Our Virtual Dog Trainers are Topnotch!
Looking for the most experienced, skilled, force-free dog trainers? Our goal is to help you have the calm, confident, happy, well-behaved dog of your dreams. Check our our virtual training program for more info!
Sharon Westervelt
Sharon believes every family has unique goals for integrating canine family members. As a graduate of Animal Behavioral College (ABC), she implements positive, gentle training methods to help families achieve desired behavior outcomes.
Sharon continues to seek new information and novel approaches to problem solving. She believes that the foundation of all training is kindness, trust, and respect. Each of her training plans is customized to the needs of the dog, and she goes out of her way to make learning enjoyable and fun for both the dog and their owner.
She spent many hours volunteering her time to help dogs in need, including her work for “The Last Chance at Life All Breed Rescue” which helps prepare dogs to go to their forever homes. Sharon and her first boxer were also part of a Therapy Dog International team that visited patients while they received chemotherapy.
Over the years, Sharon has trained dogs and people with a variety of special needs, including post-surgical dogs and deaf dogs, and has assisted pet parents with arthritis and other physical limitations. She creates customized training and behavior modification programs for the dogs, and takes into account their specific medical concerns and frailties.
Sharon’s degrees in Kinesiology (BS in Athletic Training & MA in Sport & Exercise Psychology) from San Diego State University help fuel her passion about bridging the training gap in special cases. Her youngest dog is deaf. As a result, she has been able to hone her observational skills with respect to canine body language, and this knowledge has helped guide, shape, and inform her own nonverbal communication skills and abilities.
Whether it’s puppy socialization, basic obedience, loose leash walking, reactive dog training, manners, puppy concerns, or home-based concerns, Sharon wants to help dog parents create harmony in their homes and pride in their dogs.
She believes that all dogs are good dogs. They just need the chance to become their best selves. Good training can transform a wild outta control puppy into a calm, controlled, attentive, well-mannered companion that can accompany you at an outdoor coffee shop, play off leash at the beach, or relax in a crowed gathering.
Courtney Overholt
Eight years ago, a handsome sable German Shepherd named Frankie entered Courtney’s life and she has never been the same. Frankie is a special fur kid. He suffered from horrible separation anxiety and fear aggression. These are two areas that Courtney knows very well and she is intimately familiar with behavior modification techniques to help improve these conditions. Frankie’s special needs created a compassionate place in Courtney’s heart for animals with behavior problems.
After spending a few years volunteering for Southern California German Shepherd Rescue, Courtney took her love for dogs to the next level by going to school to become a dog trainer. She graduated with honors from Animal Behavior College in 2014 and immediately began working as a professional dog trainer. Courtney has experience working with a variety of behavioral concerns such as puppy nipping, chewing, jumping, barking, separation anxiety and fear aggression. She also enjoys teaching basic obedience skills and training dogs to walk on leash.
Courtney’s motivation as a trainer is to keep dogs out of the pound and in with their families. Positive reinforcement training plays a huge role in creating a safe environment for dogs to thrive. It also deepens and solidifies the bond between canine and family members. Courtney believes every behavior problem can be improved upon using a combination of positive reinforcement training, time, and love.
Courtney graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Health. Because of her background, Courtney is very passionate about canine nutrition and holistic health. She now lives in Tomball, Texas.
Amillie Zickmund
Throughout her career, Amillie has tried all styles and methods for training dogs. In her experience, based on her education, knowledge and mentor guidance, she has found the most success with reward based methods. This means she realizes that dogs learn best through motivators and rewards that speak to their natural instincts and biology.
Dogs live this world through their noses and their mouths. They are opportunistic predators, which means they are very observant of every little detail in every situation, and they react accordingly. Due to this, they are masters at reading our body language, feeling our energy and reacting according to how they see fit. Knowing this, we can use our natural body language to communicate with them.
Reward-based training is not all about treats. It’s about understanding what motivates our dogs, and using that to teach them what we expect from them. By doing this, we enrich their lives, fulfill their needs, and decrease the language barrier between us. This, in turn, strengthens the bond we have with them, which increases their desire to do what we ask of them.
Amillie Zickmund has been a professional dog trainer since 2013. She has worked in the dog field since 2010 as a pet care associate (4 years), a groomer’s assistant (11yrs total), a kennel tech (3 years) and as a daycare attendee in two daycares ( total of 4 years exp.), where she learned the most about dog to dog communication.
Throughout her life, communicating with animals has come naturally to her, and she has always been passionate about working with dogs. It wasn’t until college when this dream became a reality.
In 2013, while working at a pet store in Indiana, Amillie and her husband John got a Great Dane puppy together named Appa. Knowing his breed and future size, they started group training classes with him right away. Amillie very quickly fell in love with training and all she had learned, so when the store offered her a training position there was no hesitation. The rest as they say was HISTORY.
Throughout her career she has worked with other amazing trainers, and is constantly attending KPA Clicker Expo Workshops, and other seminars to consistently further her knowledge and education. Amillie is a CGC evaluator, a member of APDT, and is currently taking two of the IABBC certification tests: Associate Certified Dog Behavior Consultant; ACDBC, and Accredited Dog Trainer (IAABC-ADT). This fall (2022), she will be taking the exam to be CPDT-KA certified, and potentially joining Jean Donaldson’s Academy for Dog Trainers to further her never ending education.
Amillie understands and believes that continuing education is a must when working with dogs, and she is always willing to learn and expand her knowledge! Each dog teaches her something different, and she individualizes her training plans around each of them.
Currently, Amillie’s family consists of her husband, John (who occasionally helps with their training needs), their son, Dean, (a very dog savvy toddler who helps dogs that are fearful of children understand that kids are not always scary), their cat, Kit Kat, (who also helps many of her clients communicate correctly with another species).
Accompanying them are their two dogs: Katara, a Cattle Dog-Pyrenees mix, (who is Amillie’s most used helper dog because she communicates beautifully, and helps many dog-reactive / fearful dogs work through their fears while making new friends), and her new Great Dane puppy Heimdall, (who when fully trained will follow in Katara’s PAWsteps)!
We are so thrilled to have Amillie on our team, and she looks forward to working with you!
Nicole (Niki) Walters
Niki is a passionate and driven certified Professional Dog Trainer, certified Vet Assistant, Pet CPR & First Aid certified, and has boarding, daycare, and training management experience in the pet industry for over 9 ½ years. Her passion and purpose in life is helping both pets and their families be the best pets and companions they can be.
Her animal career started as a petcare specialist at Petsmart, caring for small animals, reptiles, birds, and fish and quickly advanced into dog training, boarding, daycare, and training management. Her drive and passion for animals has inspired her to be the best trainer and caregiver, and she is always striving to further her knowledge and expertise on animals.
Specializing in basic obedience, group classes, private training, puppy training and development, body language, socialization, desensitization, separation anxiety, resource guarding, leash reactivity, leash manners, behavior modification, tricks, enrichment, agility, and more, Niki uses that experience to ensure each and every pet and family she works with is educated and most importantly having fun!
By focusing on her wealth of animal knowledge, Niki has been able to put the certifications she has earned to good use. Over the years, Niki’s strengths as a dog trainer and boarding, daycare, and training facility manager has garnered recognition as associate of the quarter and most loved animal expert.
Niki strongly believes in the importance of being a pack leader, understanding canine communication, positive reinforcement, motivation-based training, balanced training, LIMA training principles, and that each pet and family she works with deserves the best quality care and training plan.
Niki is striving to achieve her CPDT-KA certification and is on her way to becoming a CGC evaluator. When she is not training, Niki is an avid adventurist, musician, artist, and loves spending time with her dogs, family, and friends.
Swetlana “Lana” Falke
Lana is a CCPDT-certified dog trainer and professional-level member of the Pet Professional Guild.
Lana grew up around dogs, and they have been a large part of her life for as long as she can remember. As a teen, you could find Lana with her Rough Collie, Iris, competing at dog shows all across Germany. She has always had a big heart for homeless pets, and at the age of 10, she started visiting the local dog shelter on weekends to walk the rescue pups, and give them a break from their kennels.
Soon after moving to the U.S., Lana signed up to volunteer at the San Diego Humane Society, and enjoyed it so much that she stayed for 5 years! During that time, she took on a variety of training and behavior-related roles and responsibilities with shelter dogs. Lana was fortunate enough to apprentice with Lindsey Lieberman, CBCC, CPDT, who was the Behavior & Training Coordinator at that time. Lana’s time as a Behavior & Training shelter volunteer gave her the opportunity to become acquainted with a wide variety of dog personalities, temperaments, and behavioral concerns, and it greatly shaped how she approaches training and behavior modification, particularly in the most challenging cases.
If you are seeking assistance with dog training or behavior modification, Lana can help you and your dog build a relationship based on trust and cooperation, without using techniques that involve intimidation, or cause physical and/or emotional harm to your dog. She specializes in helping fear-reactive and/or anxious dogs and their humans. Being an owner of sensitive, fear-reactive dogs herself, she can relate to the struggles that other owners of behavior-challenged dogs experience. By sharing her knowledge and skills, and implementing individualized plans, she provides her clients and their dogs the proper tools and guidance to create positive and lasting changes.
Teaching dogs (and cats!) fun, complex tricks is also something Lana is passionate about because she found that learning tricks helped her rescue pups build confidence and strengthened the human-animal connection.
Whenever Lana is not training clients’ dogs, she pours her heart into her two shepherd mixes, Pollux and Fern, and her kitty, Antares. She’s also a certified yoga instructor, and enjoys bouldering, being creative, spending time with friends, and being outdoors.
Lana believes that all dogs are precious and unique, and she works with each dog as an individual to bring out their best strengths. Her education, training experience, patience, and attention to detail make her an outstanding dog trainer and behavior consultant. Lana is dedicated to making training a positive and productive experience for both you and your dog.