Faculty

Amy Cook, PhD

Amy Cook, PhD

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 ...(Click here for full bio and to view Amy's upcoming courses)

Amy Johnson

Amy Johnson

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.)

Barbara Currier

Barbara Currier

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)

Caden Cristopher (Chrissi Schranz)

Caden Cristopher (Chrissi Schranz)

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 ... (click here for full bio and to view Caden's upcoming courses)

Debbie (Gross) Torraca

Debbie (Gross) Torraca

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...(Click here for full bio and to view Debbie's upcoming courses)

Deborah Jones

Deborah Jones

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...(Click here for full bio and to view Deb's upcoming courses)

Denise Fenzi

Denise Fenzi

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 ... (Click here for full bio and to view Denise's upcoming courses)

Erin Lynes

Erin Lynes

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, ...(Click here for full bio and to view Erin's upcoming courses)

Heather Lawson

Heather Lawson

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...(Click here for full bio and to view Heather's upcoming courses)

Hélène Lawler

Hélène Lawler

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)

Judy Keller

Judy Keller

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)

Julie Daniels

Julie Daniels

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...(Click here for full bio and to view Julie's upcoming courses)

Julie Flanery

Julie Flanery

 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...(Click here for full bio and to view Julie's upcoming courses)

Julie Symons

Julie Symons

Julie Symons (she/her) has been involved in dog sports for over 25 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...(Click here for full bio and to view Julie's upcoming courses)

Karen Deeds, CDBC

Karen Deeds, CDBC

 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....(Click here for full bio and to view Karen's upcoming courses)

Laura Waudby

Laura Waudby

Laura Waudby (she/her) 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...(Click here for full bio and to view Laura's upcoming courses)

Liz Joyce

Liz Joyce

Liz has been in the fitness industry since 2006 and working with dog handlers since 2016. Fitness, to Liz, is about honoring the body ...(Click here for full bio and to view Liz's upcoming courses)

Loretta Mueller

Loretta Mueller

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...(Click here for full bio and to view Loretta's upcoming courses)

Lucy Newton

Lucy Newton

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)

Megan Foster

Megan Foster

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...(Click here for full bio and to view Megan's upcoming courses)

Melissa Breau

Melissa Breau

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)

Melissa Chandler

Melissa Chandler

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...(Click here for full bio and to view Melissa's upcoming courses)

Nancy Gagliardi Little

Nancy Gagliardi Little

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...(Click here for full bio and to view Nancy's upcoming courses)

Nancy Tucker

Nancy Tucker

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)

Nicole Wiebusch

Nicole Wiebusch

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)

Petra Ford

Petra Ford

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)

Sara Brueske

Sara Brueske

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 ... (click here for full bio including Sara's upcoming courses)

Shade Whitesel

Shade Whitesel

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...(Click here for full bio and to view Shade's upcoming courses)

Sharon Carroll

Sharon Carroll

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.)

Stacy Barnett

Stacy Barnett

Stacy Barnett is a top nosework competitor and trainer, being the first handler to title multiple dogs with multiple Summit Level titles in the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW),  (Judd SMTx3, Brava SMTx2). Stacy has been a faculty member at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy since 2015 (Click here for full bio and to view Stacy's upcoming courses)

Guest Instructors

Guest Instructor - Aleks Woodroffe

Guest Instructor - Aleks Woodroffe

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

Guest Instructor - Ashley Escobar

Guest Instructor - Ashley Escobar

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)

Guest Instructor - Barbara Lloyd

Guest Instructor - Barbara Lloyd

Barbara Lloyd is an Indigenous  dog  trainer from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, with her roots in the Saulteaux Nation.  She has a special interest in behavioral issues in dogs, with a strong focus on PTSD and aggression. (Click here for full bio and to view Barbara's upcoming courses)

Guest Instructor - Kelly Daniel

Guest Instructor - Kelly Daniel

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 ...

Guest Instructor - Laurie Huston

Guest Instructor - Laurie Huston

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 ...

Guest Presentations - Irith Bloom

Guest Presentations - Irith Bloom

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

Jennifer Summerfield, DVM

Jennifer Summerfield, DVM

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...(Click here for full guest instructor bio)

Sue Yanoff, DVM

Sue Yanoff, DVM

 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...(Click here for full bio and to view Sue's upcoming courses)

Staff

Amy Miller

Amy Miller

Amy Miller (she/her) operates as a support person within FDSA. You may run across Amy as a help desk agent, alumni group moderator, fill-in webinar host, or gathering news to post in any of our social media markets. 

Melissa Breau

Melissa Breau

Melissa (she/her) is FDSA's resident marketing geek. She teaches two classes here at FDSA: Marketing for Pet Professionals and Building a Wordpress Website.

Millo Fenzi

Millo Fenzi

Millo Fenzi (he/him) thrived in the corporate and start-up high-technology space for 25 years before choosing to be a stay-at-home dad and supportive husband of Denise’s initial foray into dog training. Ten years later, that initial foray has evolved into a full time enterprise: FDSA

Teri Martin

Teri Martin

Teri Martin (she/her) manages operations for FDSA.  She is an accountant by trade and a dog training geek by choice. She was dragged into the world of dog training when her Labrador hit the terrible teenager stage and she needed help.