent part of her life. Birdy became Connie’s first official sport dog, and despite being independent and strong-willed, she has proven to be a rewarding challenge, teaching Connie more than any other dog to date.

When the local PSA club disbanded, Connie and her friend Shayla began private training sessions with Stan Thankachen at UK9BG. She says it was some of the most memorable times for her as those classes were such a joy that they looked forward to every week. With Stan’s guidance and their hard work, they were eventually welcomed as full-time members of the PSA club. With the guidance of Stan and the UK9BG team, Connie immersed herself in the intricacies of PSA and never looked back.

After some time, the Sundre breeder reached out to Connie, this time to rehome the singleton pup Syn, a now 10 month old GSD. Connie initially took Syn in to prepare her for a transition to a pet dog lifestyle but ultimately decided Syn had far too much energy and potential to be a couch potato so she purchased Syn from the breeder and started training in PSA. Managing two GSDs, Connie actively pursued PSA and explored other dog sports with both of the girls. Because her work commitments allowed her to attend club only once a week, she supplemented her training with online courses such as The Empowered Canine, Shield K9, Ivan Balabanov, Can Emo, Mia Skogster, Dave Kroyer TV, and so many more as well as online private sessions with Suzanne Tam of Metropawlitan Dog Training to address Birdy’s unique challenges. Connie also gained valuable knowledge by attending seminars, workshops, webinars and private sessions learning from legends such as Dave Kroyer, Joeri Veth, Khoi Pham and Johnathan Katz. All the while her club helped both Birdy and Syn prepare for their PDC.

In July 2023, both Birdy and Syn earned their PSA Protection Dog Certificates (PDCs). Following this achievement, Birdy retired from PSA to focus on CKC tracking, Trailing, scent detection and obedience, while Syn transitioned to IGP. Connie worked with Cassandra St. Pierre of The Empowered Canine through private lessons for almost a year to prepare them for their BH and then trained with Dallas Wingerak and Dani Armstrong of Inferno Canine doing the “Intro to IGP” classes to trial prep. Eventually helping Syn achieve her BH in June 2024. Syn and Connie then were welcomed into Inferno Canine as full time members.

Connie has plans to compete for her IGP 1 title in May 2025 with Syn and hopes to do her IGP 2 in August 2025 as well as her BT in the near future. Connie wants to give a huge thank you to everyone at Inferno Canine for their support on her IGP and soon AS journey. A special thank you goes to Dominic Scarberry for investing the time into Syn to give her a solid IGP Protection Foundation as well as a huge thank you to Cassandra St. Pierre for coaching her to be a better handler and to Dani Armstrong and Dallas Wingerak for being such great mentors in her IGP journey. She appreciates all that you do.

Meanwhile, Birdy continues to work toward her TDX and UTDX titles as well as CWAGS OB titles and is aiming for some future Trailing certs with their tracking/trailing mentor Donna Brinkworth. Connie has a deep passion for CKC tracking and trailing. In 2022, she attended the inaugural Canadian instructor course for Mantrailing Global, which further fueled her enthusiasm for trailing. Subsequently, she connected with Donna Brinkworth of K9 Windseekers who coached her through her CKC journey earning Birdy’s UTD and TD titles. In 2024 Connie began assisting Donna with her classes, learning the intricacies of teaching, and nurturing her enduring passion for tracking/trailing. She is excited for the future of trailing in Canada as Donna dives into expanding this sport here in Alberta. Connie expresses her gratitude to Donna for mentoring her and generously sharing her knowledge and time. Connie is also a member of Central Alberta Tracking Society which is CKC Tracking focused. She also volunteers her time as a track layer for tests.

In May 2023, Connie welcomed Savage, her first Belgian Malinois, from a phenomenal breeding by Joe and Tori Trevisone (Trevisone’s Dogs’ - Knoxx x Raven litter). With Tammy’s assistance, and generosity she travelled to the USA to select and pick Savage up and bring him back to Canada for Connie. Savage instantly became part of the family and began his training journey with UK9BG. Connie has ambitious plans for Savage in 2025, she plans for his BH in May 2025, his PDC in July 2025, and possibly his BT. Potentially competing for his PSA 1 title by the end of the year as well. Connie is also working towards other IGP titles in the future as well as Tricks, AS Titles, CWAGS OB titles, and when it’s retirement time from protection sports for savage he will dabble in trailing titles and possibly some CKC tracking titles.

Beyond dog sports, Connie has been a devoted employee of MasTec Canada since 2012, working as a Project Coordinator. Born in BC, raised in Ontario, she moved to Alberta in 2011 but maintains close ties to her roots. She owns a house in Ontario, which family occupies, and makes time to visit friends and loved ones back home whenever possible. Connie currently lives in Calgary with her partner Matt and his two daughters, Mira and Jenna. She wants to thank them for always being so supportive of her goals and passions with her dogs even if they think she’s a little crazy!

Another passion of Connie’s is photography and videography. She is currently enrolled in the Photography Mastery Program through Learn Photography Canada and has been honing her skills for just over a year. While her primary focus has been dog sports and dog portraits, she plans to expand her knowledge into other areas in the near future. She extends her gratitude to David Benjatschek, owner of Learn Photography Canada, for his role in her photography journey. She also thanks Dallas Wingerak of Sable Fox Photography for mentoring her in IGP photography and Kevin Davies of Northern K9 Photography for his guidance in PSA photography and videography. Over the past year, she has been working behind the camera at trials and bite days under Northern K9 Photography. She also wants to send a thank you to Melissa Waters of Sleeping Dog Studio for letting her help out and learn the studio side of photography. It all helps her on her journey to learn and grow. Connie’s journey in dog sports embodies her passion, perseverance, and unwavering dedication to her dogs, her loved ones, and every goal she pursues.

Connie wishes to express her deepest gratitude to the UK9BG team for their steadfast support and guidance throughout her PSA journey with all 3 dogs. She credits their encouragement, expertise and support for her achievements in PSA. Special thanks goes to Stan for introducing her to the PSA club and starting her on this path and for always cheering her and her dogs on. Stan has always been a huge support system, offering facility time, catching her dogs or helping in anyway he can for them to be successful. Stan took time out of his day to build Syn from the ground up in protection asking for nothing in return but the joy of seeing her succeed in all that she does. Fun Fact, Stan owns and competes in PSA with Syn’s dad Bane. Connie is forever grateful to Stan for his support.

Huge thank you also goes to Tammy Thankachen for her ongoing support, her valuable tips, shared knowledge, dog sitting, kind heart and sharing lessons she’s learned on her own PSA journey with Savage’s dad Knoxx are monumental. Also a huge thank you for traveling to bring Savage home, getting Connie her very own “unicorn dog”. A huge thank you to Tori and Joe Trevisone for allowing her the opportunity to own such a great dog. She hopes to make you all proud!

She also extends heartfelt appreciation and thanks to Shaun Thankachen and Melissa Waters for their invaluable PSA coaching and mentorship, and to Olya, her training partner, for standing by her side every step of the way. A thank you goes to Kendall Buckton, Shayla Rinehart, Erin Devisser and Jennalee Arsenault for their support along these journeys as well. Lastly, Connie thanks the UK9BG training decoys for their tireless efforts and sacrifices, putting their bodies on the line to help train her dogs. Her clubs collective contributions have been essential to her success and growth in dog sports and she appreciates every single UK9BG club member, every Inferno Canine Club member and every single trainer outside her clubs who she has learned from. Without all of this support, she says she wouldn’t be where she is today.