Meet our 2026 BYC Judge

Rachel Pearson Downs

Rachel was introduced to the world of dog sports early in life. Raised by a family heavily involved in conformation, obedience, and agility, Rachel began competing in dog sports as a young child. By her teenage years she was teaching dog training with her local training club. While conformation and obedience were her introductions to the training world, agility soon became Rachel’s grand passion.

Rachel has celebrated a lot of success in the agility arena. Her accolades to date include six National Championships, three Reserve National Championships, many placements at national level events, many Cup, Classic, and Regional Championships, and membership to multiple world teams.

In 2015 Rachel started her own agility training school, Strategic Dog Sports. In 2016, she took a full time job at a local training facility to teach agility professionally. In 2021, Rachel made Strategic Dog Sports her full time career. She now teaches classes and lessons at her home in Greenville, Texas, teaches online courses, does private remote coaching, and travels to teach seminars and judge for UKI.

Rachel shares her home with her two children (Ellie age 8, and Landon age 6) as well as eight dogs. With a Great Pyrenees, four Border Collies, an Icelandic Sheepdog, and two Chihuahua mixes, Rachel's children are growing up with the same love of dogs and dog sports as Rachel.

Having been a junior handler herself, Rachel is invested in promoting juniors in the sport of agility and supporting them as she was. Having children of her own who want to run their dogs, she continues to commit to make the sport of agility a rewarding, welcoming, and supportive place for children and teenagers to play this amazing game with their dogs.