Instructors

Mary Horne, CPDT-KA – Director, Competition Obedience

Specialties: Training for Tunes

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

Specialties: Clicker Training, Training to Tunes

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

Mary Elizabeth Simpson

Specialties: Breed Handling

An experienced trainer since 1987 and the owner of Joyful Canine Training, Mary-Elizabeth Simpson (APTD, IACP) has worked with various training schools and with professional trainers over the years. She is an AKC CGC evaluator. Mary-Elizabeth teaches both obedience and breed handling at Port Chester Obedience Training Club.

Mary Elizabeth is an active competitor in Obedience, Agility and breed competitions with her Pembroke Welsh Corgis, Australian Shepherd and Border Collies. All of her dogs are titled in one or more of those areas. Some have even attained their Canine Good Citizen's Certificate and have attended nursing homes. Not only has Mary-Elizabeth competed her dogs but has done obedience and agility demos, appeared on Channel 12 news in both CT and NY, appeared in the Stamford Advocate and Times as well as Greenwich Times newspapers documenting her training accomplishments. In addition to running her dogs in performance she has also handled other people's dogs in agility and breed and has done very well, placing at the Westminster dog show and even qualifying for Crufts twice.

Mary Elizabeth is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, International Association of Canine Professionals and various breed clubs. Mary-Elizabeth works on a private basis with dogs who have behavioral problems or need basic training or re-training, as well as working with people who are serious competitors in agility and obedience. She does Pembroke Welsh Corgi rescue and has retrained and re-homed many Corgis as well as mixes successfully. 

Mary Elizabeth can be reached at Simcorgi@aol.com.