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BARKIMONIAL
 I was adopted last year by my parents from the Animal Shelter where I finally ended up after being in a puppy mill. I was scared of people and did not trust anyone. My parents brought me to Wags and Wiggles where I met My Uncle Nick, Aunt Amy and everyone else at Wags who made sure I received plenty of love and attention. Everyone there is so nice to me that I can’t wait to get there and when I leave I barely make it out of the parking lot before I fall asleep. Wags allows me to play with all of my friends both human and canine and always makes sure I feel welcome and loved. Without this social interaction from my Wags family and the training and love of my parents I don’t know that I ever would have been able to overcome many of my fears. I feel very blessed that I have such a wonderful new family. Thanks Wags and Wiggles! Love, Jake |
WAGS & WIGGLES STAFF TRAINERS Wags & Wiggles is very proud of it's staff trainers. They help deal with the challenging daycare dogs and give other daycare staff help to manage difficult behavior. They work with our dogs attending the Ruff Love program, teach or assist in group classes, and help consult with owners regarding their dog's temperament, behavior, and obedience issues.Wags & Wiggles offers a comprehensive apprenticeship program. If you are interested, contact the training center. 
 LAURIE ZURBORG, CPDT-KA  Laurie is the founder of Wags & Wiggles. She is head trainer and owner of Wags & Wiggles, The Original and Co-Owner of Wags & Wiggles, Part Deux. Click HERE for her bio.LYSA KNIGHT, CPDT-KA  Lysa is co-owner and head trainer at Wags & Wiggles, Part Deux. Click HERE for her bio.Ranaye Kahn, CPDT-KA -- RSM  Ranaye is our RSM Training Manager. Ranaye started as a client in 2004 looking for Agility classes for her Great Dane Tucker, and started our Wags & Wiggles Apprenticeship Program in 2005. With this program she successfully passed her CPDT Exam and is now one of our staff trainers. Prior to working at Wags she was a Sales and Marketing Manager for an HP reseller, but wanted to find a job that made her smile more on a daily basis.
She has a background in conformation and showing Great Danes. She currently has two Great Danes: Tucker & Elizabeth Taylor. She enjoys doing agility and spending time with her human family which consists of two boys and her husband. She is active in the community, involved with both soccer and baseball as team mom for her son’s teams, and enjoys working in the Children’s Theater helping with makeup. We are thrilled to have Ranaye at our facility as she has a natural ability with dogs. She taught preschool for 10 years and has a special gift when it comes to helping instruct children in classes. She is extremely patient and relates to kids on their terms. Ranaye helps working with the dayschool dogs, ruff/love dogs, and teaches puppy and obedience classes on Saturdays.
She has endless energy, a positive attitude, and takes great pride in her work with our clients and their four legged family members.
Jenny Henry, CPDT-KA -- RSM 
Jenny started working at Wags and Wiggles in the summer of 2004. She had just moved back to California after doing a year of college in Hawai'i, where she was born, and was looking for a job that incorporated her love of dogs. She started out as a daycare staff, eventually becoming one of the weekend managers. She then enrolled in the Apprenticeship program at Wags and Wiggles. After completing the program, she passed her CPDT test in November 2007! She can be seen working with dayschool or board/train dogs, or co-teaching Saturday obedience and puppy classes with Ranaye. When she isn't at Wags and Wiggles, she loves spending time with her deaf beagle rescue named Mailani, who she has trained using hand signals. Lisa McFarland, CDPT-KA -- RSM  Lisa has completed the Wags & Wiggles Apprenticeship Program. She also is now a Certified Pet Dog Trainer. She has a background in conformation and agility. She currents shows and breeds her rat terriers and competes in agility. She has a degree in business management and has continued her education in dog behavior, training, and husbandry. Then she joined the Wags & Wiggles Team. She has quickly adopted the positive reinforcement style of training. Lisa builds a great rapport with both her human and canine clients, and is always quick to lend some humor to her teaching.Gretchen Mavrovouniotis, CPDT-KA -- Tustin 
Gretchen Mavrovouniotis is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Assessed and a Canine Good Citizen Evaluator. She is also a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and the World Canine Freestyle Organization. Gretchen teaches puppy, obedience, tricks, and agility classes at Wags & Wiggles, Part Deux and competes in canine musical freestyle.
Gretchen became interested in dog training when she started volunteering at her local animal shelter in 2001. While volunteering at the shelter, Gretchen heard about clicker training and started learning how to use it to teach both her own dogs and the shelter dogs. In addition to taking advanced dog training classes with her own dogs, Gretchen has attended numerous workshops and seminars to further her expertise in clicker training, canine musical freestyle, and aggression. She joined the Wags & Wiggles Apprenticeship Program in 2007 to help her fulfill her goal of becoming a Certified Professional Dog Trainer. Gretchen has a doctorate in chemical engineering. When she's not working with dogs, she works part-time providing training in Six Sigma process improvement techniques. Gretchen is also a volunteer naturalist at the San Joachin Wildlife Sanctuary where she teaches school children about the sanctuary and the birds that live in it. Nicole Wakida, CDPT-KA -- Tustin  I started taking agility classes at wags and was impressed with how the positive training methods boosted my dogs confidence level. Both my mini aussie and cavalier attend these classes with the hope of competing one day. I struggled to maintain the attention and focus from my aussie. After doing private lessons with Laurie, we are both now a team. Then I inqured about the W&W Apprenticeship program, and eventually earned my CPDT-KA! I'm so thankful I found W&W and now get to do what I enjoy for a living. I am also grateful for the struggles I had with my own dogs so that I am better prepared to help all the dogs I train. Amanda Cornell, CDPT-KA -- Tustin  Amanda Cornell is currently enrolled in the Wags and Wiggles Apprenticeship Program. After earning her Bachelors degree in Zoology at UCSB, she wanted to take a break before she went to graduate school and do something fun, so she decided to take a job as daycare staff. She loved it and quickly became interested in becoming a dog trainer, and joined the Wags Apprentice Program after hearing great things about it from many different people. Amanda now works as a staff trainer at the Tustin location. It has been so much fun (and such a great stress relief) to be able to work with dogs while also working on her Masters degree in Biology. Amanda currently owns four dogs: three chihuahuas and a french bulldog. She has also recently started agility classes with Gracie, her Frenchie, and they are both having a blast! Sherry Nativo, CDPT-KA -- Tustin  Sherry has a Bachelors Degree in Psychology and recently left her career in Human Resources to train dogs. A few years ago Sherry came to own a high energy Italian Greyhound, Sadie. Even after a 4 mile run Sadie was not able calm down. Sherry’s friends nick named her “crazy Sadie.” It wasn’t until Sherry attended the Click Expo that she learned how training can mentally challenge dogs, the way exercise challenges your muscles. Sherry has graduated from the Karen Pryor Dog Training Academy as well as earned her CPDT-KA and is excited to be training dogs at Wags and Wiggles. Sherry also volunteers for the Italian Greyhound Rescue and had two Italian Greyhounds.Rebekah Yusko -- RSM  I am involved in pit bull and mix rescue. Working with rescue dogs, I was constantly challenged and inspired to help them overcome obstacles and fulfill their best potential. I hope to continue to help families strengthen bonds with their dogs so they may be cherished lifelong companions. I am thrilled to have the opportunity at Wags to continue learning and love what I do everyday. I look forward to getting certified.Liz Randall, CDPT-KA -- RSM 
Liz Randall is a Southern California native who grew up surrounded by animals, including her two main loves-—dogs and horses. She rode and competed in hunt seat equitation and jumping from a very young age until she left for college, then for three summers expanded her equestrian horizons wrangling not just 100 head of horses on a ranch in Wyoming, but also ranch guests and cattle. After ten years of a successful career in the sports marketing industry, Liz has decided to return to her true passion of training and working with animals full time. She became interested in positive reinforcement training after acquiring her second rescue/shelter dog. Both dogs needed a different approach than what “traditional training” offered to help them overcome their reactivity and fear issues. Clicker training taught her how to manage her bundle-of-energy Min Pin mix Forest, who now has earned various titles in agility. Liz's Chihuahua mix Diego has earned his CGC certification, and her youngest dog Phineas, a rescue from Wags, is looking forward to a bright agility career. Liz is very excited to be a part of the Wags and Wiggles training staff! Kelly Dies -- Tustin  Growing up I always had an extreme passion for animals. I got my first dog when I was 5 years of age and was hooked from that day on. I started going to dog training classes when I was just 12 years old and was fascinated at the things I could teach a dog. In college I was studying to become a police officer in order to work with the K9 police dogs. I soon changed my career goals after losing two dogs for behavioral issues. I wanted nothing more than to help dogs stay in their homes and to help them get adopted. I attended Animal behavioral College soon after in 2008 to become a certified dog trainer. I have 1 year experience working at a veterinarian hospital and 6 years in dog daycare. I have now been training dogs for close to 2 years and joined the wags and wiggles team close to a year ago. I have loved working here and learning more about positive reinforcement training. The W&W team is like a second family to me they all share the same love and respect that I have for dogs. I currently own 3 dogs of my own a pit mix, cattle dog mix and a husky mix. They all have gone through training and I continue to work with them on many new things to help them stay active and happy. I'm excited for my future in dog training and learning as much possible to help dogs. Pam Johnson, CPDT-KA -- RSM  Wags & Wiggles was recommnded to me by David from Active Dog Adventures and it has been one of the best experiences of my life!
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Founder, Head Trainer Bio |
Wags & Wiggles, The Original
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Bernie 1/1 |
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