Debby Wheeler, her husband Jake, son Robby, their 3 Italian Greyhounds, and Pointer live in Escondido, Ca where they have built Martini's Ranch, a dog agility training facility for use by the San Diego dog community.

"Why the name Martini's Ranch?"  Read on and you'll soon understand...

Before opening Martini's Ranch, Debby (the head trainer at Martini's Ranch) spent 5 years working in the software industry as Manager of Training and Education for a local software company. Before that, she spent 15 years in the animal technical health field. 

Debby has been involved in dog activities her entire life. Growing up handling and training her families German Shepherds in Conformation and Obedience, she excelled as a Junior Handler. When she become an adult, her breed changed to Yorkshire Terriers which she had also shown in Conformation and Obedience. When her last Yorkie was given just a few months to live, she decided to find a new breed... one with which she could do the newer dog sports like Frisbee, Flyball, and Agility. She chose an unlikely breed to train - the Italian Greyhound.

Debby's first I.G., "Martini - Shaken, Not Stirred" (aka Marti McFly), was born in July 1995 - little did Debby know, but this little sight hound would drastically change her life! The Italian Greyhound is stereotypically known as a timid, mousy, house dog - who's owners carry them around in blankets to keep them warm and fear their tiny bones will break just from looking at them. But not so with Marti... Marti has shared many accomplishments in many dog sports venues:

Through working with Marti over the years, Debby has learned far more about training dogs then she ever imagined. She has learned how humbling they are, she now understands there is more than one way to train a specific behavior, and that it is different for each dog. Over the years, Debby has become known as a "dog whisperer" by her friends. They feel she has a special gift to understand some of the problems dogs run into while training and competing in dog sports. Her upbeat, fun training philosophy makes training with her fun and exciting.

She is best known for working with the non-traditional breeds to help these dogs and their owners find success in the dog sports world. She has learned to think outside the box when training and motivating these "other" breeds.  "There's more than one way to teach a Contact" :)

Debby is also well known in all dog venues for her work with Junior Handlers.  She has used her own dogs to help Jr Handlers in the area excel at Conformation, Flyball and Agiltiy.  She has the patience and ability to work with the "younger" dog enthusiasts and enjoys watching them succeed.

Debby is not limited to her breed. She has handled a multitude of breeds ranging in size and temperament:

Australian Cattledog, Belgian Malinois, Border Collie, Doberman, Labrador Retriever, Pekingese, Pointer, Poodles (both Standard and Miniature), Rottweiler, Shetland Sheepdog, Silky Terrier & Yorkshire Terrier.

Debby's training experience spans the years in a variety of venues:

In addition to competing and training, Debby is now an AKC Agility Judge. She enjoys using this perspective when helping her students understand course strategy.  She believes that although there should always be elements of challenge on the course, it should be equaled with elements of fun.  Her personal goal is to help her students find both on every course.

If you had not figured it out yet... Martini's Ranch is named after the Wheeler's beloved "Marti" - who inspired them to build the training facility in her honor!