About Fido Finishing School

Fido Finishing School began as a competition and pet training obedience program in 1995. In 2000, agility classes were also added to the program. Julie Hill, the founder and owner, is the primary instructor for all classes. Additional staff has been added as the school has grown. Many Fido Finishing School canine alumni have gone on to very successful careers, including Service Dogs, Search and Rescue, Conformation, Tracking, Herding, Field Trials, Earthdog Trials, Therapy Dogs, Agility, Obedience, and last but not least, as Man's Best Friend.

About Julie Hill

Educational & Professional Background

Julie completed a BA in Political Science and a BS in Geology at LSU, and a MS in Geophysics at the University of Utah.

She first worked as an exploration geophysicist, then as a technical support consultant for a geophysical software company. After leaving the oil industry, she worked part-time as a dog trainer and part-time at the local humane society, where she held the positions of adoption counselor and veterinary assistant. Currently, she is working full-time instructing obedience and agility classes, and giving private lessons and seminars.

Dog Training Background

Julie trained and showed Hunters and Jumpers for 15 years before becoming involved in dog obedience in 1991. Her first competition obedience dogs, a Greyhound and a Bloodhound, (see About Lily and About Lark), two breeds not known for their desire to please their owners, required "outside-the-box" training in order to be competitive at the highest obedience levels. Her next dog, a Pointer (see About Chamber), proved to be equally challenging because of the dog's low drive, high distractibility, and total disinterest in food rewards. From these dogs, Julie developed her training technique, which has proven to work just as effectively on traditionally easier breeds of dogs to train, as it does on the more difficult breeds.

Julie first got involved in agility with her Greyhound in 1997. Her background in jumping horses, obedience training, and motivating difficult breeds of dogs, proved to be valuable educational experiences for this sport, which requires excellent jumping skills and speed, as well as control.

In addition to her own dogs, Julie has put conformation, obedience, and/or agility titles on the following breeds: Bloodhound, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Golden Retriever, Vizsla, and Doberman Pinscher.

Julie regularly attends national obedience and agility seminars and workshops. She is a member of the American Pointer Club and the Deep South All-Breed Obedience Training Club.