Bud Houston

Bud Houston, born in Brinkley, Arkansas, left us to join his agility dogs December 20, 2024, in Marietta, Ohio.

Bud Houston was preceded in death by his parents, Cecil Houston and Virginia Houston, and by brothers Travis Houston and Keevyn Houston.

Bud Houston is survived by former wife Marsha McIntosh, wife Marsha (Martin) Houston, sister Lucinda Houston, nieces Angi Smith, Laura Houston, April Houston, and nephews Scott Houston, Nick Houston, and Antonio Houston.

Bud grew up in Arizona with one sister and two brothers. His father was a miner. After serving in the Marine Corps and earning a Rifle Marksman Badge, a National Defense Service Medal and a Good Conduct Medal, Bud ventured away from Arizona, settling in Virginia for 3 years and Texas for 4 years. Bud returned to Arizona in 1984 with wife and partner Marsha McIntosh.

“A funny story – Bud worked as a contract technical writer while he accumulated experience. He helped three of our friends, who were in jobs they didn’t like, to become technical writers. He had them hold their hands over their heads and turn in a circle three times repeating ‘I am a technical writer, I am a technical writer.’ Then he got them hired to help him in whatever job he was in. He coached them in what needed to be done. One of these friends is Karen Gloor, an agility judge, who is still working as a technical writer. Another agility friend got a job with the state of Arizona and just recently retired from that job.”

In 1986 Bud Houston was one of the founders of the first dog agility club in Arizona, Contact Zonies in Scottsdale, Arizona. In 1987 he branched out and started a dog agility club in Mesa, Arizona. Dog agility was a sport in its infancy and the Houston’s were club founders, teachers, and handlers.

Bud loved to tell the story of his introduction to dog agility. He enrolled his sheltie in an obedience class and, on graduation night, the instructor brought out agility equipment. “The next session I was enrolled in agility class, and the following session I was teaching agility class to beginners.”

Much has changed since those early days, but dog agility remained Bud’s passion his entire life. Even in “retirement” he taught on-line classes for distance training, receiving video from students and offering advice and evaluation. His students are everywhere, and many are now instructors passing information on to their own students.

In addition to teaching dog agility classes, Bud Houston became an agility judge and seminarist, and is considered a founding member of the sport. While teaching, judging, and running his beloved Shetland Sheepdogs, Bud also wrote a dozen books on the subject and created Clean Run magazine which began as a typed and stapled dog agility training workbook and grew to be a glossy publication featuring the writing and teaching of key figures in the sport. Clean Run magazine continues today as an on-line publication.

Bud and second wife Marsha (Martin) Houston ran a thriving dog training business in Ostrander, Ohio. A typical week would find agility camp attendees arriving Monday morning for 3-and-a-half days of instruction, ongoing classes every evening, and Bud flying out Friday afternoon for a weekend of judging or seminar presentations. Thankfully he had a wife who not only ran the dog training center, but ran a John Deere tractor as well.

Bud Houston retired to a little dog agility and obedience training center in Watertown, OH, where for 10 years he hosted dog agility camps for enthusiasts from all over the United States. When he felt the agility skills of little dogs were being overlooked by the big agility organizations, he (along with a group of little-dog-people) founded Teacup Dogs Agility Association. TDAA as a sanctioning body remains active and vibrant with the Kolean family. With the crush of a Covid pandemic, Bud Houston sold TDAA and retired with his laptop, his agility border collie, Kory, and his wife’s pack of rescued mutts, to Williamstown, WV.

If there’s a rainbow bridge, Bud is sitting nearby with a beer and a dozen or so of his best furry friends. His dogs include sheltie Winston the Wonder Dog, champion shelties Bogie and Birdie and Hazard, and finally agility champion border collie Kory (Houston’s Hickory). Bud also trained and ran the pack of rescued mutts his wife collected proving that, regardless of birth or circumstances, any dog could benefit from, and enjoy, agility training.

Bud Houston passed away quietly and peacefully in his sleep on a Friday night when many of his friends were no doubt setting up for weekend agility trials.

Bud Houston’s accomplishments in the formation and support of dog agility as a sport in its infancy will not be soon forgotten, and his writing has become basic reference material for hundreds of dog agility instructors and enthusiasts.

Bud loved writing about dogs, about agility, about politics (he was a Democrat and hated the results of the last election), about football (especially The Ohio State Buckeyes), and about anything that caught his attention. We are surprised he didn’t write his own obituary choosing, instead, to leave this task to Marsha Houston, his wife and partner for the last 26 years.

That’ll do, Bud.  Good man.  You can go lie down now.