Blog

Hi! I'm Liz Joyce. I'm a personal trainer, a movement nerd and a dog enthusiast. I excel at splitting and transferring the concepts of R+ training into fitness programming.

I've been in the fitness industry since 2006 logging over 15000 client training hours to date. I've tried most avenues of fitness and then field-tested the best of the disciplines on hundreds of clients. I've also competed at the National and International level in 2 sports.

I've studied program development, strength training, athletic development, applied movement mechanics, best practices for menopause, osteoporosis, dog agility sports movement, and much more. I drew from the best of all these regimes and education to create accessible and effective programs.

I am the founder of Canine Handler Fitness and work closely with agility handlers of all fitness levels to improve their athleticism, agility and speed.

Christopher Tiller is an experienced developer passionate about dog training and behavior. He was first introduced to the dog training world when he adopted his reactive dog, Stanley, and became a massive dog training nerd. He enjoys working with his two pups, Stanley and Missile.

With a background in development, Christopher loves to identify pain points in dog training and develop solutions. He has been developing TailScribe, a tracking tool for dog trainers, and is committed to creating more tools to assist his fellow trainers.

When he’s not in his cave developing or playing games with the pups, he likes passing the time as a part-time information sponge or learning how to use his body in calisthenics.

Sharon Carroll 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.

Intent on really understanding animals better, Sharon completed a Bachelor of Applied Science, a Graduate Diploma (Captive Vertebrate Management – wildlife and exotics) and a Master of Animal Science. Sharon is currently completing a PhD in Veterinary Pharmacology,

Sharon is a fully certified behaviour consultant with the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC) in both dogs (CDBC) and horses (CHBC), and is a certified professional dog trainer - CPDT-KA.

Sharon guest lectures to post graduate veterinarians and behaviourists at several universities and organisations, on the topics of animal behaviour, training, species-specific cognition, welfare and psychological trauma in animals. 

Nowadays Sharon’s primary focus is working with dogs displaying significant aggression (dog-to-human and dog-to-dog), and also cases where the animal is performing a range of behaviours associated with fear or anxiety. 

In all cases, Sharon’s primary aim is to help the humans to understand the underlying cause for their dog’s behaviour, and to use both management and behaviour-modifying training, to achieve a better outcome for the dog and their human family.

Further information is available at www.AvantiDogTraining.com.au

Michael Shikashio, CDBC, is the past president of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC), and provides private consultations working exclusively with dog aggression cases through his business Complete Canines LLC. Michael is fully certified through the IAABC and is a full member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT).

He is sought after for his expert opinion by numerous media outlets, including the New York Times, New York Post, Baltimore Sun, WebMD, Women’s Health Magazine, Real Simple Magazine, The Chronicle of the Dog, and Steve Dale’s Pet World.

Michael is a featured speaker at conferences, universities, and seminars around the world, and offers a variety of workshops, webinars, and online courses on the topic of canine aggression.

Leslie Eide, DVM, 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 with a focus in sports medicine. She continues to learn more about rehabilitation, sports medicine and pain management through daily practice and continuing education seminars. She currently practices at Sound Veterinary Rehab Center in Seattle, WA.

In the agility world, Leslie has trained two dogs to their ADCH, one to ADCH Bronze, ATCH2, and MACH. Five of her dogs have qualified for the USDAA Nationals, with multiple Grand Prix Semi-final runs. She currently competes with 2 dogs in agility. Stig recently competed at the USA EO Tryouts and AKC NAC in 2018.

Leslie is a member of the AVMA, WSVMA and AARV.

Dr. Spaulding has a PhD in Biopsychology and is a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist through the Animal Behavior Society. As a graduate student, she acquired extensive experience in teaching the science of behavior and received an award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student. Prior to receiving her PhD, Dr. Spaulding earned her B.S. in Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. In college, she volunteered and then worked at the local humane society. During her time at the animal shelter, she and a coworker established a training program for shelter dogs. She also served as an assistant trainer at Dog’s Best Friend which was owned at that time by Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist Dr. Patricia McConnell. In 2001, Dr. Spaulding moved upstate New York and opened Smart Dog Training and Behavior LLC, where she continues to conduct private lessons for basic training and a wide variety of behavior problems.

In addition to working with clients, Dr. Spaulding regularly offers educational opportunities on the science of animal behavior at training and behavior conferences and online. She has a particular interest in increasing the flow of information between academia and those in the field to improve the quality of both research and applied work. She is a long-standing member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainer’s (APDT) Education Committee and in 2019, Dr. Spaulding received the APDT’s Member of the Year Award. She is also a member of the Fear Free Advisory Group and an authorized Speaker for Fear Free which advocates for minimizing fear, anxiety and stress for pets around the country. She chairs two task forces for Meeting of the Minds, a coalition of top dog professionals across the country charged with improving quality of life for our dogs. She also regularly conducts staff training on dog behavior for local veterinary clinics and animal shelters.

Irith Bloom finds joy in helping people teach with kindness while developing choice-rich environments for their companion animals. She has been training since the 1980s and has worked with animals ranging from chickens and rabbits to dogs and horses—not to mention humans. She is a sought-after presenter, and her writing has been published in countless online outlets, as well as in print media including the recent book “Your Puppy and You: A step-by-step guide to raising a freak'n awesome dog.”

Irith is co-founder of the Freak’n Awesome Dog Project, which helps people live the life of their dreams with their dogs. Her training company, The Sophisticated Dog, LLC, provides both peer-to-peer and trainer-to-pet-family services worldwide through the magic of online meetings.

Irith is a CPDT-KSA, CBCC-KA, CDBC, VSPDT, KPA CTP, CSAT, CBATI-KSA, and a Fear Free Certified Practitioner (FFCP - Trainer). She is also certified in TAGteach, a positive-reinforcement method for teaching humans, and is on the faculty of Victoria Stilwell Academy for Dog Training and Behavior.

Irith has a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Member of the Board of the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT) and on the Advisory Board for Daily Paws, as well as Chair Emeritus of the Education Committee of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT). She volunteers for National English Shepherd Rescue. Irith is between dogs at the moment, but shares her home with a well-behaved human spouse named Aaron.

Shortly after adopting her Chihuahua, Barbara Currier got involved with agility. She started teaching in 2004, and has trained with some of the best agility trainers and handlers in the world, including Susan Garrett, Tracy Sklenar, Kayl McCann, Jaakko Suoknuuti and Janita Leinonen and has implemented what she has learned from them into her training program.

Barbara became heavily involved in the OneMind Dogs handling method in 2014.

She has successfully competed over 10 different breeds of dogs since she started competing in agility. Her current competition dog is her 3-year-old mini poodle, Miso.  Miso started trialing in March 2016 and in 7 months qualified for AKC NAC and USDAA Cynosports. After 4 clean runs at the 2017 NAC, she earned her way into finals and finished as the 9th ranking dog in the country in the 12’ division.  She then went on to to win RD 1 at AWC World Team Tryouts April 2017.  Barbara continues to teach all over the country.

Barbara is also the head dog trainer for the F.I.D.O. Program run at Georgia Tech, which creates wearable computing for military, SAR and service dogs. She has also worked as an animal wrangler for Marvel’s Ant-Man, 90 Minutes in Heaven, the TV series Satisfaction and various commercials.

Today, she resides in GA and shares her home with her very supportive husband, Mike, border collies Brazen and Blitz, Parson Russell terrier Piper, mini poodle Miso, field English cocker Eggo, and bearded dragon Saphira.

Nancy is a certified trainer with the CCPDT, and a certified behaviour consultant with the IAABC.  She teaches seminars, webinars, and workshops on dog training, dog behaviour, and the business end of training throughout Canada, the US, and Europe.   She is also an instructor for Fenzi Dog Sports Academy and a regular article contributor to the Whole Dog Journal. She shares her home in Quebec, Canada with her husband Tom and their Border Terrier, Bennigan.

Dr. Jessica Hekman is a postdoctoral associate at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where she researches how genetics affect behavior in pet and working dogs. Jessica received her Ph.D. in Animal Sciences (Genetics, Genomics, and Bioinformatics) in 2017 from the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she studied canid behavioral genetics. Previously, Jessica graduated from the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in 2012 with a dual DVM/MS degree.

Her Master's work was on the behavior and cortisol responses of healthy dogs to being hospitalized overnight. She also completed a shelter medicine veterinary internship at the University of Florida Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program. Jessica lives in Marlborough, MA with her husband and two dogs:

 Dashiell, an English Shepherd who does agility, parkour, and rally; and Jenny, a shy mixed breed dog who does parkour.

Website: www.dogzombie.com

My name is Eve and these are my dogs, Tsumo, Helé, Rina and Seph.  One Shiba Inu, two Border Collies and one Pembroke Welsh Corgi, ranging from 6 to 1 year old. I also had a husky mix as well as an Abyssinian and a Colourpoint Shorthair.  

I’m a professional dog trainer who trains dogs (and cats) of different breeds and ages. After teaching group classes for a few years, I relocated my growing four-legged family to northern Québec. Since then, I have been training online. 

With my dogs, I do harness dog sports, agility, disc, ratting sports, and obedience. I specialize in sensitive dogs, primitive and herding breeds, attention, recalls, and building motivation. I’m known for my sense of humour and compassion, and for always adapting my training to the dog and the student in front of me!

I have worked in retail for many years. Marketing and sales are something that fascinate me. When I’m not training, I enjoy writing. I do a lot of blog posts, copywriting and crazy newsletters.

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.

Kelly is normally a high school Science Teacher and Head of Department (Science) in the wonderful New Zealand, but is currently on parental leave with her tiny human Blake.

Since studying Zoology at University Kelly has had a keen interest in animals, and learning in all species. She's travelled to the US to learn, and become qualified in Canine Fitness Training, and since then has added a range of qualifications to her belt including FDSA Sports Foundation Trainer, Fear Free Trainer, Kinesthesiology Taping, Raw food certified, and is completing training in Canine Massage, and to be a Nosework judge.

Kelly is also very proud to have been a part of the TV show 'Dogs Almighty', titled multiple dogs to champion status in three different sports, and have founded started a NZ School Support dog program with her two spaniels. She competes in anything she can, but this is primarily agility and nosework.

In her training business (https://www.hybriddogtraining.com/) Kelly focuses on using smart reinforcement strategies, and acknowledging the impact of emotions and the body to training behavior's. Hybrid Training is all about developing happy and healthy dogs, and successful competitive teams.

Hélène got her first dog, a border collie named Jake, in 1989 and has been training dogs ever since. Over the years, she has dabbled in obedience, search and rescue, protection sports, rally, tricks, and freestyle, among others. She discovered agility in 2004, and herding in 2005. Herding quickly became her passion; she was so excited about it that she took lessons for a whole year without a dog!

In 2006, Hélène bought her first herding dog — a border collie named Hannah. Hannah was an amazing partner and teacher, and together they won the Ontario novice herding championship in their first year of competition. As a team, they went all the way to Open in USBCHA herding while simultaneously competing at the Masters level in agility.

Hélène has also been very active in rescue over the years, giving her the opportunity to work with a wide variety of dogs and challenges. It was through working with rescue dogs that she discovered and became committed to using positive reinforcement based training methods. She believes so strongly in this approach that she has been working hard to develop a positive reinforcement based method for herding. She is also deeply committed to natural rearing as a major component of dog training, believing that a clear, sound mind and a strong, healthy body are integral to a calm, confident, eager-to-learn animal partner.

Today, Hélène lives on a mixed livestock farm in rural eastern Ontario with her team of eight border collies, two Maremma guardian dogs, and a kelpie. A professional editor and writer, she teaches private and occasional group lessons, workshops, and online classes in herding and dog sport foundations.

Hélène’s personal website: www.helenelawler.com.

Erin (she/her) is a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner, North America Diving Dogs judge, CWAGS scent judge, and breeder of performance focused Labrador Retrievers under the “Eromit” kennel name.

Erin’s journey in dog sports began as a junior handler, first in obedience and then more seriously when her family took up dog sled racing. She spent ten years as a competitive sprint racer specializing in 4 and 6 dog class with both Labrador Retriever and Alaskan Husky sled dogs. During her university years, where she studied Biology and Animal Science, Erin fostered a variety of breeds and mixes through her local shelter- also working as an adoption councillor and animal attendant for 6 years. It was around that time that a friend introduced her to the sport of agility and that brought about a whole new training passion!

Currently, Erin’s primary dog sport is dock diving and she also competes in agility, obedience, rally, and nosework. She has earned multiple national and regional championships, high in trial and perfect scores across various sports and set records in dog sledding and dock diving. Erin enjoys training her dogs for upland, waterfowl and shed antler hunting as well as canicross. In doing all the things, her dogs are most well known for their joyous and enthusiastic attitudes towards their activities.

As an instructor, she takes the most pride in teaching her students with a ‘fun-first’ philosophy for both the people and the dogs, and helps them develop a special bond with their dogs whether training as pets, in fitness or in sports. Her training facility - Eromit AIRcademy- was voted the North America Diving Dogs 2019 Canadian Facility of the Year, and hosts NADD sanctioned dock diving trials throughout the summer months as well as lessons, seminars and year-round online training.

Erin shares her home with her equally dog-loving husband Tim and a dozen or so wild and wonderful labs ranging from 9 month old Pounce to 12.5 year old Ruger. Their family also includes 2 cats any many rabbits, chickens, pigeons, and American Blackbelly sheep.

Amy Johnson's (she/her) start in professional photography came when she was taking pictures of her friends' dogs at conformation shows, and quickly surpassed both her interest in showing her own dog and the capabilities of film. She was quick to make the move to digital, starting with Canon’s first digital SLR, the D30.

Amy 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, UKI West Coast 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. She also enjoys the challenge of photographing birds and other wildlife.

Amy merges her passion for photography with a strong background in education, which includes a MA in education and five years of experience in the classroom teaching middle and high school math.

Amy has lived in northern Minnesota since 2000. She has two boys, Micah and Cameron, and two dogs, Zorah (yellow Lab mix) and Spy (Great Dane). The name of the business, GreatDanePhotos, is a reflection of Amy's love for this particular breed.

Amy is fluent in both Canon and Nikon, using the Canon R3 or Nikon Z9 paired with a 400mm f/2.8L as her primary agility gear. For birds, wildlife, and landscapes, she has a Canon R3, R5, and R7 in her kit, paired with a range of Canon lenses. She knows just enough about Sony to be dangerous (i.e. answer basic questions about it).

Amy’s businesses can be found online at

www.focusedwild.com

www.greatdanephotos.com

Amy's email address is amy@focusedwild.com

Pronouns: Amy goes by she/her.

Author Erin McNeill has been owned by and competing in dog sports with whippets since 2005.Although lure coursing (despite the risks!) is her first love, she has also titled her dogs in straight racing, rally, obedience, conformation, scentwork, barn hunt, dock diving, tricks, and agility. She has also competed in disc sports with them and trained but never competed in flyball. She is also an avid collar collector.

Dog trainer, translator and traveler Chrissi is based in Antigua, Guatemala. She has been fond of dogs of all sizes, shapes and personalities for as long as she can think - especially the so-called difficult ones. After training the dachshund of her early teenage years in traditional ways at her local obedience club, she learned about clicker training and got hooked on force-free, motivational methods. Her work days are spent doing the things she loves most: thinking about languages, writing, and teaching pet dog manners and life skills to her clients and their dogs. Her (German-language) puppy book "Nur Mut!" was released in 2017 and her recall book "Komm zu mir!" in 2018. Chrissi loves working with people and dogs, and training, playing and hiking with her malinois Grit and Game.

Her pet dog school website is https://chrissisdogtraining.com and her dog training blog can be found on https://chrissisdogtraining.com/blog/.

Julie Daniels 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 get up and running. In 2015 Julie moved to Deerfield, NH, where she has opened a new business called Kool Kids Agility. Julie also owns White Mountain Agility, a 90-acre dog heaven in North Sandwich, NH. That school has operated since 1993, and Julie developed many theme camps there, including Wild Child, Speed-Em-Up, Novice Genius, Jumping Genius, and the world-renowned WMA Instructor Certification Course, which has honed the skills of hundreds of teachers and thousands of dogs worldwide. She is well known as a premier teacher at all levels of play, and she loves all kinds of dogs.

She has titled and won with all sorts of dogs through the years, including two Rottweilers, a springer spaniel, a cairn terrier, two corgis, and four border collies. She is the only person to make USDAA Grand Prix finals with a Rottie or a springer, and she did it two times each.

In IFCS international competition, Julie is a member of two gold-medal-winning teams. She is a two-time USDAA National Champion as well. She has won many televised events, including the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge and the ESPN Great Outdoor Games. Three of her border collies, Spring, Clark, and Sport, have made the Challenger’s Round at AKC National Championships. Julie and Spring are the only team to win the International Class three years in a row at Springfield, the largest agility trial in the US. Julie and Spring also made an appearance to promote agility on Good Morning America.

Julie’s current competition dog is MACH2 MAD Sport, who is a few legs from his ADCH in limited showing. He is a soft dogjdaniels2 who started off “slow and thoughtful.” Now he pumps himself up to run and shoots off the line like the champion he can be. Motivation is everything! Julie now has a young border collie, Koolaid, who is already a dynamic presence in several FDSA classes.

Julie is well known worldwide as the expert commentary voice of Cynosport agility, doing the livestream video broadcasts seen all around the world.

Julie is an expert in the art and science of operant training, and her approach works! She has always taught “dog’s choice” games as a way to develop agility partnerships. Her first agility book was published in 1991 and the “dog’s choice” games were actually controversial at that time! But she was nominated for a Dog Writer’s Award nonetheless and has never waivered in her philosophy. Julie is the author of three DVDs and four agility books, including an update of her award-winning foundation training book, Enjoying Dog Agility.