Faculty & staff

Amy Cook, Ph.D. (she/her) has been training dogs for over 30 years, and through Full Circle Dog Training and Play Way Dogs in Oakland, CA, has been specializing in the rehabilitation of shy and fearful dogs for 20 years. She is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant through the IAABC, a longstanding ...

Cassia Turcotte has been involved with the dog training world for nearly two decades and has been training professionally since 1999. With a background in private behavior modification, she has also worked as a kennel manager, volunteer shelter staff, veterinary technician...

Irith Bloom finds joy in helping people teach with kindness while developing choice-rich environments for their companion animals. ...

Jennifer Henion (she/her), KPA CTP has been playing and studying the US retriever sports for 13 years with 6 different dogs. All of whom have achieved Hunt Test titles...

Nicole Wiebusch CPDT-KA (she/her) has been competing in dog sports for over 25 years. Starting in 4-H, Nicole quickly became addicted to the sport of obedience and has been showing in obedience, rally, and agility ever since. (Click here for full bio and to view Nicole's upcoming courses)...

Megan (she/her) has been involved in the dog sport world nearly her entire life. Though her family did compete in obedience, agility was Megan’s passion right from the start. With over 20 years experience, she has competed with a variety of dogs...

Erin (she/her) is a lifelong dog enthusiast from Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada. Erin is certified as a Karen Pryor Academy Training Partner, a Certified Profesional Canine Fitness Trainer, a Licenced Family Dog Mediator, and as a Cani-Fit Leader, ...

Amy Johnson (she/her) is the official show photographer for many of the premier agility events in the United States, including the AKC National Agility Championships, AKC Agility Invitational, USDAA Cynosport World Games, UKI US Open, and NADAC Championships, as well as numerous local trials, regional events, and breed national specialties. She has photographed a wide variety of dog sports, including agility, obedience, rally, and conformation. (Click here for full bio and to view Amy's upcoming courses.)...

Donna Hill (she/her) has had a life long love affair with dogs and a fascination with dog behavior. She has broad practical experience in the dog world: volunteering and working in kennels and shelters, dog sitting and walking, fostering rescue dogs, teaching behavior modification privately, and...

Julie Symons (she/her) has been involved in dog sports for over 30 years. Starting with her mix, Dreyfus, in flyball, she went on to train and compete in conformation, agility, obedience, herding and tracking with her first Belgian tervuren, Rival. Rival was the first CH OTCH MACH Belgian...

Jennifer Summerfield (she/her) is a veterinarian and Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA), with a focus on treating behavior problems including aggression to humans or other animals, separation anxiety, and compulsive behavior disorders. She also teaches group classes and...

Laura Waudby (she/they) trains and competes in obedience, rally, and agility. She was halfway to her OTCH with her UDX corgi, Lance, before his uexpected early retirement. She also has championship titles in USDAA and UKI. By day...

Lucy Newton (she/her) has been training dogs and teaching dog training almost all her adult life. She was a search & rescue dog trainer, handler, and instructor and trained numerous personal dogs for wilderness search and rescue, as well as land and water human remains detection. Working with very active wilderness SAR teams, she worked on a large number of missing person cases in both urban and very remote wilderness locations. (Click here for full bio and to view Lucy's upcoming courses)...

Deborah Jones, Ph.D. (she/her) is a psychologist who specializes in learning theory and social behavior. She taught a variety of psychology courses at Kent State University for the past 20 years. Deb has been training dogs for performance events for the past 25 years and was an early...

Liz Joyce has been at the forefront of the fitness industry since 2006, with a specialized focus on the unique needs of dog handlers ...

Sarah (she/her) has been working with dogs in the realms of performance training and behavior solutions for over a decade. She currently operates online through her business, The Cognitive Canine. Her special area of interest has long been helping dog owners address behavioral concerns...

Barbara Currier (she/her) got involved with agility shortly after adopting her Chihuahua. In 2004, Barbara and her husband Michael were relocated to VA and shortly after she started teaching agility at All Dog Adventures (fka All Dog Playskool) in Richmond, VA. (Click here for full bio and to view Barbara's upcoming courses)...

Petra (she/her) graduated from Rutgers School of Health Related Professions 17 years ago with a degree in physical therapy and has experience working with an extremely varied caseload including pediatric through geriatric clients with a vast range of diagnoses. Her areas of expertise included in-patient rehabilitation, orthopedics and neurology. (Click here for full bio and to view Petra's upcoming courses)...

Shade Whitesel (she/her) has been training and competing in dog sports since she was a kid. Always interested in how dogs learn, she has successfully competed in IPO/schutzhund, AKC obedience and French Ring. Her retired dog, Reiki vom Aegis, IPO 3, FH 1, French Ring 1, CDX, was 5th at the...

Kelly Daniel (She/her) is a learning and dog training addict. She has been training and competing with her dogs (of various shapes and forms) for around 15 years ...

Deborah (Gross) Torraca (she/her), DPT, MSPT, Diplomat ABPTS, CCRP has been involved in the field of animal physical rehabilitation for over 17 years and currently owns a small animal rehabilitation practice in Connecticut called Wizard of Paws Physical Rehabilitation for...

Nancy Gagliardi Little (she/her) has been training dogs since the early 1980s, when she put an OTCH on her Novice A dog, a Labrador retriever. Since then she has put many advanced obedience titles on her dogs, including 4 AKC OTCH titles, 6 UD titles, 3 UDX titles, and multiple...

Bronagh Daly is a Certified Control Unleashed Instructor, Certified Family Dog Mediator, Certified One Mind Dogs Instructor, and a graduate of the Aggression in Dogs Master Course. She does not believe in one-size-fits all...

Nancy (she/her) is a certified trainer with the CCPDT, and a certified behavior consultant with the IAABC. She teaches seminars, webinars, and workshops on dog training, dog behavior, and the business end of training throughout Canada, the U.S., and Europe. (Click here for full bio and to view Nancy's upcoming courses)...

Melissa (she/her) is FDSA's resident marketing geek. She teaches several marketing classes here at FDSA, including: Marketing for Pet Professionals and Building a Wordpress Website. In addition to her marketing classes, Melissa teaches FDSA's Treibball Classes and workshops. (Click here for full bio and to view Melissa's upcoming courses)...

Julie Daniels (she/her) won her first award for writing in the fourth grade, and she was training dogs long before that. Today Julie Daniels is one of the foremost names in dog agility in the United States. She was one of the early champions of the sport and helped many clubs throughout the country...

Sharon (she/her) has been a professional animal trainer for 30 years. She has been both a presenter and trainer in a range of animal shows, and currently operates, a dog training and behaviour consulting business based in Newcastle, Australia. (Click here for full bio and to view Sharon's upcoming courses.)...

Kamal Fernandez (he/him) started training in 1991 after getting Scrunch, an independent and free-willled chow-chow mix. Like many other first-time dog owners, Kamal found himself in for a rude awakening when he got her – Lassie she was not! You name it, Scrunch did it – ...

Laurie Huston became a certified instructor under the OneMind Dogs system in 2017 but enjoys working with students in whichever handling and training system they’re using ...

Ashley Escobar (she/her) has been training dogs and their people for 20 years. She is a retired college professor of mathematics and is a Certified Canine Fitness Trainer (CCFT) as well as a Certified Human and Canine Physical Trainer. ..(Click here for full bio and to view Ashley's upcoming courses)...

Karen Deeds, is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC). She is the co-owner of Canine Connection in Ft. Worth, TX with her husband, Bob Deeds, a retired Federal K9 Handler on Texas Task Force I...

Judy Keller (she/her) has owned and trained Shelties for more than 20 years. She has been most successful with Morgan, her once in a lifetime dog. Judy and Morgan represented the United States three times in world agility competition, and were on the gold medal winning mini dog team in 1998. (Click here for full bio and to view Judy's upcoming courses)...

Sue (she/her) graduated from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, NY, in 1980. After three years in private practice, she joined the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps. While on active duty, she completed a 3 year residency in small animal surgery at Texas A&M University...

Stacy Barnett is a top nosework competitor and trainer, with many Summit Level titles in the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW), (Judd SMTx3, Brava SMTx5, Powder SMTx3). She is also a Wilderness SAR K9 handler with her certified dog, K9 Prize. Stacy has been a faculty member at FDSA since 2015 (Click here for full bio and to view Stacy's upcoming courses)...

Founder and Lead Trainer, The Dog’s Den Training School Barbara Lloyd, with over 24 years of experience, is a trailblazer in the world of dog training. As the owner of The Dog’s Den Training School, she has dedicated her career to transforming the lives of both dogs and their human companions.(Click here for full bio and to view Barbara's upcoming courses)...

Lori Stevens (she/her) (CPBC, CPDT-KA, CCFT, SAMP) is an animal behavior consultant, a professional dog trainer, a canine fitness trainer, an animal massage practitioner, and a senior Tellington TTouch® Training practitioner. ...

Hannah Branigan (she/her) has been training dogs and teaching people for more than 10 years. She is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA) and a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA-CTP). Hannah is the owner of Wonderpups, LLC, and teaches workshops...

Denise Fenzi (she/her) has competed in a wide range of dog sports – titling dogs in obedience (AKC and UKC), tracking (AKC and schutzhund), schutzhund (USA), mondioring (MRSA), herding (AKC), conformation (AKC), and agility (AKC). She is best known for her flashy and precise ...

Sara Brueske (she/her) has been training dogs for over 15 years, and has experienced a large variety of breeds and sports during that time. Having graduated as a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner ...

Caden (he/they), CCUI, is a dog trainer, writer and traveler currently based in Mexico. Caden has been fond of dogs of all sizes, shapes and personalities for as long as they can think - especially the so called difficult ones. After training the dachshund of their early teenage years in traditional ways at their local obedience club, they learned about clicker training and got hooked on motivational methods ...

Hélène Lawler (she/her) got her first dog, a border collie named Jake, in 1989 and has been training dogs ever since. Over the years, she has trained in obedience, search and rescue, protection sports, rally, tricks, and freestyle, among others. She discovered agility in 2004, and herding in 2005, which have become her main focus and passion in dog sports. (Click here for full bio and to view Hélène's upcoming courses)...

Tracey McLennan (she/her) has an undergraduate degree in Canine Behaviour and Training and is the author of the book Canine Aggression: Rehabilitating an aggressive dog with kindness and compassion...

Andrea Harrison (she/her) is passionate about all species, including dogs and humans! Having lived with dogs her whole life, Andrea was an early convert to positive training for people and dogs. She has taken this message to the media many times...

Kim Palermo CPDT-KA (she/her) is a Certified Control Unleashed Instructor and ACE (Animal Centred Education) Practitioner. She specializes in teaching Control Unleashed and ACE Free Work with private clients, teaches a high volume of in-person CU classes, and incorporates CU into all of her membership-style group pet dog classes for her dog training business, BlueDog, located north of Boston...

Heather Lawson (she/her) is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Skills Assessed (CPDT-KSA) and also a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA-CTP), a CGN evaluator and a free-style judge. She has been training dogs and their humans for more that 20 years after deciding that...

Ann Smorado (she/her) was a horse crazy teenager who started training dogs in 2006 when she got her first labrador retriever, Miles. What started out as taking a puppy class to make sure she would have a well mannered dog, or at least a dog that didn’t destroy the house, quickly grew into a passion. (Click here for full bio and to view Ann's upcoming courses)...

Melissa Chandler (she/her) lives in Ohio and is owned by her Weimaraner and Vizsla. Melissa has been addicted to dog sports since starting in 4H and AKC Jr. Showmanship. She has competed in conformation, agility, obedience, hunt tests, nose work, and rally. She has also...

Susan Finlay Ailsby (she/her) has retired from active teaching for FDSA. She is a retired obedience and conformation judge. She has been "in dogs" for 54 years, having owned and trained Chihuahuas, miniature pinschers, miniature longhaired dachshunds, Australian cattle dogs, miniature schnauzers, giant schnauzers, and Portuguese...

Loretta Mueller (she/her) has been involved in agility since 2003 with her first rescue dog, Ace. Since then she has been involved in a variety of dog training activities including USBCHA herding, competitive obedience, rally obedience, and service dog training. In 2007, Loretta...

Julie Flanery (she/her), CPDT-KA has been working professionally with dogs and their handlers since 1993. She focuses on the needs of the dog and helping people form a strong relationship, through clear communication, and positive reinforcement. She has placed Obedience...

Leslie Eide (she/her) graduated from Colorado State University’s veterinary school in 2006. She completed a rotating internship in small animal medicine in Albuquerque, NM. She continued her education by becoming certified in canine rehabilitation through the Canine Rehab Institute...

Aleks Woodroffe (Bsc, CTMT, ACMT) is a Canine Bodyworker and Scent Work trainer in Phoenix, AZ...