About Us

All Dogs are Welcome! All Family Members are Welcome!
Sit Happens!^® is always growing and learning so that we can help you do the same. Our highly qualified Instructors make Sit Happens!^® a LEADER in pet dog training. Our staff:

• maintain the highest level of current, cutting edge dog training and instructional skills
• are professional members of the Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers (CAPPDT)
• hold full membership with the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT)
• become certified through the Certification Council for Pet Dog Trainers as they meet the qualification requirements
• attend the CAPPDT & the APDT's annual educational conferences
• attend seminars given by the world class training and teaching experts we bring to Calgary annually

Our Instructors

Jill (training@sithappens.org) is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA), 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).

Jill first became interested in dog training when she and her husband adopted their first dog, “Charlie”, from the local humane society.

Charlie was followed by two other humane society adoptions: “Sally”, a mixed breed and “Rufus”, a German Wire Haired Pointer. Although at times, Jill considers getting a puppy she has learned a great deal from bringing adult dogs into her home. 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. She and “Rufus” play Scent Hurdle, Agility and Tracking together. “Sally” and Jill have taught each other a great deal about patience and trust and have tried their hand at Rally O’.

Alison is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA), 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).

In 1995/96, Alison produced a television show for the local community channel called “The Family Pet”. This was done through the Calgary Humane Society and went to win the 1996 National Media Commendation Award for promoting animal welfare, presented by the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies.

“Paige” joined the Stephens’ family and it quickly became apparent that this young German Shepherd puppy was a force to be reckoned with! Alison once again sought out her old friend Tammy and the journey continued. Sit Happens!’ positive training methods helped turn Paige into the amazing dog she is today.

Alison shares her home with her very tolerant husband Darrell, “Paige”, cats “Martin” and “Rocco” and keeps “Doc”, her 23 year old quarter horse in Bragg Creek.

Heather is a member of both the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) and the CAPPDT (Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers).

Unhappy with her various forays into different methods of training her own dogs over the years, ultimately Heather chose to “home school” with fairly inconsistent results! All went well, however, until Dudley entered Heather’s life. Very often there is a “special” dog that propels a dog owner to seek further training, Dudley was such a dog.

Heather started classes at Sit Happens!^® with her dog Dudley in 2002 and immediately became a convert to all things Sit! and to positive dog training. Heather says: “I had no idea that training your dog could be so much fun!”

Heather shares her home with her husband Lawrence, her Portuguese Water Dog, Nelson and her delightful little cat, Cassie.

Kim - 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 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.

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.

Tammy started Sit Happens!^® in 2002. Her vision of a positive training and educational centre continues today under the ownership of colleagues Jill Dextrase and Alison Stephens. Tammy continues to support all things Sit Happens!^® as a training program consultant, mentor and event organizer.

Tammy is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer (CPDT), certified by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (the CPDT exam is an internationally recognized testing process which encourages continuing education and humane training methods), a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner and holds membership with the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers).

Tammy shares her life with 6 dogs, her daughter Emily (also a talented dog trainer), and her (thankfully!) dog loving partner, Laurie.