Instructors

Karen Reilly, CPDT-KSA, CNWI - Director of Family Manners and K9 Nose Work

Karen is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer Knowledge and Skills Assessed, a professional member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, a Certified Nose Work Instructor and is certified by Sue Sternberg for the CASA shelter dog program for Training Wheels and Train to Adopt.

Karen has been teaching for PCOTC since 2003. Helping handlers to understand their dogs and build that all-important trust is key in Karen's teaching. Karen's philosophy is using hands off training as much as possible, using positive reinforcement and operant conditioning.

Recently becoming intrigued with K9 Nose Work, Karen completed her Certified Nose Work Instructor training in June of 2011. Providing nose work to shelter dogs is another very rewarding experience for Karen. This sport helps the shelter dogs by decreasing stress and keeping their minds active using their innate scenting abilities. For many shelter dogs it helps them present better to potential adopters, since they are less stressed in their kennels.

She has been the volunteer dog trainer for the SPCA of Westchester located in Briarcliff Manor, NY since May 2001. Karen is founder of the SPCA's Lead The Way program (teaching the public to walk, socialize and teach basic behaviors to the shelter dogs increasing their adopt-ability). She also evaluates dogs for the Golden Outreach Program run by the shelter.

Karen's current teachers are her Siberian Husky, Yukon, and Leo, a Wirehaired Poiting Griffon mix. Email her at pawsforobedience@yahoo.com

Mary Horne, CPDT-KA – Director, Competition Obedience

Mary has loved, lived with and trained dogs and other animals her whole life. An avid fan of reward-based training and especially clicker training, Mary is passionate about helping dog owners develop lasting partnerships with their canine companions based on effective communication, caring and trust. She uses a variety of force-free, dog- and people-friendly training techniques, all of which are founded on the modern science of how dogs and humans learn. She truly believes that training should be fun at both ends of the leash!

Mary enjoys training and competing with her own dogs (two Labs and two rescues), who hold multiple titles in a variety of venues including AKC and CDSP Obedience and AKC and APDT Rally Obedience. In addition to teaching at PCOTC, she owns Good Dog “U”, LLC, a private Stamford, CT–based training business. She is a 2001 honors graduate of the San Francisco Academy for Dog Trainers, led by behaviorist Jean Donaldson (Culture Clash, Dogs are from Neptune, etc.).

A certified trainer (CPDT) since 2003, Mary is a registered evaluator for the AKC’s Canine Good Citizen program and a professional member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT). She is former Executive Trainer for the Good Dog Foundation's animal-assisted therapy training program. Prior to founding Good Dog “U” in 1999, she spent nearly 20 years in international business and crisis management. Mary annually attends a variety of educational events to keep ahead of the curve in modern dog training. Reach Mary via email at GoodDogU@optonline.net

Jenn Michaelis

Jenn's family had Great Danes and black labs when she was very young, then began showing Pomeranians shortly before she got her first dog at 10 years old. She developed a reputation for being good with animals as she spent most of her time potty training the Pomeranian puppies the family bred. That quickly led to learning how to teach cues, and with each new litter of puppies she had fluffy new students!

Jenn began training professionally in Missoula, MT in 2003, mostly group classes including everything from puppies to CGC classes. She loves to see the light come on for her students: when they really understand how to communicate with their dog and start enjoying the fun process of teaching their dog new skills. She truly enjoys teaching people as well as training dogs. "Training dogs is a technical skill, and one that people should not be embarrassed to need help with," she says.

Currently, Jenn's household is made up of two canine critters: Terra, a two-year-old Italian mastiff who loves freestyle dancing, and Ringo, a six-year-old Chinese crested who is itching to test his stuff in agility and the competition obedience ring.

Coordinating with the local humane society and animal control in Missoula, Jenn helped foster and place difficult dogs. She has been holding CGC tests with her graduating classes for almost six years now.

Jenn is settling into the East Coast, where there are more dog competition opportunities, more seminars, workshops and demos! Contact Jenn at jenn_michaelis@yahoo.com

Jessica Schulte, CNWI

Little did she know when she convinced her husband to "just go see" a dog in a Queen shelter in the Fall of 2003 that Jessica was on her way to becoming a dog trainer. After bringing home Izzy in 2003, she quickly learned that adopting a dog with issues takes some patience and know-how. After working with a private trainer and then discovering PCOTC, Jessica has been lucky to learn from and work with some of the best trainers in the area, and has spent the past year as an assistant trainer in Family Manners classes.

Jessica is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and encourages a compassionate, patient, and dog-friendly approach to training. Since learning to deal with Izzy's early issues was so challenging, it is important to Jessica that people—and dogs—feel understood and encouraged in training classes. In order to keep up on the latest innovations in dog training, Jessica reads everything she can get her hands on and attends seminars with trainers such as Emma Parsons, Kathy Sdao, Carolyn Wilki, Pam Dennison, Ken Ramirez, and Karen Pryor.

Active competitors in dog sports, Jessica and Izzy have titles in both Rally and Competition Obedience, and are well on their way to their first agility title. Jessica sees competition as a great venue for learning about teamwork, training—and grace. You can reach her at Jessica.Schultenyc@gmail.com