Rosalie Alvarez

Rosalie’s interest in obedience training and competition began with a red Doberman pinscher, who, according to Rosalie, picked her at a time when she wasn’t particularly looking for a dog. "Fee", short for Coffee Royal, quickly became Rosalie’s best friend, and over her competition career, earned a Utility Dog and a Tracking Dog title, a rare combination in earlier days. Along the way, Rosalie and Fee received multiple High in Trial awards and two perfect 200 scores. Fee accompanied Rosalie to schools to demonstrate obedience and scent discrimination and was a member of the Doberman Drill Team. With Rosalie holding the leash, Fee also tracked down the thief who snatched Rosalie’s purse in downtown San Jose!

Since her beginning obedience days with Fee, Rosalie has earned numerous obedience titles with a wide variety of dogs including Shelties, Rottweilers, Poodles, Beagles, Miniature Pinschers, Collies, Whippets, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers and other Doberman pinchers.

Rosalie became a professional dog trainer as a result of people coming to her for advice and help. She became an AKC Obedience Judge after being encouraged to do so by the head of AKC’s Obedience Committee and also her husband, Pat.

The American Kennel Club (AKC®) honored the recipients of the 2006 AKC Lifetime Achievement Awards at the January 17 Delegates Meeting in Tampa, Florida, in conjunction with the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship. The winners received an engraved Tiffany and Co. sterling silver bowl. A larger Tiffany and Co. bowl, engraved with the names of all recipients past and present, is on permanent display at the AKC Headquarters in New York City.

The AKC Lifetime Achievement Awards were created to honor those individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the sport of purebred dogs on a national level. The recipients were selected by votes cast by AKC member clubs for nominees in each of the following categories: Conformation, Companion Events and Performance.

The 2006 recipient in the Companion Events category was Rosalie Alvarez
Mrs. Alvarez of Los Altos Hills, California, has been involved in Obedience since 1957. Ten of her Dobermans have earned Utility and Tracking degrees and she trained the first Doberman in the United States to obtain the UDT SchH 3 degree. She has numerous High in Trials to her credit, including two at the Doberman Pinscher Club of America?s National Specialty. In addition to Obedience, she has competed in tracking, flyball, agility events, and trained dogs for protection and scent work for bomb and narcotics detection. The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department recognized her with a citation for developing and training their canine unit. Mrs. Alvarez founded the Doberman Drill Team, which toured the United States and Canada for nearly 30 years giving demonstrations at hospitals and public events. She is an AKC Obedience judge and an active member of the Santa Clara Valley Kennel Club and the Northern California AKC Obedience Association. She is the training director of Town and Country and Deep Peninsula Dog Training Clubs. Mrs. Alvarez has helped to organize and present four AKC Obedience seminars and judged the AKC Obedience Invitational in 2001.