Officers

President-Georgia Yost Perdue

I have been a member of SMKC since the 90s with a long history of conformation showing of multiple champions of multiple breeds. I have served on the Board as Secretary, President and Board Member multiple years and am currently the President of the Salisbury Maryland Kennel Club and the Charitable Trust Board. I am an Instructor, Conformation/handling chair and a Breeder of Merit and  co-breeder and co-owner of Sussex Spaniels. I currently serve on the Board of the Sussex Spaniel Club of America, have co-chaired National Specialties and have currently been invited to judge the 2025 Puppy Sweepstakes at our National Specialty. Currently I am owned by two Sussex Spaniels at home and I also have a Standard Poodle.

I am working dogs in conformation, agility, therapy, FastCat, obedience and rally. I am a certified CGC instructor and tester and enjoy working with new dog owners. Each year you can find me working  at our November Cluster and as Co-Chair along with helping with show n go’s, conformation/handling classes and other activities of the club. I am the Website Manager and work closely with the Treasurer on finances.

I am a Nurse Practitioner and have a doctorate in nursing working full-time in the medical field. I live in Salisbury, am widowed, and have a son, daughter-in- law and two grandchildren.

1st Vice President – Peggy Bradford

In 1988 I enrolled in an SMKC obedience class after acquiring a golden retriever puppy. I was mentored by Frances Tilghman, obedience class chair at the time, and with her guidance began actively showing my dog in obedience. I am a long time obedience instructor and over the years have served on the board in every capacity except secretary, spending 10 years as the club’s treasurer. I have watched the club grow from a small group of dog enthusiasts to the amazing organization it is today. I am proud to have been a part of the growth and will be forever grateful to the club for introducing me to the people who have become my closest friends.

2nd Vice President – Jeanine Dennis

I am a Past President and have served on various committees since joining SMKC over 25 years ago. I have served as Obedience as Agility Trial Secretary.
I breed and exhibit English Cocker Spaniels in conformation, obedience and agility venues. I hold a Ph. D. in Animal Nutrition and retired four years ago. After retirement I started a quilting and embroidery business and recently expanded to make dog beds, mats, crate pads and crate covers.

Treasurer – Anna Marie D’Onofrio

Before I even moved to the Eastern Shore, I approached the SMKC table at their November 2013 show to ask how I can get involved with the club. Answer was, first you have to move here!  In 2018, a year before that planned move I wrote to the club and heard back from Diane Spalding for agility and Peggy Bradford for Rally. I was so excited, I couldn’t wait to be part of the club.  We moved here on March 9, 2020. Covid shut down the world one week later. I kept in touch with Diane and she kept me posted on when the club was re-opening for classes. Finally agility and rally started up, I asked Diane and Jerry Rollyson to sponsor me and the rest is history!  I have served as Assistant Agility Trial Chair, I am currently acting Agility Trial Chair, the November Show Trophy Chair, and also have been in charge of organizing the June picnics and the December Christmas celebrations.  In October of 2022 I received a phone call from Bonnie Garris asking if I would accept the nomination to possibly be voted on the Board as a Director.  I was honored, to say the least. Before the voting,  I had to speak before the membership and talk a little about myself.  As I said in that short talk, I don’t have all the years behind me of serving the club as others have, but I bring other things to the table. The most important, is that I can get people to work together. My many years as Office Manager heading multiple departments has taught me how to work with others, understand what each person brings to the table, and help that person to cultivate their attributes for the good of the committee, the company, the organization. After being voted in, our long time Treasurer fell ill with cancer and I’ve since taken over as Treasurer hoping I can make some positive impacts in this area for our club.

Secretary – Krista Hill

I came to SMKC in January of 2000 with the sweetest pound puppy and my first dog, Fred.  He breezed through obedience and CGC so we moved on to agility and the rest, as they say, is history.  Since then I have served the club in multiple capacities including producing the newsletter, as agility class chair, fundraising chair, agility trial assistant chair, and board member multiple times including the positions of secretary and president. In an effort to expand my knowledge and improve my training methods, I have attended many seminars and camps over the years and continue to do so.  While we will always have a rescue in our home, my involvement with SMKC has ultimately lead me in to the world of pure bred dogs, being the proud owner of Swedish Vallhunds and to involvement with my parent club as a past board member and as a national specialty committee member in 2016 & 2018.  My true passion is agility but I have also been involved in conformation, rally, obedience, FastCAT, herding, barnhunt and, most recently, scent work.  I consider it an honor and a privilege to again serve as SMKC’s secretary.

AKC Delegate – Karen Cottingham

I joined SMKC in 1987, taking both Obedience and Conformation classes with my first show dogs. As Puppy Kindergarten became a recognized training system across the country, I joined Diane Spalding in teaching the course for SMKC. When AKC encouraged clubs to offer the Canine Good Citizen test, I became one of the club’s CGC Instructors and Evaluators. I have titled five different breeds of dogs from three AKC Groups in Conformation, Obedience, Rally, and Trick Dog. I have bred and co-owned Junior & Senior Hunters. I have been awarded Breeder of the Year of the Sussex Spaniel Club of America. I have served as an SMKC officer and Board Member numerous times over the past three decades, and am now proud to represent SMKC as our AKC Delegate.

Board Members

Linda Furey

I joined SMKC in 2006 after purchasing my first purebred female Vizsla. This would be the beginning of my education in the world of Conformation to be followed by Obedience, Rally and Agility. My second Vizsla took me on a wonderful journey that expanded my world to include a MACH, qualifying and attending AKC Agility Nationals and qualifying multiple times for AKC Rally Nationals. I’ve been a member of Vizsla Club of America for many years and attended our National Specialties numerous times. Outside of SMKC, I’ve held Board positions, acted as Treasurer, Rally Trial Chair, Agility  Chair and been a member on many Committees. In 2021, I acted as Agility Trial Chair at our VCA National Specialty. Over the years, you could find me volunteering, participating and supporting a variety of SMKC events. I have served as Agility Ribbon Chair, assisted Linda Morris with teaching Rally classes and continue as a member of the Agility Committee.  I share my home in East New Market with my 7 mo old female Vizsla. We’re currently attend classes at SMKC.

 

Cathin Bishop

I came to SMKC in 2009 with my first ever dog, a papillon puppy. At that point, Chance was the only papillon at the club. I had done two years of research to pick a breed and another two to find the right breeder. I went to countless dog shows during that time. I knew I wanted to do agility and, after asking around at the shows, I was told SMKC was the place to come for training.
 
I followed the flow chart we used to have on the website and got Chance’s CGC before moving into a beginner Rally class. After titling in Rally, we moved on to Agility classes. Eventually, Chance earned a MACH, 4 PACHs, and qualified for Agility Nationals three years in a row. I’m currently training his younger brother who knows he has big paw prints to fill. I have worked with some of the best trainers in the sport, but SMKC has been there for us from the start.
 
During all that time, I became more and more involved with the club. I volunteered at Rally, Obedience, Fast Cat, Breed, and Agility events. For a while, I was the club’s “handy person” doing odd jobs like hanging window blinds, helping to build the dividers and swapping out all the locking wheels for ones that didn’t. I took home old jump bars, cleaned them with acetone (lost a few brain cells there) and retaped them so they would all match at a trial. And I cleaned and painted old weave poles so we wouldn’t have to buy new ones in purple and yellow,
 
At some point, I found myself helping with a puppy class. I had spent 25 years teaching middle school students, so this was a good fit.  From puppy class, I went on to assist with an agility class. It eventually became my class and I am still loving teaching it.
 
Several years ago, I was asked to be on the agility trial committee and that led to being elected to the Board of Directors. I enjoy serving in this capacity, working to meet the various challenges the board faces and to support all aspects of the club.
 

Diane Spalding

I’ve been a member of SMKC since 1985 During that time I have taught handling, obedience and agility. I bred Mastiffs for 25 years And had great success in the Breed ring. I also had two obedience Mastiffs.

I was president of the club Four times, was Obedience Chair for 10 years, Trial Secretary for five. I am currently agility trial and class chair.
I have shown many breeds in Agility and Obedience – English Cocker, Golden Retrievers, Shelties, Poodle,

Over the years I have attended many seminars, camps and taken private lessons from top trainers, to learn and bring ideas back to the club for our students it has been a fun journey (I counted 37 different camps and seminars)
I was also the girls tennis coach at Bennett HS for five years.
Most recently my golden Sizzle had success in the breed ring where she won a Reserve High in Trial and many group placements. She now has agility, Rally and obedience titles and loves her therapy work.

Betsy Horn Humer 

In Nov. 1997 I judged obedience for the Salisbury MD Kennel Club. I met members there while judging and told them that we had just purchased property on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.  We moved several years after that from New Jersey.    We are nestled between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.  We like to say that we brought our Chesapeakes “back to their roots”. 

Once moving here, I started attending meetings of SMKC and became a member within a year.  They immediately put me to work, teaching obedience and Show Handling. I introduced the sport of Rally to SMKC by bringing in a Seminar on Rally and then teaching the initial classes. 

I have been active in the sport of dogs all my life.  My parents, the late Dan & Janet Horn, established Eastern Waters’ Kennels in 1947. I grew up with Chesapeakes, training, showing and going to dog shows.  I have been approved to judge Chesapeake Bay Retrievers for over 37 years and now judge the Sporting Group, Herding Group, plus 3/4 of the Non-Sporting breeds, all obedience and Rally classes and Best in Show.  I have judged in Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and Columbia (South America), Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and our National Specialty. 

I have judged obedience since 1993 and Rally since it began in 2005.   As a member of the Salisbury MD KC, I have served as a Board member for several terms, co-training director, and have taught classes at all levels of Obedience and Rally non-stop since I became a member. I have chaired Rally trials in the past, and this year will be chairing our obedience trials.  I was awarded the AKC Outstanding  Sportsmanship Award in 2023. I am also a member of the American Chesapeake Club for over 50 years, and currently serve as Judges Education Coordinator to the AKC since 2012.  I was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by my parent club. I am also Life Member of Bayshore Companion Dog Club in New Jersey.