Dogs in The Park operates in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, and was founded in 1993. From our humble beginnings, training dogs in the local park systems to our current state of the art facility, we have always worked hard to help people to build strong relationships with their dogs while achieving their training goals.
Over the years we have had puppy parties, celebrations of achievement, dog walks, special guests and several very tasty pot luck suppers. We now offer a wide range of services to meet the needs of puppies, adult dogs and all dogs with serious behaviour problems. We also offer free lectures on a monthly basis, and annual events such as Dogfest to celebrate our relationships with our canine family members.

MEET OUR STAFF

About Sue Alexander, CPDT CDBC

Sue Alexander has over twenty five years experience training and handling dogs, both her own and those of her clients. Sue has also been teaching dog obedience lessons since 1993. Sue occasionally participates in a variety of dog sports including obedience, tracking, retrieving, Schutzhund and agility with her dogs D’fer and Eco. When traveling or going to school, Sue is accompanied by D’fer in his role as her service dog, mitigating the effects of anxiety, depression and hearing loss.

Along with several other community members, Sue helped to found K9 Helpers a charitable organization that trains and places dogs to assist people living in the Guelph/Wellington area who have psychiatric disabilities. Sue is currently the head trainer for K9 Helpers. K9 Helpers can be found at www.k9helpers.org.

Sue is particularly interested in the rehabilitation of aggressive dogs and the resolution of behavioural problems with dogs in family homes. In 2003, Sue wrote and passed the Certificate of Pet Dog Training and in the fall of 2004, she was accepted into the International Association of Animal Behaviour Consultants as a clinical member.

John Alexander, BA CPDT

John joined the Dogs in the Park team in 2008, working first as a Puppy Class assistant and taking over the administration of the company. In 2009, John became our lead Puppy Class instructor as “The Puppy Guy”, and also began teaching our adult obedience class “Levels”.

We are very pleased to announce that in 2010, John earned his Certificate of Professional Dog Training. John volunteers for K9 Helpers as their primary puppy raiser and puppy consultant. John is currently searching for his next competitive obedience puppy and is still deciding on what breed might suit his desire to combine competitive obedience with recreational SAR and hiking and camping.

Jennifer Schilling, ABCDT

Jennifer was introduced to DITP in 2007 through the Animal Behaviour College.
As her mentor, Sue taught her the value of classical conditioning and the importance of working below threshold in the Good Dog and Walking Classes. The knowledge Jennifer attained during this period benefited her dog Buddy greatly and continues to provide her with insight on how dogs cope with stress.

Today Jennifer still assists every Wednesday with Walking and Good Dog Classes.
She can also be found on some Sundays joining a Levels class with her dog Harry.

Joelle Compton ABCDT

Joëlle, owned by Zachery and Yarrow has been with Dogs in the Park since 2007 and has been a staff member since February 2009, teaching the levels program.

She has been professionally training dogs for the last 6 years, with an extensive background in training dogs for protection work and for bomb and drug scent detection. She has experience providing services for international and high-profile clients including governments, sport franchises and celebrities.. Her passions are with training dogs in scent detection work, both her dogs are highly trained in bed bug scent detection.
Joëlle thoroughly enjoys working with our students and their respective humans in obedience work and helping you to build strong, life long, positive relationships with your dogs.

Erika Eden BSc ABCDT

I joined Dogs in the Park in 2008 after completing my B.Sc. in Wildlife Biology at the University of Guelph. My dog Stella is a playful Newfoundland, Labrador cross who loves to go to Rally-O shows with me to compete.

I learned my first principles of animal training as a kid training dogs in my backyard. I switched species as a teenager and trained horses for competition in hunter and jumper. My interest in dog training was renewed when I adopted my first dog, Kalli, who turned out to be more of a challenge than I had bargained for.

I teach Early Puppyhood Education as well as specialty classes for those interested in competition and you can find me often in Levels classes lending a hand. I also assist in the behaviour classes and love learning new techniques to help our Good Dogs and their families.

Maja Hurd BSc

I am owned by two Cardigan Welsh Corgis Monti and Seren who would love to tell me how the world works not the other way around. I got Monti as a pet but he needed some obedience classes since he was unmanageable around the house and that is how I got hooked to dog training! Seren came to me three years later for competitive dog sports and as my foundation bitch for breeding purposes.

I have been involved with DITP first as a student in 2005 then as an instructor in 2006. I primarily teach Rally and some agility (specialty program).

I have been competing in Obedience, Rally, Conformation, Agility and just in the last year sheep herding. My first passion was obedience but most recently it has been agility and herding. I achieved with Monti a CDX in 2009 and hopefully utility in the near future. Monti has been number one Cardigan in Obedience in Canada 2009 and 2010. Hopefully one day Seren will follow the same footsteps. Seren so far had a great start achieving her CD in 2010. With both dogs I have earned several other titles in various dog sports. Both Monti and Seren have been top Obedience dog at the Cardigan Specialties.

Outside of dog training, during my spare time I enjoy scrapbooking, traveling and spending time with family.

Ben Eybergen

Ben joined the Dogs in the Park Puppy Program in September 2010 with his wife, Gemma, and his Puggle, Sasquatch. Starting as clients with no experience in raising a puppy whatsoever, John taught them the techniques, practices and tools of modern puppy training. Taking these lessons and skills onward to Levels Unlimited, Sasq' and Ben attended as many classes as they could to learn from Sue, John, Erika, Joelle and everyone else within the Dogs in the Park community, to work with our adolescent Dog and continue his education.

Ben volunteers for weekend seminars and workshops, as well as instructs within the Levels Unlimited program. Ben and Sasq enjoy playing Treiball together as well as recreational scenting/tracking.

Nadia Bifolchi

My day job is being a PhD student in statistics at the University of Guelph. I first came to Dogs in the Park after fostering a dog with some behavioural issues. We went through the Good Dog and Levels programs.

Currently I am dog-less but get my fix of puppy love by helping out in puppy classes, Good Dog night and taking some of the service dogs in training to Levels class.

I try and absorb as much knowledge as I can from Sue and John so that once I get a dog of my own (hopefully a boxer in the near future) I can put that knowledge to use.

Helen Prinold

I’ve always had a strong interest in working with animals - from helping puppies and foals learn how to be great people partners, to showing Keeshonds in confirmation and training horses and Welsh ponies. After attending University of Guelph, travelling throughout North America competing in carriage driving (combined and pleasure) taught me even more about animal behaviour.

I joined Dogs in the Park after taking my shelter-adopted miniature American Eskimo through the Good Dog program in 2010. Shelby is now a happy two-year-old dog who enjoys Treibball and who - like her owner - loves meeting people and having fun while learning new things. I am a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers.