About the Trainers

In 2021, Brooke was voted one of the Best Dog Trainers in the State of Maine by Downeast Dog Magazine!

With a decade-long career in child behavior, she made the jump into dog training in 2015 after 2 years of volunteering at shelters and assisting classes at dog daycares. She was then hired at Blue Dog to create a Day School program for dogs and it's been a success ever since! The program focused on training the dogs while the owners went to work and then sending homework for the owners to continue the training at home. Since then she has earned the certifications of AKC's Canine Good Citizen Evaluator, CPDT-KA from the Council for Professional Dog Trainers, and Therapy Dog team with the ATD alongside her therapy dog, Barney.
 

In 2017 she went to CA to apprentice under a trainer to learn methods that would help  achieve off-leash results without relying on treats, clickers or e-collars. She is an advocate for training dogs with as little tools as possible, as she believes training to be relationship-based. 

Brooke has since attended many seminars with trainers and dog behaviorists all  over the country. In 2019, she began competing her personal dogs in AKC  trials. Her Golden mix, Lily Pantaloons CD, BN RN, CGC, CGCA, has  achieved 2 Obedience titles and one Rally, and her other dog, a black lab named Ricochet Rabbit CD, CGC, CGCA, has earned one obedience title and is working towards her CDX (Companion Dog Excellent)!

She lives in Harpswell with her husband and two children, who are also very fond of helping her train the dogs!

Katie joined Blue Dog Daycare as a daycare attendant in March 2021. That November, the head trainer, Brooke, saw the work she was doing with the daycare dogs and how well they responded to her and offered her the job of becoming Assistant Trainer. Katie jumped at the opportunity and shortly thereafter adopted a 1 year old rescue dog named Holly. She immediately entered Holly in an AKC Novice course to get her dog’s training underway. Coaching her through the course were longtime AKC competitors and head trainers/owners of Lionheart K9 and Show Me Your Dog Training from Maryland. Katie graduated the course in July 2022 and enrolled Holly to compete in the ring for her Beginner Novice title in October 2022. Taking second and third place on her first two legs, Holly just has one more leg to go before earning her title! In just under a year, Katie has trained her new, young (once very fearful) dog to be confident, reliable with commands and off-leash obedient!

Katie is certified as an AKC evaluator for S.T.A.R. puppy classes, Canine Good Citizen, and Community Canine tests. She has assisted Brooke in handling a few hundred dogs of all ages, sizes, breeds, and temperaments since taking on the role of Assistant Trainer in 2021. She has also helped to revamp the Puppy Preschool program to become more compatible with the S.T.A.R puppy tests! She has become invaluable to Brooke and to Blue Dog for her handling skills, enthusiastic approach to training and for her love of grooming. Many dogs have benefited from working with Katie and yours will too!