Instructors

The Mad City instructors are professionals in their fields. Everyone is experienced in positive reinforcement training methods. All staff members have good observation skills with the dogs and strong communication skills with the people. The instructors will not teach the student’s dogs, but will teach the students how to train their dogs.

We encourage our staff to stay current in their field by attending seminars, workshops, showing their own dogs, and attending annual APDT conferences. It is the sharing of information, experiences, and techniques among our staff that has created the unique and successful Mad City Dog Training programs.

Dogs Names: Blitzen’s Vanity Fair “Jamie Lee”, Blitzen’s Sprocket To Me “Sprocket”, Earnhart Raising A Ruckus “Ruckus”, Brazen vom haus Behm “Razzy”, Brackenhill Cooler Than Ewe “Steve McQueen”, Altpeter vom Gildaf "Peter", Buzz vom Gildaf

I have been training dogs since 1994 and began working as a trainer at Mad City Dog Training in March 2001.

I adopted Gypsy Lu in 1994 and I got her into obedience training because she was naughty. I got hooked and decided to compete. I titled Gypsy in UKC obedience and in Flyball and have been competing every since. Gypsy passed away in June 2008 at 15 years old. In 2000, I got Jamie Lee. Jamie had incredible drive and we found our niche in Flyball and Schutzhund. Jamie Lee has gone on to be the # 1 Flyball German Shepherd in the North America. In 2002, I got my first Border Collie, Sprocket. I can never say enough about Sprocket. The main thing is he fulfilled my passion for competitive obedience. We have reached top levels in UKC and AKC Obedience, earning his GOCH (Grand Obedience Champion), UDX and is AKC OTCH pointed. In 2004 I got my lug nut, Ruckus. Ruckus is forever a puppy at heart, my own big teddy bear and is an awesome Flyball dog. In 2005 I got Razzy. She is a great Agility and Flyball dog. In 2006 I got Steve McQueen. He has already earned his AKC and UKC Breed Championship, his UKC CDX and his AKC UD with all 1st placements. Steve has a ton of drive and is such a joy to train. We are now focusing on Agility. In March 2008, Peter was born. He is Razzy's son. A solid black German Shepherd who is trained in Tobacco Detections and Cadaver search work. We are now focusing on Schutzhund training, Agility and Weight Pull Competition. My youngest dog is a German Shepherd, Buzz. He is also a Razzy son and will be trained in Schutzhund and Agility.

I have a fondness for German Shepherds and Border Collies so I look for dogs in those 2 breeds who will be capable of competing in dog sports as well as make good family pets. I have wonderful dogs who have taken competing to a whole new level for me. All of my dogs are different and I learn from them in many ways. I learn from them in the way I train as well as in my daily doggy skills. Nothing makes me happier than spending time with my dogs, whether it be in training, hiking in the woods, swimming at the lake, throwing balls or just snuggling by the TV.

Activities: Obedience, Agility, Frisbee (Rex took 10^th at a national competition in ’07), and Bike-jorring.

My dogs and I have been students at MCDT for about a year, and I joined the training staff in June of ’08 as an apprentice.

I have had a few influential dogs in my life – both mine and those of friends. It wasn’t until my late 20’s that I had dogs of my own and began training. I fell for herding dogs after adopting a collie mix. When she passed away, I adopted a homeless Australian Cattle Dog (red or blue heeler). I thought that all herding dogs would have similar temperaments! Was I wrong! After surviving the first few weeks with Rex (and it was close a few times…I nearly returned him to the shelter), we found common ground. He had a rough life in his first home, so has some behaviors that require careful managing. I have learned a great deal of patience and acceptance with him, as well as the great commitment required in having this breed of dog. Cattle dogs are not for the casual dog owner! Rex would love nothing more than to retrieve a ball or Frisbee all day long. He is fast and incredibly athletic, despite having one bad leg (broken in his first home).

Not content to leave well enough alone, I adopted my second cattle dog in February of 07. Ivy Bean came from a shelter in Iowa. She was 12 weeks old. After recovering from pneumonia and subcutaneous emphysema, she developed into a very naughty, pudgy puppy. Now, at a year and half old, she is still a very naughty, pudgy girl. She loves agility, fetching balls and Frisbees, and she swims like a fish.

My dogs keep me active and always thinking and I work hard to do the same for them!

Dogs Names: Abbigail Rose VI (Abby), 12 year old black Lab; Elizabeth Clare (Lizzy), 9 year old yellow Lab; Jacob Henry (Jacob), 5 year old chocolate Lab; Savannah Grace (Savy, not shown) 1 year old black Lab

I’ve been a trainer at Mad City since 2006. Over the past 6 years, one or more of my dogs and I have taken classes in agility (beginning-advanced), obedience (basic, competitive, Rally), flyball, tracking and tricks and games.

I can’t remember a time without a Lab. Currently I have an amazing, challenging, delightful pack of four. They range in age from puppyhood to senior citizen. Each has enriched and redirected my life in major ways I never could have imagined. From day one, Abby demonstrated an amazing drive to work with people with special needs and an uncanny ability to empathize with them. We became a therapy dog team and spent almost 10 years doing animal assisted therapy at Meriter Hospital. My first introduction to agility was also with Abby. She has earned 9 NADAC titles and is still going strong. Little, high drive, speedy Savy is following in her footsteps. I can’t wait to start competing with her.

Lizzy and Jacob are L.E.A.R.N. dogs. Like many rescues, they arrived with baggage. The animal behaviorists we worked with taught me a lot, and we worked hard. I’m especially proud of beautiful, sweet Lizzy and the progress she continues to make. Jacob, the smartest of the pack, is a real character; obnoxious and lovable at the same time. The 4 dogs enjoy hanging out together. They chase one another in circles, keep track of each other at dog park, chew on opposite ends of the same bone at the same time and sleep in a pile together on their favorite bed.

Activities: JJ does agility with Ted, but I get to show him in UKC agility, and he does obedience and herding with me. Libby does agility and obedience.

I have been training with my dogs for four years and working as a trainer at Mad City Dog Training for three years.

I’ve always loved herding group dogs, and particularly Shelties. JJ and Libby are smart, easy to train dogs that love to work and that makes ‘training’ a blast. JJ is a lovable dufus, and Libby is a sweet princess and they both keep me laughing and having a good time no matter what we do. I look forward to many more years of running fast in agility and thinking hard, (but not TOO hard), in obedience with them. Sprocket came to me as an agility partner through my good friend and trainer, Melinda Clark, who owns him. She saw how much I loved agility and knew Sprock did too, so she asked me to start working and running him in agility in October of 2005. Sprocket has taught me plenty—most importantly to NOT get in his way on a course, or I’ll be run over in the process.

Activities: Flyball, Agility, Herding, chasing tennis balls and frisbees, swimming, and getting dirty at the farm

I have been training with my dogs for 4 years and working as a trainer at Mad City Dog Training for 3 years.

I had dogs while I was growing up but never really got to be very involved in their training. My husband and I got McKenzie from a Border Collie rescue in the spring of 2003. I started doing agility with her and soon we were hooked. McKenzie was a very shy dog and agility really helped her gain confidence. Shortly after that I started teaching at Mad City. We got Spy in the fall of 2005. I started sheep herding once we got Spy - never in a million years did I think I would be doing sheep herding with my dog! My dogs have taught me to have patience and they have really kept me going through some rough times. They are both very funny and I don't think a day goes by that they don't do something that cracks me up! I love being able to teach people to do new things with their dogs. I think it really helps make a great connection between an owner and a their dog (or is the dog and the person they own?) when they have an activity they do together.

Dogs Names: Rudy, Ozzy, Scooby and Blu (Maltese)

Activities: Obedience and Rally - I keep starting agility with my dogs, but none of them have ever been able to make it over the A-frame!

I have been training with my dogs for 10 years and working as a Rally instructor at Mad City Dog Training for 1 year.

My breeder got me started in AKC Conformation in 1998, where I showed Scooby to his Championship. At these shows, I was exposed to competition obedience for the first time. I remember watching a Maltese doing scent discrimination at a big show in Chicago. WOW! I wanted to do that! OK, so 10 years later I've still not made it into the Utility ring, but I won't give up trying to get there!

Ozzy started in obedience at the age of 4. He earned a CDX title and an RA title. He is now retired.

After earning his Championship, Scooby went on to earn a CD title and was the first Maltese to earn an RAE title. He was also the first Champion Maltese to earn an RE title. He is now retired.

Blu is my current obedience dog. She has her CD title and her RAE title. She will hopefully earn her CDX title soon and we'll be off to the Utility ring!

I love helping dog/handler teams gain the knowledge and teamwork which allows them to show in Rally. Rally is so fun!

Dogs Names: Stonedog Cousteau "Cousteau" & Onesti She's HavanA Ball "Havana"

I have been training with my dogs for seven years and working as a trainer Mad City Dog Training for five years.

Cousteau is not only the first dog I've owned as an adult, but also my wedding gift to my husband. Why I'm the one who does all of the training and exercising, and most of the feeding and grooming is beyond me! We did pretty much everything wrong in choosing him, such as doing no research or preparation, and really suffered for it in the first year we were together. I finally learned to embrace positive training and found out that I really enjoy it. In fact, if Cousteau hadn't been the devil's spawn, I wouldn't have decided to quit my job as a teacher and do what I really love, which is teaching obedience and starting a dog walking business. I really owe much of my current (and much happier!) life to him. Havana was a much more carefully planned addition. I wanted a dog who had more of a will to work and compete than Cousteau does, but most importantly, I needed a dog who was temperamentally sound and physically healthy. She has fit into our family beautifully and is everything I could want in a dog...except for the barking, but a perfect dog wouldn't be able to teach me as much!

Dogs Names: Moody’s Dixieland Jazz, “Dixie” American Cocker Spaniel, Harvestime’s Mischevious Molly “Molly” Golden Retriever, Harvestime’s What’s One More “ Sadie” Golden Retriever, Winterhaven’s Lagniappe “Wylee” Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Activities: Agility, Molly is a certified Therapy Dog, we plan on competing with Wylee and Molly in Obedience

We had dogs as kids and grew up with American Cocker Spaniels. We have been training our own dogs for about 25 years. We have been working as trainers at Mad City Dog Training for one year.

We adopted Dixie at 7 months of age, little did we know she was going to be a special needs girl. The breeder was going to show her in conformation but because she was so timid it was decided she couldn’t handle the ring. She was basically sheltered for the initial period of her life so she was pretty much afraid of everything when we brought her home. She also has leash aggression which she has made considerable improvement with. This was totally new to us and we spent a lot of time with an animal behaviorist. After numerous hours and continuous work on re-conditioning she can enjoy going to the park and doing things she couldn’t do before. Of all the dogs we have owned in our lifetime Dixie has taught us the most about animal behavior. In 2000 we adopted Molly, she is a certified Therapy Dog and an overall great companion. In 2002 along came Sadie, she was adopted by our sister however she was unable to keep her so she came into our pack. Sadie actively competes in agility and is an all around great dog. Last but certainly not least is Mr Wylee. Wylee is training in Obedience and Agility and we would like to eventually compete with him in both sports.

I have been training with my own dogs for 22 years and have been working as a trainer at Mad City Dog Training for 8 years.

I began training dogs when I was 13 years old. My parents never let me have a dog. but was fortunate to have a family friend, Sue Bruce (in loving memory) who would take me to the Fond du Lac Kennel club where I became active in sweeping, rolling mats and poop clean up. As time went on, people started asking me or allowing me to handle their dogs (I am sure it was to get me to shut up) and I started taking classes with their dogs. I was hooked. I started volunteering at the local vet (again thanks to Sue) and the local humane society. I fell in love with Tailer, a very, very, shy, mixed breed, who was going to be euthanized, hence with my Dad’s permission and my Mom not knowing, I brought her home. It is her I give credit to teaching me how to be a positive dog trainer, one who would not allow old school correction training methods. As time went on I was able to get the dog of my dreams, a German Shepherd Dog named Diester – who has taught me so much about working dogs, he brought me into the world of search and rescue, agility, and a life of unconditional love. Sadly, Diester passed away in 2008. It is my honor to have Boomer, a German Shepherd Dog present in my family – he reminds me every day to not take life to seriously, laugh a little, drink a lot, and don’t worry about spilling. He will be a partner in crime for a long time to come, excelling in anything he allows us to participate in, agility, obedience, flyball or whatever else we decide to tackle.

Activities: Brett has participated in Flyball, Agility, and Competition Obedience. He also is a pheasant hunting dog.

I have been training with my dogs for six years and working as a trainer at Mad City Dog Training for 3 1/2 years.

My dad bought Brett almost 5 years ago as a hunting dog. As he got to be around 3 years old, I started borrowing him and taking him to classes. He has been in regular obedience classes, flyball, agility, and competition obedience classes. Brett alternates from being a farm/hunting dog out at my parents to a house dog with me at my home. I took him with me to a Clicker Expo and that’s where our training really took off. He is awesome at shaping with the clicker. I have been able to teach him so many things because of his ability to learn from the clicker and his drive to get the “click”. I have learned a lot about the tiny steps in clicker training because of the way I can “see” him think about what it is that I want from him.

Along with being a dog trainer, I am also a Certified Veterinary Technician and a former Doggy Daycare employee. Through both of those jobs, I am able to pull from my knowledge and experience to help the students in my classes and to be a better trainer. Not to mention the lessons in patience and humility Brett teaches me every time we work!

Dogs Names: Birch Hollow’s Amazing Grace “Gracie”, Harley, Lilac Hills Renaissance Heart “Rennie”

Activities: Gracie – Herding, Harley – TV watching! - Harley is a rescue boy who is shy and prefers to hang at home. Rennie – Conformation, Obedience, Herding.

I have been training with my own dogs for about 17 years and working as a trainer at Mad City Dog Training for 7 years.

I got into formal dog training back in 1990 with the addition of “Frenzy” to my family. She was a 5 month old “wild child” Akita/Lab mix. She was the naughtiest dog that has ever walked the face of the earth! After taking her to a local behaviorist and being told it was me, not her, I became fascinated with learning more about canine behavior. Frenzy taught me so much… We had a roller coaster relationship trying to establish that I was truly the leader of our pack. But all the lessons I learned along the way have made it possible for me to have some amazing K9 companions in my life. I lost Frenzy to cancer in 2000. I will never forget her, because if it wasn’t for her, I would not have the passion I now have for dog training and canine behavior.

Dogs Names: Henry Ham – “Henry” – Miniature Schnauzer & Posey Canyon Wins By A Nose – “Derby” – Parson Russell Terrier

Activities: Agility, Flyball, Obedience, we tried Earthdog – that was highly entertaining. Chase A LOT of tennis balls, take a lot of walks/hikes

Sara has been training with her own dogs for 7 years and training at Mad City Dog Training for 5 years.

After a very bad dog bite in high school, I stayed away from dogs for a long time. In 2000, I decided I was ready to try dogs again and got Henry, my Miniature Schnauzer. I never planned to do much more than take a few obedience classes, but my instructors kept saying, “He’s catching on really fast, you should take another class.” Pretty soon we were taking more and more classes and started to compete in agility and then I was hooked!! Starting as a trainer at Mad City Dog Training followed soon after that. After having such a great experience with Henry, I just had to add another dog to the pack and in 2005 got Derby. Dog training allows you to develop such a great relationship with your dog and working together as a team is a very rewarding experience. There’s nothing better than when I am teaching Henry or Derby a new behavior or skill and I see that light go on in their heads when it all comes together. It’s a great feeling to help students have that same experience with their own dogs.