Baptist Knaven, a native of the Netherlands, started his love for dog training in the early nineties when he rescued his first dog, a Bouvier pup named Zoë. Since his move to the U.S. in 2003, Baptist has rescued and rehabilitated many dogs, including a German Shepherd that started him on a new journey: competitive dog sports. Baptist has schooled, handled and successfully competed with dogs of various breeds and temperaments, from shy Shelties to high drive Border Collies and high arousal breeds like Malinois, in AKC, UKI and USDAA agility trials, from Novice to Master levels. He and his buddy Pépin are active in the new AKC National League program, and are ranked number 1 in the Regulation League, and 3rd in the ISC League this season. In 2022, they won the 24" Regulation League.
Baptist and his dogs also compete in Canine Biathlons competitive trail running. In May 2019, at the sixth annual US Canine Biathlon in Alabama, he was the first ever to finish in the top 10 with two dogs: his German Shepherd Tessa, at number 7, and Shepinois (MALxGSD) Pépin, at number 10. This 4.2-mile race included over 80 obstacles.
Training his own dogs in both agility and IGP (Schutzhund), working with various trainers and watching others compete, Baptist grew an interest in various training methods and canine/handler problem solving. Since 2014 he’s been able to share his vision in class and private settings and is honored to be part of the Fast and Furryous Agility training staff. He loves working with dogs and handlers of any level from novice pet owners, to high level handlers in all canine sports. He emphasizes on developing an effective mutual and respectful bond, which is the basis for preventing and managing problematic behaviors, and an effective performance.
