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Meet Our Instructors

John McWilliams "Upright Dog"

Our Trainer, John McWilliams, has been a professional dog trainer since 1982. Getting his start with the U.S. Air Force’s Green Dog Program as an Animal Behavior Modification Specialist, John quickly found his niche molding dogs to perform to the high standards of our Armed Forces. With John’s participation, “Green Dog” was so successful the other three branches of the Armed Forces joined in to create the Department of Defense Dog Training Section.John established himself as one of the top trainers in this multi-force section.

Afterwards, John helped build the Military Working Dog Section on Florence’s Air Base in Belgium, where he became the first American Drug Detector Dog Handler certified by a Belgian Air Force Wing Commander.

After serving his country, John went on to a Sheriff’s Office in New Jersey working as an Investigator with the K-9 Unit. He rose to the title of Office in Charge of Training, responsible for the day to day training of all assigned working dogs, their handlers, and Police Officers from nearby Police Departments and Sheriff’s Offices. John instructed at several Police Academies and gave countless public lectures and demonstrations. He is accepted and qualified as an expert on Police Dog training and handling by the Superior Court of the State of New Jersey.

For the past 15 years, John has devoted himself to putting this vast history of knowledge and experience to task helping dog loving citizens like you. Believing no two dogs are exactly alike, John tailors each training lesson to suit both the dog and its owner. No problem is too great nor too small. We offer New to You Puppy Lessons (to get off to a great start); Group Training Classes: Puppy Preschool thru Advanced Obedience, AKC Caning Good Citizen Testing, House-breaking; Basic and Advanced Obedience; Problem Solving Lessons and specialized training for deaf, handicapped and abused dogs.

 

Tina Bowe

Tina Bowe is committed to the principle that a well trained dog is a happy member of its family. What gives her the greatest satisfaction is teaching responsible dog ownership to families by educating them in the principles of dog training. Many of her current students have previously trained with her and have returned with a new puppy or an older adopted dog for her to train. She has also put AKC obedience titles on her own dogs and has helped breeders put titles on theirs.

She is certified as a dog trainer by the San Francisco SPCA’s Academy for Dog Trainers. In addition, she earned the title of Mentor Trainer from the ABC Behavioral College in California by providing students of ABC with hands-on dog training experience.

During her many years with Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter, Tina evaluated the incoming dogs’ temperaments to ensure placement of the dogs with appropriate families. She set up behavior modification programs for many dogs before putting them up for adoption. These programs resulted in a high number of dogs staying with their new families. Tina’s years of experience and her ability at problem solving are invaluable to her students.

 

Barb Miller

Barb has been competing in the sport of dog agility for over 20 years. As a full time agility instructor in the tri-state area, she has had the chance to introduce countless students to this exciting sport. Barb enjoys working with all shapes, sizes and breeds of dogs and is known for working with some of the more unusual breeds. Barb's basset hound, Carry, was the first of her breed to earn an AKC agility title and her Cardigan Welsh Corgis and Australian Cattle Dog have been top ranked nationally and within their breeds.

In addition to putting agility titles on nine of her own dogs, Barb has shown and titled dogs in obedience, breed conformation, herding, tracking, rally and flyball.