All Trainers
Alex Bassett
Las Vegas Territory Manager
Alex’s love for dogs started at a young age when she read the A-Z dog breed books cover to cover. She told her family that she wanted to be a vegetarian at age six and attended veterinary camp at Washington State University when she was in seventh grade. Growing up, she volunteered at her local animal shelter, which allowed her to gain the confidence to handle dogs that outweighed her.
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Alex Chadesh
Madison Trainer
Alex spent the majority of his childhood learning and mastering martial arts. He began instructing others while still in middle school, becoming an assistant instructor after attaining his first dan black belt. He continued to the learn and teach under his Master while in college, attaining his second dan black belt, and teaching classes of all ages. In addition to martial arts, Alex has a long history working in the
Read MoreAlexis Johnson
Pittsburgh Territory Manager
Alexis grew up in a small town that time forgot, and it was her passion for dogs that has brought her to where she is today. She began her training career with her first Golden Retriever, which she trained to be a Therapy dog. Since then, Alexis has helped many families live cohesively with their K9 companions. She has an extensive history of playing softball starting at the young
Read MoreAllyson Stewart
Dallas Territory Manager
Allyson’s most cherished childhood memories were helping her Aunt on the farm. What started as a chore evolved into her passion, as she quickly learned that she’d rather hang out with the animals than her classmates. When Allyson wasn’t at school, she would spend her days volunteering at an animal rescue or cuddling with her family dog. Allyson’s family always had multiple pets in the house. From the family dogs
Read MoreAmber Haseltine
Austin Territory Manager
Amber grew up surrounded by dogs! Her love for them blossomed while she was in charge of their care growing up. When Amber got her first dog of her own, she wanted to turn an affinity for training and care for dogs into a career. Amber worked in customer service for over ten years and developed excellent communication and managerial skills. She attended Animal Behavioral College and became certified in
Read MoreAshley Buckans
Raleigh Territory Manager
Ashley always had a passion for dogs and helping others. In high school, she raised Guide Dogs for the Blind for her FFA project. She also volunteered at a veterinary hospital and was eventually hired as a kennel technician. Ashley worked at a couple of veterinary hospitals before deciding she wanted to make a bigger impact between humans and animals. At 19, she was hired as a pack leader at
Read MoreBrooke Janke
Chicago Trainer
Brooke has always had a special place in her heart for dogs! Growing up in a pet-loving family, Brooke was blessed to have several four-legged family members that made her childhood feel complete. In addition to dogs, horses have also played a significant role: she has been a riding instructor for the last 16 years and has competed for most of her life. Driven by her childhood dream, she has
Read MoreBrooke Novotny
Nashville Territory Manager
Brooke grew up in the small town of Saint Michael, Pennsylvania. She has had a strong passion for caring for animals her whole life and always planned to make a career of it. She received her degree in Psychology with a concentration on animal behavior from Westminster College. Throughout High School and College, Brooke worked at a Dog Kennel and loved being around the animals every day. She was also
Read MoreDevon Oaks
Phoenix Trainer
Devon’s passion for animals and the outdoors started at a young age in his hometown of Mesa, Arizona. After honorably serving his country for eight years in the United States Army in Germany, Afghanistan, Texas, and Korea, Devon decided to pursue training dogs full time. As a loving father of two, it’s his firm belief that there are no “bad dogs”, just learned behaviors. Devon loves the unique challenge that
Read MoreErin Hansen
Indianapolis Territory Manager
Dogs and Education have been a part of Erin’s life since she was born. Both of her parents were teachers with a strong love and respect for dogs and animals of all kinds. They made sure that they instilled that in Erin at an early age. Erin taught at a high school for 10 years. after which she worked in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis geared mainly toward working
Read MoreErin Hegeman
Milwaukee Trainer
Erin grew up in a small town in west-central Wisconsin. Her love of animals started at a young age. Her first dog was a Cocker Spaniel that her parents let her pick out at the local humane society for her second birthday. Growing up they opened their home to many rescue dogs including a yellow Lab, American Eskimo, and Australian Shepherd. Erin studied Environmental Science at the University of Minnesota
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Evan Dallas
As a Chicago area native, Evan grew up spending as much time with dogs as he possibly could (despite not being able to have one at home due to a sibling’s allergies). As an adolescent, he spent his free time training the dogs of family members and soon realized he had a passion for working with animals. During his college years, Evan worked as a dog walker while living in
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Frank Abruscato
Philadelphia Trainer
Frank has had dogs in his life from the beginning. Growing up in Philadelphia, he was always willing to help his neighbors with their pets and soon realized that he had a way with animals. Frank spent the first few years of his animal career handling and training horses. Then in his early twenties, he adopted his first dog Rex, and he completely changed his outlook on life. It was
Read MoreGracie Reed
Houston Trainer
Gracie was born in Amarillo, TX, and raised in the suburbs of the Houston Area. She has loved animals, especially dogs, her entire life. Ever since she was a kid, she dreamed of having a career where she was able to work with animals. After high school, she began working at a local pet store. There she learned tons of information about pet nutrition, training, and worked with pets and
Read MoreHolly Wengerski
Chicago North Territory Manager
Holly has been an animal lover throughout her entire life. Growing up she had pet dogs, cats, snakes, lizards, turtles, and even a praying mantis! Being an only child the connection with her animals was always strong. As she grew she saw the opportunity to turn her passion into a career and pursued a degree in Animal Science. Holly graduated from Illinois State University and had the opportunity to work
Read MoreJared Auday
Phoenix Trainer
Jared has always loved dogs and first found his passion for training when his girlfriend was diagnosed with a cardiac condition that required a service dog. He dedicated his time to working with her service dog, Nala, and was fascinated by the impact on his girlfriend’s independence at the end of the training process. From this point on, Jared knew he wanted to make a career out of helping owners
Read MoreJax Jackson
Dallas Trainer
Jax has always had a deep love for animals. Their desire to create cooperative bonds between pets and people started early, with them training their rats to perform tricks! Jax has spent 17 years of their life riding and working with horses and gained some experience as a stablehand in high school and college. Jax spent some time working in a pet hotel and absolutely adored the time they spent
Read MoreJay Buchanan
Illinois Trainer
Janessica J. Buchanan, also known as Jay, is originally from Amarillo, Texas. She found her love for pets at an early age, spending most of her childhood and high school years training German Shepherds with her dad. With over 6 years of experience in veterinary medicine as a veterinary technician, she has treated not only domestic animals, but also farm animals including cattle and horses. Jay’s passion for animals
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Kaitlyn Hohimer
Kaitlyn joins Suburban K9 with a lot of experience and passion for training animals. Growing up, Kaitlyn rode horses as often as possible, and, if she wasn’t riding horses, she was training her family dogs for fun. Kaitlyn knew that she was meant to work with animals from the very beginning. Before graduating from high school, Kaitlyn was offered an internship at her local animal hospital, and she was quickly
Read MoreKatelyn Anhalt
Phoenix Territory Manager
Katelyn grew up on a small farm in Southeastern Iowa, where her love of animals began! She was actively involved in 4-H from a young age and enjoyed exhibiting at the county and state fairs. She showed everything from sheep and goats to beef and dairy cattle! She even taught her lamb, Smokey, how to play basketball at the farm! Katelyn attended a community college in Iowa to study to
Read MoreKyle Lohman
Chicago South Trainer
For as long as Kyle can remember, he has always wanted to work with animals. He grew up with dogs, cats, and even ferrets, just to mention a few. His mother has worked as a dog groomer for over 20 years, and growing up, he spent every summer at her shop. Kyle graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Accounting from Northern Illinois University, but began his career working with animals
Read MoreLauren Hauge
Milwaukee Territory Manager
Lauren grew up in a small town south of Milwaukee and attended the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse, where she earned a Community Health Education Degree. After college, she moved to Eau Claire, where she primarily worked with teenagers at the Boys & Girls Club, helping them to gain the tools and skills they need to be successful. Lauren is excited to be back in Milwaukee and have the opportunity
Read MoreLiliana Carpano
Philadelphia Territory Manager
Liliana began attending university, it didn't take long for her to realize she was far more passionate about her part-time job of walking dogs than she was about the degree she was studying. That passion only grew as she remained in the pet industry and eventually began fostering rescues. Her love for animals and desire to help people led her to Suburban K9, where she hopes to help keep
Read MoreLilliana Calero
Miami Territory Manager
Lilliana grew up in Pembroke Pines, Florida, and was always surrounded by animals and immediately grew a love for them. As she got older, her passion for animals never changed, and she made sure to put that passion into her career choice. While attending Florida State University, Lilliana studied biology, with a focus on animal sciences. During that time, she spent her free time working and helping animals in any
Read MoreMolly Juneau
Chicago North Trainer
Molly’s passion for animals started at a very young age. She loved helping animals and people. Throughout her life, she has focused a lot of her free time on pet sitting, fostering animals, and volunteering at rescue and wildlife centers. Molly has a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Grand Valley State University, which led her to opportunities in marine mammal training. She participated in internships in Florida to train and
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Nelson Medrano
Media Production Specialist and Chicago Trainer
Nelson comes from a family with a strong tradition of dog training; both his father and brother are dog trainers. While Nelson was growing up, his father was a hunting dog trainer and he would tag along as his father taught clients both basic and advanced hunting skills. Nelson would help with the dogs as much as he could and saw firsthand how happy the dogs would be when given
Read MoreNick Smoots
Chicago North Trainer
Nick Smoots is a Chicago native and an avid dog lover! He was surrounded by pets all his life and has always had a soft spot for animals! Last year, he adopted a two-year-old Pitbull mix named Juno. Nick discovered his passion for working with animals when Juno went through training with Suburban K9. He saw a complete 180 in her behavior in a short amount of time as the
Read MoreRose Pierce
Houston Trainer
Rose was born and raised in Houston, TX, and for as long as she can remember there have always been dogs in her life. With several years of retail experience she eventually landed herself inside of a holistic pet store which flared up her passion for pets to an entirely new level. Rose found herself enamored with every furry friend she got to meet and with every pet parent she
Read MoreSabrina Lopez
Chicago South Territory Manager
Sabrina spent the majority of her childhood surrounded by family dogs. Her parents adopted the first of many dogs when Sabrina was just three years old. Sabrina took a lead role in loving and working with the dogs from a young age. In addition to spending time with the family dogs, she loved running cross-country and track. Sabrina has a long history of making customers happy! She spent years working
Read MoreSamantha Doig
Houston Territory Manager
Born and raised in Plainfield, IL, Samantha had a lot of different pets, which fueled her love of animals. Her passion turned into a profession when she majored in Zoology and Psychology at Western Illinois University. She loved learning about the different ways animals think, behave, and interact with their environment. Her studies led her to work with animals in a multitude of environments. Samantha has worked at several wildlife
Read MoreShelby Adkins
Orlando Territory Manager
Shelby has loved animals her entire life. In the first grade, she started working on farms during the weekend to earn horse riding lessons. She would take care of horses, pigs, birds, sheep, cows, dogs, and cats. She enjoyed the work just as much as the reward. Shelby’s family moved around a lot when she was in school. She begged her parents for a dog of her own for years,
Read MoreShelby Naab
Milwaukee Trainer
Shelby grew up in a suburb of Milwaukee with two animal-loving parents. Her mother started her love for dogs and her father, her passion for horses. Shelby spent most of her summers working on farms or at horse camps. Quickly realizing that animals were her lifelong passion, she went to college for Animal Science at UMN. After graduating, she managed two therapeutic riding barns for a few years, then moved
Read MoreStephanie Israel
Illinois Trainer
Stephanie grew up on a farm in rural South Carolina, raising dogs, cats, birds, horses, goats, chickens, ducks- the full farm experience! She discovered a love for connecting with animals while working with dogs and horses from a young age, including training her family’s dressage horses as a teenager. After obtaining a BA in Psychology, Stephanie transitioned her passion for animals into her professional portfolio by working as a
Read MoreTiffany Hollenbeck
Trainer
Tiffany was born and raised in California, where her passion for animals developed at a very young age. She grew up surrounded by dogs, horses, cats and many other animals. Her life-long dream has been to work with animals. When Tiffany was young she spent her free time playing with and training her family’s dogs and is so happy to see her passions come full circle. Tiffany moved to
Read MoreTwila Johnson
Houston Trainer
Twila was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and has been an animal lover from the very beginning. She has had pets her whole life - even a hedgehog! As an Animal Science major at Texas A&M, she found every opportunity to work with animals she could. Twila also spent a semester in the Kentucky Bluegrass region as a Thoroughbred Breeding Farm intern. By her senior year, she was the
Read MoreWes Smith
Indianapolis Trainer
At a young age, Wes was introduced to a lifestyle that consistently involved dogs. His mom was the manager of the Porter County Animal Control in Valparaiso, IN, where he hails from. He spent many days helping his mom at the animal shelter while developing a deep sense of connection in caring for animals along the way. As an AKC Junior Handler, Wes participated in showing his family’s German
Read MoreZachary Westfall
Jacksonville Territory Manager
A Florida native, Zachary discovered his love for animals at a young age. He took any opportunity to be around animals, which led him to begin horseback riding and volunteer work. Through volunteering, he was hired as a barn manager at a therapeutic riding facility and learned many skills necessary to manage the horses, volunteers, and facility effectively. Not only did he gain managerial experience from this job, but
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Matt Covey
Company Founder
Having grown up in a family that spent their time breeding and showing dogs, it was only natural that Matt’s long time passion for dogs turned into his profession. Matt’s training skills have given him the opportunity to train for celebrities such as Antonio Davis of the Chicago Bulls and Bobby Simmons of the Milwaukee Bucks. Matt’s reputation also allowed him the incredible opportunity to work as the head dog
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Matt Wlos
Head of Technology and Operations
Matt Wlos grew up around computers and technology; his father was instrumental in creating the early course registration system for the University of Illinois. Having a computer and internet access in the home prior to any of his classmates he was able to create webpages and other basic computer programs while still in junior high. He pursued his childhood passion of working with technology and graduated with a degree in
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Jessica Tritthardt
Human Resources Manager
Jessica grew up in a home that always had several animals rooming around. Her family home included four-legged friends such as dogs, cats, hamsters, and a rabbit. She has loved animals for as long as she can remember, which is why she worked at Petco starting in High School, all the way through college! Jessica graduated from Illinois State University with a Bachelor of Science in Education and spent years
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Rachel Woods
Human Resources Coordinator
Some consider themselves to be cat people, while others consider themselves to be dog people; Rachel grew up in households with both, so she considers herself a “bipartisan” animal lover. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, she loved taking advantage of opportunities that appealed to her affinity for animals, including taking an intensive Animal Behavior course that led to some incredible encounters with elephants, giraffes, monkeys, and more. She has been
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Maggie Deemer
Director of Training
Ever since Maggie was four years old, there has always been a dog or two in the house. She learned a great deal helping her mother train all their dogs, from a Maltese to a sheltie to a mini poodle. Working with dogs and helping people better understand how to care for their companions has always been her passion! Maggie started her career with Suburban K9 many years back as
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Jeanne Dellagardele
Customer Service Representative
Jeanne loves helping prospective clients learn about our services and schedule training. She grew up in Iowa and moved to Chicago shortly after graduating from Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa. She and her husband moved to Brookfield, Illinois not long after their son was born. Jeanne previously worked at Crain's Chicago Business as an administrative assistant. She enjoys gardening, hiking, cooking, and baking bread. Along with her husband and son,
Read MoreMiranda Pavnica
Customer Service Representative
Miranda grew up having many dogs in her family. That love grew as she got older, which led to adopting and caring for multiple dogs throughout the years! Miranda attended Florida SouthWestern State College where she studied Early Childhood Education. After graduating, she taught at a local elementary school where she was able to share her love of dogs and animals with her students. Since moving from Florida to the
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Kristine Meyer
Customer Service Representative
Kristine grew up around dogs, cats, and horses, so animals have always had a special place in her heart. Throughout her life she has lived in Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, California and Illinois. Before working at Suburban K9, she worked for many years in customer service with a jewelry store. She also received her Master’s Degree in Social Work and used her degree to run a group home for 10 years
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Stephany Douglass
Front Desk Manager
Stephany grew up in Mesa, Arizona, and Dallas, Georgia. Over the years, she had all different kinds of pets, from horses to dogs and cats, and even some ferrets. These pets have helped Stephany understand that every animal has a unique way of learning and loving. She began working with animals at a young age, as she trained and interned at a local horse rescue and county animal shelter. She
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Lenny Szatkowski
Director of the Suburban K9 Academy
Lenny has always been a dog lover, and knew early on that he wanted a career with dogs. He became a trainer with Suburban K9 in 2009, while still attending college at Northern Illinois University. Lenny quickly excelled as both a trainer and a student, eventually graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Marketing. Over the years he became an expert in dealing with difficult dogs and training
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Kaitlin Butler
Customer Service Representative
Kaitlin's love of animals and helping others has always been a priority in not only her personal life, but her professional life as well. Her career in the animal industry began with her very first job at a doggy daycare and grooming facility. Once realizing animal welfare was her passion, Kaitlin spent the next seven years dedicated to shelter medicine and finding homeless pets their “furever” homes. Her interest then
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Marci Condon
Customer Service Representative
Marci was 15 when she got her first dog, Babe. After that she was hooked. Since then she has had many dogs and currently has a rescue Bichon Frise, Corey. Corey has brought so much joy into her family’s lives and is currently looking to rescue another dog. She has a husband and 2 boys in college. Her hobbies include crafting and working in the yard. She loves going to
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Mikayla Savage
Customer Service Representative
Mikayla was born and raised in Tampa, FL. Growing up, she could not have pets, but this did not stop her love for animals. She would often bring home injured or abandoned wildlife to care for a release, and she was always begging her mom to let her have a dog. Mikayla began college with a degree in nursing but quickly switched to Zoology. After several zoo internships, she moved
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Joy Palmer
Logistics Manager
Joy grew up in Joliet, Illinois. After spending a few years in Iowa, she returned to the area where she was raised to meet and marry her husband. They now live in the warm and sunny suburbs of Orlando, FL. Joy has been around dogs all her life and currently has a Great Dane that she absolutely adores! Joy has worked as a hairstylist and a florist before joining the Suburban K9 team. It is so amazing
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