Roz Granitz B.A., M.Ed., C.T.D.I. has shared her entire life with dogs. Her first dog, as an adult, was an Old English Sheepdog who was very rambunctious and in need of training. Through a friend she learned about obedience training. Roz and Hari signed up for an obedience class and they both were “hooked.” Since that time Roz’s training techniques have evolved from one of compulsion to one of compassion. Learning and applying the methods of positive motivational training have brought success in and out of the show ring. All three of Roz’s Old English Sheepdogs earned many obedience titles. Early in the 1990s Roz learned of “a new sport” Dog Agility. At the same time Roz had added two Australian Shepherds (Kanga & Brava) to her family. As she stepped into the agility show arena, Roz continued to also show her dogs in Obedience. Both Kanga and Brava achieved the highest titles in AKC and ASCA obedience with Brava being ranked the number two obedience dog in Canada. As Roz continued to show her dogs (Coffee, Speed-Oh! and Eureka!) she continued to have success at local and National events. Roz has been invited to National Specialties in both obedience and agility where she has earned national acclaim and ranking. Her dog Coffee was ranked number two open obedience dog in the USA and was a top ten finalist at the National All Star Dog Invitational event.
Roz’s canine family now includes an Aussie, Napoli, who was “rescued” from a mentally abusive situation with his breeder in Texas and Bleu, a border collie who was adopted from Come Bye Border Collie Rescue
Not only is Roz a competitive trainer, she is also a gifted teacher. She earned a Master of Education degree from Wayne State University and spent many years teaching high school English composition and literature. She is a proud member of the Pet Professional Guild, a professional member of APDT, and is both a certified APDT C.L.A.S.S.instructor and evaluator. She is a certified AKC CGC & Puppy Star evaluator, an AKC Trick Dog Evaluator and a CTDT (Certified Trick Dog Trainer) and Certified Evaluator. Roz is continually learning new techniques and teaching methods by attending seminars, webinars and classes. She continues to be both a student and teacher. Roz is the owner of My Hero Dog Training
Nancy vonKoehnen
* Training her own dogs for over 40 years
* Trained people of all ages including 4-H youth to train their dogs for over 35 years
* Earned the title of World Canine Freestyle Organization National Champion Freestyler in 2008
* Earned all of WCFO’s Proficiency Tests with 2 separate dogs
* Named World Canine Freestyle Organization’s Trainer of the Year in 2010
* Earned top freestyle awards including Highest Scoring Dog, High Scoring Heelwork to Music, Most Innovative Move, Most Supportive of their Dog
* 3 times voted Heart of Freestyle award
* Earned 3 top level titles in WCFO freestyle (Perfect Dance Partners)
* Earned numerous first placements in AKC Rally with perfect scores
* Earned AKC Rally Novice, Advanced and Excellent titles
* Earned NACSW (nosework) NW1 and NW2 titles with 3rd placements in
* Earned CWags Rally and Scentwork titles
* Continues spending hours learning from the top trainers around the world each year including attending Clicker Expo and Fenzi Camp
* Workshop presenter in Canada and the US
Linda Blanchard was in the show ring on her 8th birthday in junior showmanship, and has been showing dogs over 45 years! Linda has taught many conformation and junior showmanship classes, as well as judged many junior classes and conformation sweepstakes! She also teaches conformation at Camp Gone To The Dogs in Vermont. Linda trains and competes in conformation, obedience, rally, hunt tests and musical freestyle with her German Wirehaired Pointers. She just returned from showing at Westminster where her GWP “Maksim” was Best of Opposite Sex! Always respectful of her canine partners, Linda trains only with positive reinforcement.
Susette Aquino
Susette has been working with dogs for more than forty years. Her dogs have trained and competed in multiple sports including agility, frisbee, barnhunt, musical freestyle and trucjs. The dogs also enjoy and active entertainment career. Susette would love to help you and your dog on your training journey. Her classes teach diverse skills from silly to useful. Best of all, you and your dog will learn essential skills for ongoing learning and communication
Karen Tudor
Karen’s dog training experience began when she owned 2 young male dogs that did not get along in 1998. Then in 2003 she started volunteering with a local rescue, helping to train and rehab dogs in an effort to find them homes. In 2004 she began training her first agility dog. Karen has earned several Championship Titles with her dogs over the years. In 2015 Karen began teaching dog agility. She truly believes Agility is a Team Sport and both team members must be happy to be successful. Karen enjoys helping her students reach their goals, while having fun with their teammates.
Kathy Wagner
Kathy Wagner has been training and competing in Canine Agility for almost 20 years with 3 of her dogs (two of which were rescued Border Collies), and is now training her 4th Agility dog, a little rescued Border Collie/Terrier mix named Whimsy. All Kathy’s dogs have achieved titles at the Masters level in AKC Agility and her current partner, RUSH has achieved MACH (AKC’s Master Agility Champion title). Rush and Kathy have competed in the AKC National Agility Championships in 2022, 2023 and will again in 2024. Kathy adopted RUSH from Great Lakes Border Collie Rescue, where she has been a volunteer and member of the Board of Directors for almost 20 years. Border Collies, Rescue and Agility are her passions! Kathy has been teaching the sport of Agility to others, at all levels for the past 10 years and finds it very rewarding to help new teams develop their skills and love of the game! When not on the agility circuit or working to save Border Collies in need, Kathy enjoys drawing/painting/craftng, gardening and playing other fun games with her dogs.
As a dog trainer Dawn has dedicated herself to helping clients understand the behavioral cues of their dogs. She feels that each dog and human display unique energy and body language. Dawn works through a variety of positive reinforcement techniques to find the one that works best for each individual partnership. Her focus is on having fun while creating happy and successful relationships between people and their canine companions.
Dawn started training and researching dog behavior while volunteering with Come Bye Border Collie Rescue and adopting two rescued border collies. Both having feral backgrounds and deep seated fear issues, her goal was to help them have the best, most successful lives they could, based on each of their individual needs. After several years of successfully training and watching her dogs excel in tricks (each dog holding multiple trick titles), obedience and agility, she decided that she want to help others experience the joy of seeing their best friends find balance and fun in their lives too.
Dawn continues to volunteer in rescue doing interviews, evaluations and teaching, including being an instructor for the Perfect Puppy class at My Hero Dog Training where she has succeeded in helping many people and their dogs to come together as happy thriving teams.
Jennifer Hill (Currently not teaching)
Jennifer Hill has been training dogs for over 20 years. She started at a young competing in 4H and AKC with her two dogs, earning state and national titles on both. In college, Jennifer began raising foster puppies for Paws With A Cause; a non-profit organization that trains service dogs. After graduating, she was hired at Paws With A Cause and worked for seven years as a class instructor and field representative. Jennifer now teaches a variety of classes at different facilities in Michigan. During the summer months, she judges 4H shows and teaches at seminars and workshops for kids just starting out in dog sports. In her spare time she trains and competes in agility with her current dogs and performs in entertainment groups across the state.
Susette Aquino
Susette has been working with dogs for more than forty years. Her dogs have trained and competed in multiple sports including agility, frisbee, barnhunt, musical freestyle and trucjs. The dogs also enjoy and active entertainment career. Susette would love to help you and your dog on your training journey. Her classes teach diverse skills from silly to useful. Best of all, you and your dog will learn essential skills for ongoing learning and communication.
Sharon Drescosky, CPDT-KA (Currently Not Teaching)
Sharon stays on the cutting edge of training techniques and behavior modification by continued education through national conferences, seminars, workshops, video, DVD’s, books and discussions.
Sharon has trained, competed and titled with various dogs in Obedience, Flyball, Rally and Agility. She currently trains and competes in agility but feels one of her biggest accomplishments was learning how to better understand and communicate with her dogs and helping others do the same.
Sharon teaches a variety of classes from puppy to agility, offers in-home private lessons as well as behavior consultations, Reiki and canine massage.
Yoko Ichikawa, CPMP has been passionate in canine musical freestyle with her current 4-legged partner, Kei the Bichon Frise, since 2010. They have received numerous first places and special awards in competitions, including multiple High Technical Merit and Artistic Impression Awards and many other awards given to the highest scoring team. In 2016, they earned their Perfect Dance Partner title, the highest title in the World Canine Freestyle Organization (WCFO), and Kei is the first and only Bichon that has finished it.
Kei is also known as an excellent trick dog, and he is the first and only Bichon that has earned the Trick Dog Expert title in Do More With Your Dog (DMWYD).
Yoko and Kei also enjoy competing in Rally-FrEe in Rally Freestyle Elements (RFE). They are one of the very few teams that have earned their titles with the distinction of Magna Cum Laude.
Yoko teaches and/or assists trick and freestyle classes at Camp Gone to the Dogs in Vermont.
She is a graduate of PetMassage Training and Research Institute and has enjoyed her life as a certified dog massage practitioner since 2010. She is also a Reiki practitioner and her unique approach with the combination of massage and Reiki helps dogs enrich their lives physically and mentally.She is also a DMWYD’s certified Canine Conditioning Coach (CCC). She is eagerly and continually learning how to help dogs stay healthy and perform safely and comfortably.