Jill (training@sithappens.org) is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge and Skills Assessed (CPDT-KSA), a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner, and holds professional membership with both the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) and the CAPPDT (Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers). She is in the process of becoming a Certified Nose Work Instructor (CNWI)^TM.

She is very proud to be able to assist with the Karen Pryor Academy workshops held in Calgary. While she loves dogs, her favourite part of her job is teaching people. She also holds a seat on the Responsible Pet Guardianship Group (PDF) along with representatives from the animal & bylaw services, area rescue groups, the veterinary community and local dog fanciers.

Jill has three dogs, humane society adoptions: "Sally", a mixed breed, "Rufus", a German Wire Haired Pointer and her newest addition – "B", a mixed breed. Jill has learned a great deal from her dogs and she's found that each dog brings with it a unique "personality" accompanied by a unique set of training challenges. Both are reasons that she has chosen to pursue dog training as a career.

Jill likes to have fun and stay active with her furry companions - playing scent hurdle, agility, rally and most recently nose work.

Jill is the owner, operator and director of training at Sit Happens!^®

Kim is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT) and holds professional membership with both the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) and the CAPPDT (Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers).

A frustrated team who were not working well together using traditional methods of dog training, Kim and her border collie X, Charlie, discovered clicker training about 12 years ago. They have both embraced the reward based strategies wholeheartedly. Charlie now offers a wagging tail and enthusiasm when a training opportunity presents itself.

Skye, a borzoi, joined the family seven years ago, and has been trained exclusively using reward based strategies. She can be seen at Sit Happens!^® from time to time helping with orientation classes, and competes in Rally Obedience.

Kim has been teaching people to train their dogs professionally, for the past 7 years, in Airdrie.

Kim teaches the Let's Get Started Orientation, Bright Puppy, Let's Go! (Be Good!, Come Here! & Walk Nicely!) and Let's Go Further.

Leigh is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT) and holds professional membership with both the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) and the CAPPDT (Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers).

Leigh's talent for choosing dogs that few people could live with made her entry into the dog training world an obvious one. She has helped her own dogs to overcome some serious issues and blossom into wonderful family dogs, learning more from them than they have from her.

She apprenticed under Tammy Brooks, CPDT-KA, and began teaching classes when Sit Happens!^® first opened its doors.

Leigh owns Mungo's Books for Dog People, Canada's source for great dog books & training tools, and lives in a homeschooling family of three active little boys, her patient husband, and four rescued pets: Mungo, the 13-year-old Border Collie cross who started this journey; Jack, a very un-Lassie-like Rough Collie; Sam, an energetic young Border Collie/Samoyed cross . . . and Joey, the cockatiel.

Leigh teaches the Let's Get Started Orientation.

Carla is an Agility Association of Canada Judge and a Canine Good Neighbour Evaluator for the Canadian Kennel Club. She continues to learn from colleagues and seminars including Chris Zink, Susan Garrett, Kim Collins, Barb Davis and Terry Simons. Carla is the Obedience/Agility/Rally Editor for American Brittany Magazine and has been elected to the Canadian Kennel Club's Genetics and Medical Committee.

Carla loves to see people and dogs learning and is lucky that her spouse welds agility equipment. She enjoys hiking with her Brittany Spaniels (ranging from 4 months to 15 years) as well as agility, obedience, rally, show and field.

Carla teaches Leaps & Bounds!

Trudy is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA) and holds associate membership with both the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) and the CAPPDT (Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers).

Trudy is truly the "bleeding heart" of the group. She has fostered many dogs and has made countless trips to First Nations to rescue animals. She was also involved in initiating the spay/neuter program called Alberta Spay Neuter Task Force, which is currently ongoing for First Nations' dogs and cats.

True to her character, Trudy continues to help foster families and rescue dogs today with her Foster Dogs program. Trudy created this FREE training program to assist all foster families with the dogs in their care. To date, over 80% of the dogs that have attended Trudy's class have been adopted.
Trudy's passion and dedication to this industry is lifelong. Trudy has obtained certification in Pet First Aid & Level 1 Canine Reiki. She has attended seminars on Tellington TTouch and continues to attend essentially every seminar/conference possible.

Trudy currently shares her home with her four rescue dogs, Bonnie, Clyde, Shady Lady and Gypsy.

Trudy teaches Bright Puppy & Let's Go! (Be Good!, Come Here! & Walk Nicely!).

Sharron Sharron's love for dogs started at a very young age - her parents did not share her enthusiasm. As soon as she moved away from home, Sharron immediately got her first dog, a Golden Retriever named Jager.

Jager proved to be a very challenging puppy, thus Sharron was introduced to the dog training world. Sharron & Jager became a great team, accomplishing a CD Title in Competitive Obedience and participating in Agility, Rally, Tracking, Field, Freestyle Dance plus numerous seminars & workshops. Jager's favorite activity was visiting patients in hospitals thru the PALS program.

Sharron now belongs to a goofy Bull Terrier and an exuberant Bullmastiff. Both of these boys have taught her a great deal about the rewards of positive dog training. Petey, the Bull Terrier is happiest hanging out with his family. Sherman, the Bullmastiff, enjoys everyone and everything. Sherman loves his pulling classes with Urban Mushers, agility classes at Sit Happens!^® and always has fun at the confirmation dog shows. Both of Sharron's Bullies have their Canadian Good Neighbor Certificate.

Sharron has been teaching various Sit Happens!^® classes for over 5 years and has been part of the Sit Happens!^® team for 10 years. Thorough instructing, she looks forward to helping owners learn to connect with their dogs and truly become part of their own "dog/handler team".

Sharron is the current President for PALS (Pet Access League Society), member of AKC (Alberta Kennel Club), APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) and the CAPPDT (Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers).

Sharron teaches the Let's Get Started Orientation and the Let's Go Further field trips.

Jenn is an ABC (Animal Behaviour College) certified dog trainer who holds a professional membership with both the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) and the CAPPDT (Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers).

Jenn adopted her Schnauzer cross Sydney from the City of Calgary. Realizing that she needed some help with his very outgoing behaviour, she brought Sydney to a Let's Go! class. She enjoyed classes with him so much, she decided to start volunteering. Always wanting to work with dogs, she decided after about 6 months of volunteering with Sit Happens!^® to take the ABC program and become a Certified Dog Trainer.

Jenn's passion is dogs! She and her husband have recently decided to take in foster dogs. She hopes to help better these dogs so they will be well adjusted and behaved for their future homes. She has started her own business walking dogs in the North East of Calgary called Plum Tuckered Pooch so she could spend more time with her daughters and more time working with dogs! She hopes that her children will love and respect dogs and animals as much as she does.

Jenn and her husband Scott have two daughters, Kaitlyn and Allyssa. They share their home with Sydney and two cats they rescued over 10 years ago, Jewels and Scotia.

Jenn teaches the Let's Get Started Orientation and Let's Go! (Be Good!, Come Here! & Walk Nicely!)

Nicky is a certified professional dog trainer (CPDT-KA) with nearly 10 years experience working with dogs of all temperaments, breeds, and backgrounds. Her expertise spans behaviour assessments, behaviour modification programs, one-on-one coaching, working within a shelter environment and teaching group classes. Nicky holds her CPDT-KA (credentials issued by an international governing body) and her training methods are grounded in science and humane training practices. Nicky is one of a handful of certified trainers across Canada that holds this merit.

Nicky is a contract instructor with the Calgary Humane Society and Sit Happens!^®. She is also passionate about animal welfare and active in the animal rescue community - working hands on and providing guidance for foster homes experiencing various behaviour concerns and challenges. Nicky has also opened her home and heart to countless homeless cats and dogs in need, and worked with a variety of pets within a shelter environment.

Nicky shares her home with her husband and six pets (two dogs and four cats). Her youngest dog had a very traumatic start in life, prior to Nicky rescuing her, and struggles with many fear-based reactivity issues. Living with a reactive pet has given Nicky valuable daily hands-on experience and enables her to assess situations and offer solutions with empathy and compassion.

Staying up to date on the latest theories and techniques of reward-based training and canine behaviour is critical to ensuring Nicky has the best background possible to assist you and your unique circumstances. She regularly attends seminars, workshops and conferences, and reads various books published by behaviour experts.

Nicky is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) and a is also a dogma certified behaviour consultant and educator (DCBCE) having graduated from this program with top marks.

Nicky teaches Bye Bye Shy, Goodbye Growl and does Private Lessons in your home or at Sit Happens!^®

Colleen is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA), a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA-CTP), holds professional membership with the CAPPDT (Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers and membership with the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers). She is also in the process of becoming a Tellington TTouch Practitioner.

Colleen and her 7 year old vizsla like to have fun and stay active together. After experiencing other methods of training they discovered and realized the considerable benefits of clicker training and have never looked back. Colleen and Sophie presently participate in Rally Obedience and have also taken classes in tracking, agility, scent work, treibball, and tricks and games.

Colleen teaches Let’s Go! and Let’s Go Further.

Michelle is currently registered in the Karen Pryor Academy Dog Trainer Program and holds associate memberships with both the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) and the CAPPDT (Canadian Association of Professional Dog Trainers).

Michelle has loved dogs since birth. Her parents had a 1-year old Beagle named Sophie when Michelle was born and the two shared a special bond from day one. When Michelle eventually started Kindergarten, she would brag to all of her teachers and friends about her sister "Sophie." A concerned teacher asked her mother one day why her older "sister" was not registered in school. Her mom immediately figured out Michelle was referring to the family dog and her teacher and mom had a good laugh about it.

When Michelle was 15, the family headed to the Calgary Humane Society to find their newest family member. They chose a mixed breed named Sammy to take home. It never even occurred to Michelle that you could train the family dog. The extent of her training was letting Sammy drag her around the neighbourhood for walks and teaching Sammy to jump up on the beds and couches.

Michelle got her first "own" dog from AARCS as a 30^th birthday present to herself in May 2009. Michelle was determined to raise the perfect dog and promptly registered for Bright Puppy classes at Sit Happens!^® Michelle quickly realized that her puppy was unusually shy with people, but was determined to help Mika be the best she could be! After signing up for literally every class Sit Happens!^® had to offer, we had to ask her to stay and volunteer with us.

Michelle currently shares her home with her husband and German Shepherd mix Mika. Michelle has a special place in her heart for the shy dogs out there and is passionate about helping them. Michelle continues to learn all she can about training dogs and attends conferences and seminars every chance she gets.

Michelle teaches Find It!