Meet our BYC Judge

Ashley Deacon

I have had a lifelong love of dogs, which started as a child in the North of England with the family pet, Patch, a Jack Russell Terrier.

After finishing college I emigrated to the USA, where I have lived for the last 25+ years. In 2002, I decided the time was right to own a dog. After doing much research I settled on an obscure French herding breed, the Pyrenean Shepherd. I was mainly looking for a biddable hiking and running companion that I could train. Just before Thanksgiving 2002, Luka arrived on a Continental flight from Cleveland to San Francisco.

This dog changed my life forever. Luka was not a very confident or outgoing puppy, but she loved the training routine and this helped her confidence grow. After 1 year of obedience classes we discovered agility through some friends and started to take weekly agility classes. The rest, as they say, is history…

Together Luka and I competed for 9+ years and during that time we won numerous national championships. In 2009, Luka and I helped the USA Medium dog team take a silver medal at the FCI World Championships in Dornbirn, Austria. In 2011, Luka celebrated her 9th birthday by winning the individual gold medal competed at the FCI World Championships in Liévin, France. Luka is no longer with us, but I have competed more recently with my 2nd pyrenean shepherd, Dash and currently have a young border collie, Neve, in training.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area with my wife, Stacey and two children. I have been coaching agility since 2010 and am a co-owner of Golden Gate Dog Sports in San Francisco. I have been judging UKI events for the last 4 years. I enjoy designing flowing, fun courses that blend speed with handling challenges.