Who We Are

We have both had dogs for most of our lives, from mutts to purebreds. It wasn't until we got our first PWD together that we started training beyond simple manners to performance venues and have been hooked ever since. We enjoy the camaraderie that our dogs provide, the challenges of training in many venues simultaneously, and the fabulous people we have met in various dog sports. Both of us hold Ph.Ds in biology and teach at the university level. Kari is a marine biologist specializing in lobster behavioral ecology and functional morphology (see my professional site here) and Sam is a comparative anatomist specializing in flight evolution in birds, crocodile evolution, biomechanics of movement in reptiles, and bone mineralization.

Kari worked as part of the PWDCA volunteer staff (Team Courier) for editing/proof-reading issues of The Courier from 2018 to 2021 and is a current member of the Awards Committee running the Register of Merit program (ROM) for the Awards Committee. The Courier won the Maxwell Award from the Dog Writer's Association in 2019 and Kari's article on teaching tricks to dogs was nominated for the AKC Family Dog Award from the Dog Writer's Association in 2020. She recently was interviewed on The Quirky Dog Podcast about the breed and water training. You can see that episode here. She also writes AKC Gazette articles on the breed: October 2024 (pg. 108), April 2024 (pg. 106), October 2023 (pg. 106), & January 2023 (pg. 126). In 2024, Kari won the 2023 AKC Outstanding Sportsman Award from the PWDCA & AKC.

Kari Lavalli

After having cats, guinea pigs, gerbils, ducks, snakes, and frogs for most of my childhood, I got my first dog at age 16 -- a Doberman Pinscher named "Dudley". Dudley was quite the challenging dog and I was totally unprepared for the kind of training that he needed; as a result he was never well-trained. Dudley followed me to college, was quite the sensation on campus and in town because of his antics, and then followed me to graduate school at Boston University where he succumbed to an aggressive mast cell tumor at 6 years of age. When I moved to Woods Hole on Cape Cod for my graduate research, I bought a Siberian Husky puppy from a local breeder and got involved with a local training group. This dog, named Mephistopheles, was my constant companion, going with me to the lab and out in the field. At the age of 2, she was affected by an autoimmune disease, now known as uveodermatological syndrome, and went blind in one eye. By age 9, she was totally blind. Nevertheless, she still continued in all of her activities, and followed me to Northeastern University's Marine Science Center in Nahant for my first postdoctoral position, then to Haifa, Israel for my second postdoctoral position, and finally to central Texas for my first professorial position where she died at a ripe old age of 14. Along the way, I picked up a second Siberian Husky, Loki, in Nahant, and while he lived with my mother during my time overseas, he followed me to Texas and then back to Massachusetts when I took a position at Boston University's College of General Studies. After Mephistopheles' death, I found a starving and shot Border Collie outside of the missions in San Antonio and she became Loki's next companion. Highway was crippled on one hindlimb because of a badly healed bullet wound to her knee joint, but after she came to trust humans again, she was as fun loving as one could be. She and Loki were trained simply to be good housedogs and companions.

When I moved back to Massachusetts in 2004, Loki was 12 years old. I got involved with a Siberian Husky rescue organization knowing that I wouldn't have that many more years with Loki, and started looking for another Siberian to adopt. In early 2007, I received a phone call from my old colleague and friend, Mimi Karlsson, who said, "I know you're looking for another dog, I have one for you." It was a PWD and I wasn't interested. She demanded to know why I was crazy and wanted a dog that shed copious piles of fur that stuck to everything and that filled up bags and bags, and she finally cajoled me into visiting. We did and we fell in love with Asta, our first PWD. Asta lived with Loki during his last year of life and with Highway for the last three years of her life. In the interim, we continued to work with the Siberian Husky rescue group and fostered two dogs, one of which was adopted by my mother. Asta was the first dog I started competing with and had both her CD and RE titles before age two. She was how I met Karen Ash -- we both showed up for a rally trial with our improperly coated PWDs and have been friends ever since.

Since Mimi was interested in helping to develop a gene test for improper coat and Asta was an improperly coated PWD, she asked us to allow her to breed Asta for test litters. And that was how we got Darwin, a pup from the first test litter whom we had no intention of keeping until taking him to a water camp and seeing what a fabulous dog he was. After the test was confirmed and commercialized, Mimi and I bred Asta three other times because of her good health and her wonderful temperament. And that was how we got Beleza, a singleton and Asta's last puppy. The year before Beleza was born, however, we had adopted a Border Collie who was a "rehome" after being returned to the breeder for being, well, a border collie. Uta was similar in looks to Highway, but with quite a different personality. She was leash reactive and easily overstimulated to the point of losing her mind and being difficult to train. Her behavioral issues led me to a course called "Chill Ubu" taught at Performance Plus K9 and that was how I met Nancy Droukas. After spending most of a year working on reactive issues, Nancy then led me through how to train this "over the top" dog for obedience and mentored me through many training protocols. Eventually, she invited me to start teaching manners classes and now tricks and rally classes at her facility. Along the way, we managed to get Parvene Farhoody to come and do a summer's worth of the famous chicken camps at Performance Plus. If you want to become a good dog trainer -- start with training a chicken. They are much faster and much less forgiving for poor timing than any dog!

I currently serve as the Recording Secretary for the Tracking Club of Massachusetts, am a former board member of the Mayflower Portuguese Water Dog club, and am a current member of the Wachusett Kennel Club, the Greater Lowell Kennel Club, the Ocean State Agility Club, the Nutmeg Portuguese Water Dog club, the Mayflower Portuguese Water Dog club, the PWDsNE club, and the Portuguese Water Dog Club of America, where I serve on the Awards Committee and am the Register of Merit Chair for the PWDCA. I formerly served on the Courier editorial group and was the Versatility Chair of the Border Collie Society of America until from 2014 to 2021. Currently I write 2 of the annual 4 breed columns for the Working Group portion of the AKC Gazette and occasional Courier articles.

I've taught beginner's and advanced workshops for water work, both dry and wet with Karen Ash, tricks and rally classes at Performance Plus K9 in Raynham, MA, and tricks, CGC, and rally classes at Agility Rush in Uxbridge, MA. I am an administrator of the private Facebook groups, Splashin' Passion and Topsail PWDs, and have taken much of what was produced in the Splashin' Passion group and turned it into an online beginner's water course. PWDs led me into the world of competition training and have been incredibly fun to work with -- through them I have learned more than I ever expected to about dog behavior and have met a large number of lovely people who have been part of my training "village". To see a training session with our dogs, click here.

Sam Tarsitano

I had a great dog, Hannah, a number of years ago--she was a cocker spaniel/golden mix and had a fabulous personality. She was a true friend and companion. And that’s what I think dogs are all about.

Before Kari and I were married I had rescued some dogs in Texas and kept them as refugee pets even though the last one I rescued pulled my pajama pants down in the front yard. Our oldest rescue, an Irish Setter named Mariah, lived to the ripe old age of 15 and was my childrens' long-time companion.

When we moved to Massachusetts, I met Kari's old friends, Mimi and John Karlsson, who convinced us to get our first PWD. Asta came home with us and was a fun and easy puppy to raise. Later, when we were taking care of two of the IC puppies while Mimi and John were off on some adventure, I felt that one of the pups really wanted to stay with us forever. And so we kept Darwin. Then we brought home Beleza, Asta's last puppy, in 2014 and, due to our teaching schedules, I was the main caretaker of her during the day. She was a challenging puppy to raise, but is fiercely loyal to both me and Kari.

PWDs are people dogs and will always be by your side, even in the bathroom, if you know what I mean! They love activity but also snuggling. I want others to have the same experiences that we‘ve had with our dogs who have been true friends and companions to us both. It will be hard giving up the puppies, but we know they will be true friends of those who go home with them.

As you can see from my picture I also like to rescue birds and other animals, only if necessary. The robin in the picture was brought to the Tufts rehab center for birds for release and examination; I also rescued a cat bird that was taken to Tufts, and a morning dove that was hit by a car and after a few days of R&R, was healthy enough to fly away. Our dogs, after one evening of nosework training, found a tiny turtle in a parking lot in a precarious location where it was destined to be crushed by cars. We raised it until it started biting the hand that fed it (it was a snapping turtle) and released it into our friend's lake where we do water training. We're not sure that was the best idea because now Godzilla lurks in the pond!

I don't really train the dogs, but am involved in puppy raising and in spoiling the house dogs. I'm the main daily caretaker when Kari is out training or trialing and the dogs left behind always enjoy "pizza night" with me when they are stuck at home instead of at a trial.

"Dogs are obsessed with being happy."
- James Thurber