Our Story

My first show dog, Krystal (a Samoyed), was a Christmas gift in 1984. Bill Burrell taught me to handle and train. We fell in love and married. Now we have two beautiful children who help with our thriving business. Between the four of us, we have over 100 years of experience in showing and training dogs. 

We've worked with dogs and their owners in about twenty-five countries spanning five continents. We've won multiple Best in Shows and Best in Specialty Shows, and about fifteen different varieties of conformation championships. We've worked with most, if not all, AKC and FCI breeds. Each year, Burrell Handling and its students earn more than 70 titles in conformation, obedience, rally, and more. In addition, we have more than 50 students who have won Best in Show.

Our training extends beyond the show ring to virtually all aspects of dog life. Bill was a co-founder of the United States Temperament Testing Association, and we've tested thousands of dogs. We have titled dogs in rally and obedience. We have experience  with tracking, protection work, service dogs, movies and television, problem dogs, etc. We enjoy applying techniques including obedience, massage, strength training, and conditioning to develop individual programs for each dog to help it achieve the owner's goals.

-Sue Burrell