Karen Hough
Owner
Owning Field Of Dreams is a dream come true. Dogs have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My parents raised Schnauzers and my first dog was a stray we found in Las Cruses, NM at a dump site. As a young girl and into my teens I raised and trained horses.
As I reached my 20′s, I became interested in dog training. Pursuing my life’s passion of dog training enticed me to explore some interesting paths and rewarding opportunities working with exceptional people and dogs. I am immensely grateful for those opportunities.
Since co-founding Star City Canine Club in 1995 and devoting four and a half years to the inspiring mission of Saint Francis Service Dog Foundation as Director of Training – developing the service dog training program, puppy classes, recipient training classes and the prison-pup-partnership – I discovered that miracles usually happen in unexpected ways!
In 2005 I was provided an opportunity to pursue Field of Dreams on a full-time basis.
Another passion is education. I have attended many seminars and workshops in agility training and instructing. I have attended the Association of Pet Dog Trainers Annual Conference, Clicker Expo and the Clean Run Instructor Conference.
I helped the Roanoke Valley SPCA in their institution of the Open Paw program. This program is designed to help shelter dogs develop the skills to help them be more adoptable.
As Field of Dreams continues to grow I have focused aligning qualified staff to manger our doggie day school and training program while I worked on building our agility program. I have become a nationally ranked agility competitor with my own dogs and have built a successful agility program teaching the sport to others. I’ve also gone on to become a NADAC judge.
I share my life with my husband, my Labrador Retriever and Boykin Spaniel.