About Angie
Thank you for your interest in Angie's Groom 'N Board. I have been grooming and caring for dogs since 1988. Having six dogs and two cats of my own, I understand the importance of quality pet care. Understanding the needs and concerns for your pet we built our brand new facility around the pet's needs. I wanted a place that I would feel comfortable boarding my own pets.
All of my pets, with the exception of one, were either from the animal shelter, rescued, or needed a forever home. I'm a firm believer in adoption from animal rescue shelters. There are some amazing beautiful loving pets to be found there. I do as many volunteer groomings as I can for our local animal shelter. If it means placing a pet that much quick in a forever home, than I will do what I can.
I believe that pets are not just animals, but members of my family. I like to involve them in as many activities as I can. It not only makes a happy dog, but a healthy dog. My pets ARE my kids! "Beamer" graduated from Pet Therapy in the Spring of 2007 and also got his Canine Good Citizen award. He now enjoys nursing home visits! "Sureena" I adopted from the Headwaters Animal Shelter (next door to us) has been going to FlyBall lessons in Bemidji. She is very enthusiastic about chasing balls, so now we can put that into a sport! It is fascinating to watch your dog become such an incredible "athlete"! In March 2008 I enrolled my dog "Beamer" in FlyBall. Despite his small size he is quite the athlete! "Beamer" is doing amazing in Agility class (here is a little clip of when he first started) Little Beamer's personal best 5km time that we ran together in a local running event was 22:19! I am so proud of him! Best of all he LOVES to do it! Of course we can't forget about the two recent additions, "Peanut" and "Tawny". "Peanut" is started flyball classes in the Summer of 2010 and is amazing! "Tawny" is a skijoring fanatic! She is so fast and so strong I'm a little nervous about taking her to a race! Of course both "Tawny" & "Peanut" were rescue dogs like the others. I love them so much and can't imagine my life without them!
Below is a photo of myself (and a fellow PBDTA member/trainer) and our dogs after an agility contest. Sureena took home 1st place and Beamer 3rd. The ramp behind them is just one of the obstacles that they have to go over.
Speaking of athletes........ my three "big girls" (that I had adopted through the animal shelter), have now officially participated in skijoring events! They do pretty good considering we don't get alot of practice in (since there aren't many places, if any, that allow dogs on the ski trails unfortunately). So, we just kind of "wing it" and have fun! One of our first races was in Duluth, MN in Feb. 2008. we placed 7th out of 14 entries. Believe it or not, we average around 12 mph! Here are a few photos from that day (slow by professional standards, but fast for me and my pitbull border collie mixes!).
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In January (see below photos), I was invited by Itasca State Park to get my photo taken skijoring with my dogs to use for MN State Park promotional materials. I'm so excited that Itasca now allows skijoring!
Since I enjoy running myself, on any given day you may see me with most of them running with me down the Heartland Trail. The minute I mention "do you want to go for a RUN", they all start whining with excitement. They have run up to 6 miles with me! In July 2010 "Peanut" & "Beamer" competed in a 10km race & we won my age group!
I have been involved in several community organizations. I was on the board of directors at the Headwaters Animal Shelter (fundraising chair) from June 2004-2007. I'm also a co-chair person for the annual Tails on the Trail pet expo. and walkathon in June which benefits our local animal shelter. If you have not visited our animal shelter, please do so. This wonderful organization is so beneficial to our area. They are always welcoming volunteer work and donations to support their cause. I also was involved with the Itascatur bike, ski and run club. I was the run director for 9 years. I helped coordinate the Fishhook Challenge Half Marathon & 5km as well as Otto's Frosty Frozen 5km Fun Run & walk in Feb. In April 2008 I joined the Paul Bunyan Dog Training Association (www.paulbunyandogtraining.com). What a fun group of people with great activities for the dogs. This is the organization that sponsored the pet therapy classes as well as teaches the FlyBall classes. They have many more dog classes going on as well, which I am involving my dogs in. The PBDTA also is a proud sponsor of the Bemidji Pet Expo. & Game Fair which takes place every year in June. What a great event to take your dogs to! Come join in on some of the many activities including DOCK DOGS!
Myself, as well as some of my employees, have completed Therapy Dog Training school. We also received canine good citizen awards at the same time. We are having so much fun learning what an important role our pets can play in a Senior Citizen's life. We hope to take our love of animals and share it with those who are unable to no longer have pets.
In my free time my husband and I both enjoy competing in triathlons as well as various running events throughout the state. I have run a total of 13 marathons with a personal best of 3 hours 11 minutes. You will often see me running with my dogs around town (or on hiking trails) or cross country skiing out at Soaring Eagle ski trails. I truly love living in Northern MN and all the environmental benefits that go along with it!
I am very blessed to have incredible employees that work along side of me! They all have great passion and love for animals. We all take great pride and joy in caring for your pet! Please check them out on this website. It will make you rest at ease knowing your pet is in good hands! We know you will be happy with our service and our facility. Your pets will be treated like a member of our family!
Below is a photo of a fun day at the lake with the dogs. A friend had her dogs there as well for a total of 8 dogs! They just had a blast! On the right is a photo of a trail run. Of course this is when I only had 4 dogs. They LOVE lake days and trail run days!
R.I.P. my sweet little Snickers....
