GRANDJUNCTION, Colo. — Since leaving Butler, you could say Pamela Oesterling Wiltgen's life has gone to the dogs.

She wouldn't mind a bit if you did.

Wiltgen, 54, is a 1972 Butler High graduate who left the area in 1998 because, "I just needed a change.

"Pennsylvania was going through a recession and I needed something different. I went to Colorado because of the growth in employment there."

During her time in Butler, Wiltgen was named North Washington Rodeo Queen in 1971 and showed horses professionally for a number of years.

Always a dog lover, she bought a male Pembroke Welsh Corgi in 2002, naming the dog Harley. She also owns a 2-year-old female Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Jo Dee.

Together, the trio made history at the 2008 Dogs On Course in North America National Championships in Prescott Valley, Ariz., earlier this month.

"Just for fun and to keep him busy, I decided to do agility training with Harley a few years ago and found that I was pretty good at it,"Wiltgen said.

One thing led to another and Harley wound up qualifying for the DOCNANationals last year, finishing first in two events, second in another and third in three other categories.

This year, Jo Dee joined Harley, 6, in qualifying for the national event.

Eleven events comprise the DOCNANationals, including three rounds of standard agility, three rounds of jumpers, two rounds of traditional gamblers, one round each of strategic time gamblers, snakes 'n' ladders and trigility.

Each event is a different type of obstacle course for the dog to complete. The owner goes onto the course with the dog to oversee its performance.

Standard agility is having the dog perform certain challenges with its handler in close proximity and far away. In jumpers, the dog completes a series of jumps, traditional gamblers is the handler and dog planning their own course while strategic time is having the dog complete the course in a specified amount of time.

"That's where you really have to know your dog, what he or she can handle in a certain time period,"Wiltgen said.

Snakes 'n' ladders is a strategic game involving tunnels, contact equipment, one set of 10 to 12 weaves and two sets of weave poles.

Trigility is completing three types of agility on a regular course.

"It's all about training your dog and developing a disciplined relationship,"Wiltgen said. "You almost treat it like organized play time.

"It doesn't take a lot of time, but it does take a lot of patience. If you have 15 minutes a day, you can train an agility dog."

This year, Jo Dee and Harley made history by finishing first in all 11 categories.

"That's 22 first places in as many tries,"Wiltgen said. "We made history in the agility world. Nobody's ever done that with a dog. Nobody could expect to do that."

The DOCNANationals are held simultaneously in the east and west o cut down on travel for the participants. The eastern event was held in Barto, Pa.

There were about 135 dogs of all sizes in the west competition, 110 in the east.

"This has been a healthy sport for me, out training and working with dogs,"Wiltgen said. "I'm 54 years old and can run like the wind.

"There was an 85-year-old woman from New Mexico out there working with her dogs. I saw an autistic boy working with a golden retriever. There were different venues for different people."

Even though Wiltgen has led Harley and Jo Dee to perfect performances, she won't stop competing with them.

She plans to expand her horizons instead.

"We'll compete next year, maybe on the east coast this time," she said. "In the meantime, I plan to hold seminars and build knowledge of the sport. I love teaching and helping people communicate with animals would mean success to me.

"Once the dogs learn the sport, they love it. It's a way for us to communicate to them and it's a fun way to play with them."