Posted on August 19, 2019 at 11:45 AM by Global Reach
Nancy’s perspective; If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. 
Nancy Crabtree of New Virginia, in Clarke County began her dog obedience classes when she was 14 years of age. Being on the lookout for something new, Nancy chose dog obedience as one of her 4-H projects for the Warren County Fair at the age of 14. She worked along with her instructor, Joyce McCormick, and learned the ropes and teaching techniques. Soon, Nancy started teaching a few of the 4-H kids’ dog obedience classes at the home of John and Sandy Van Veen. From there, the training classes were moved to the Warren County Fairgrounds.
Dick Downing of the Clarke County Fair contacted Nancy to give a demonstration to 4-H members in the Clarke County area. At that time, the 4-H members did not have a dog obedience program. At the end of the short demonstration, nine members from Clarke County signed up for the Dog Obedience program as their project. Nancy soon became in charge of the Clarke County Dog Obedience projects as well as Warren County with a total of 90-100 youth. This project continues to grow in the Clarke County area in numbers of 4-Hers and dogs. Nancy treats the kids as her own.
Nancy leads dog obedience classes for 4-Hers every Sunday from the beginning of February until the Iowa State Fair. We are very lucky to have such a dedicated volunteer.
In addition to 4-H training classes, Nancy runs a dog grooming and boarding business and teaches dog obedience classes to the public with a total of 40 students with classes held sometimes three and four nights a week. Therapy dog classes and testing are also held for teams to visit hospitals and nursing homes to help patients alleviate stress.
If you ask Nancy, the dog obedience and therapy training is a breath of fresh air and she has grown her community of friends and family to be too many to count.
