Karen Gorman, Owner and Trainer
Karen graduated rom Essex Agricultural and Technical School in 1991. With her dog grooming certification, Karen's career and love for dogs became a life style. Shortly thereafter Karen bought Tess, her German Shepherd dog and first agility dog, which opened many doors for her. Tess was a very special dog and she is missed greatly.Tess was known around the Agility circuit as "That German Shepherd from New England". Tess had a very fast and flashy weave pole performance; they also used to say she was a Border Collie in Shepherd clothing!
In 1995, Karen graduated from Julie Daniel's 5 day instructor certification course held at the White Mountain School of Agility in New Hampshire. In 1996, she attended a 3 day Teaching Dog Agility seminar at All Dogs Gym in New Hampshire, taught by Jean McKenzie and Gail Fisher. Since then Karen has been teaching weekly classes and attending many agility camps and seminars. Karen has worked with many of the well-known agility icons: Elicia Calhoon, Monica Percival, Susan Garrett, Jen Pinder, Rhonda Carter, Brenda Buja, Marco Mouwen, and Julie Daniels.
Karen's other dogs include:
- Mesa a mixed breed adopted from a shelter. Mesa's titles include her USDAA "MAD" (Master Agiliy Dog).
- Kuna, a Miniature Pinscher, has many, many titles to his name. Kuna is the first min pin to hold both the AKC (American Kennel Club) "MACH" (Master Agility Dog) and USDAA (United States Dog Agility Association.) "ADCH" (Agility Dog Champion). This shows great versatility in a dog's training, and we are very proud of Kuna. Kuna is still competing and went to AKC Nationals in Tampa , FL for 2006 and to the AKC Invitational in 2007.
- Reno, a Border Collie, has already made a name for himself. As a youngster Reno qualified for AKC Nationals in 2005 and tagged along with Kuna to Tampa. He handled the extremely large venue with pride and helped the Mass state team to a FIRST place win!! Reno has qualified for 2006 Nationals and has had a super fun year.
- Ticket, a Border Collie, is Karen's newest dog. She has only recently begun competing but shows great promise and is quickly moving up the competitive ranks.
Karen's favorite things to do include hiking with her husband, John, and the dogs in the White Mountains. She especially enjoys Crawford Notch and Mount Cranmore. The dogs' favorite thing is swimming in the lake after a nice hike!
Karen, although always seeking to improve her own performance, aspires to help dog and handler come together as a team . She is committed to ensuring that dog and handler have fun as they build the confidence that will make them successful both in competition and at home.
Karen's e-mail address is kunabug@comcast.net.
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Madelyn Cirinna
Madelyn Cirinna is a well-known local expert in dog behavior who brings a rich, diverse background to Fit-n-Trim. She was an early childhood and special education teacher for 20 years and has been the Animal Care and Control Officer in West Newbury for 19 years and in Merrimac for 11 years. For the past 23 years, she has also been an Obedience Instructor. She has been the proud owner and breeder of Shelties and Border Collies for more than 20 years. Madelyn’s dogs, BC's Nell, AX,AXJ,RN, TT and Indy,NA,NAJ, ptd. Shelties: Duncan MX,AXJ; Piper AX,AXJ; Dickens MX,MXJ,RN; Lyric AX,MXJ and Tina & Pansy up and coming, reflect her training expertise. Over the years she has put obedience titles on many dogs (23 CD’s, 7 CDX’s and 2 UD’s). She has also titled dogs in Rally-O, Herding, and Agility.
Madelyn started in Agility with Karen Gorman in 1998 with Duncan and got hooked on the sport. She now has many dogs with AKC, CPE, and NADAC agility titles and continues to train with Karen at the competitive level.
Madelyn is a member of New England Sheltie Rescue and she also continues to be called on to judge Shelties in the show ring.
Madelyn’s background and experience have instilled in her the importance of starting dogs out right from the time they are puppies. At Fit-n-Trim she will bring her many years of experience working with dogs and their owners giving them the foundation they need to have a great working relationship and be a great family pet.
Madelyn can be reached at, scottfree_madelyn@msn.com
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Donna Tagg Dodge
Donna Tagg Dodge has almost two decades of experience teaching people how to train their dogs. As a former instructor at Canine Consulting of Rowley, she taught all levels including Puppy Kindergarten, Adult Beginner and Advanced classes and managed playgroups as well.
For seven years, Donna was a New England Field Instructor for Paws with a Cause, a Service and Hearing Dog facility. Her job was to help her clients learn how to get their trained Service and Hearing dogs to do their tasks willingly on request and to get around in public with their dogs.
Over the years, Donna has also helped train innumerable pet dogs on the North Shore to underground containment systems.
Donna has competed in Obedience, Water Rescue and Carting with her Newfoundlands. Her first Newfoundland, Joseph was an accomplished Therapy Dog. She breeds Newfoundlands using natural rearing methods that include feeding a raw diet, treating her dogs homeopathically and avoiding drugs and chemicals.
Donna also owns and operates The Bark Plaza, her doggie daycare and boarding facility.
Donna can be reached at dtag7@yahoo.com.
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Lisa Halpin, CPDT-KA
Lisa Halpin has been working with animals for more than 20 years. She has managed an animal shelter, worked with numerous veterinarians, and, for the past ten years, has been training dogs. Lisa enjoys competing in Agility with her dogs. She started competing more than 11 years ago with a little red Miniature Pinscher named Minnie. Minnie is an incredible companion and earned numerous titles and awards including TT, CGC, CD, RN and MACH 3. Minnie was one of the top Min Pins in the country for several years. Lisa and Minnie competed in the first AKC Agility Invitational held at Long Beach California in 2006.
Mako, Lisa’s second Min Pin has also earned his CGC, RN and a MACH title. Minnie and Mako are now retired. Lisa is currently competing with Maibe, a 4.5 yr old wild child Doberman and Ripley, a 2 year old German Pinscher who has just recently made her agility debut and is having a blast! Like all Fit-N-Trim instructors, Lisa believes in a positive approach to training. She teaches a full range of classes including Obedience, Rally, Obility, Tricks, Come When Called and Agility. Lisa’s other hobbies include camping, traveling and hiking with her husband, Bob.
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Elaine Hamill
Elaine has been consistently obedience training and showing dogs since 1979. She started in obedience to gain control of her afghan hound, Alex, who earned his UD within 3 years and spent years as an active therapy dog. Elaine also put UDs on a Papillion, a rescue Sheltie, 2 Whippets, and 4 Dalmatians. All of them were ranked #1 during their show careers in the various rating systems. Elaine is currently showing 2 Dalmatians in agility and obedience: • Alvin (UOCH Can MOTCH CH OTCH MACH Lakeshore’s The Alvinator UDX21 NAP OJP) just finished his MACH in June to become the first Dalmatian to earn three separate AKC championship titles: breed, obedience and agility. Alvin also just earned his 1100th OTCH point. • Linus (UUD CAN OTCH Brightspot Lindty Linus UDX2 AX AXJ) at 3 years old is a UDX2 multi HIT winner who excels in agility. Elaine’s students’ dogs have also achieved multiple all breed and specialty HITs and HCs, UKC and CKC OTCHs as breed firsts and many UDXs. They include Boxers, Labs, Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Shelties, Mini Schnauzers, Briards, Dalmatians, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, and Bernese Mountain Dogs. Elaine wrote the New England News column for Front & Finish for 22 years. She has been an AKC Novice Obedience judge since 2004. Elaine’s philosophy reflects that of Fit-N-Trim. She believes in a positive approach to training, backed up sparingly with corrections after the dog understands the exercise. Elaine uses a flat collar to train and very limited aids after novice. She does use lots of food and toys and play to make training fun for both dog and the trainer. She enjoys showing her dogs and believes that a positive attitude makes it all enjoyable for both humans and canines. Elaine may be reached at Otchdal@comcast.net.
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Jennifer Johnson
Jennifer Johnson is the newest member of the Fit-N-Trim Dog Sport Training staff. Jennifer has a Masters in Business Administration, however 15 years ago, moved to New England and decided to leave the corporate world to pursue a life with dogs. A childhood lover of all animals she started a dog walking business, and has turned her passion into a viable dream as an adult, currently known as “Aunt Jennifer” to over 80 customer dogs. Her household includes 2 dogs, 3 cats and her lifetime dog and cat-loving partner Ramunas.
Three years ago a special dog, Storm, entered her life and showed her how much fun agility can be both in training and competing (something she never envisioned herself doing). Jennifer is currently eventing with Storm, in Canine Performance Events (CPE) and United States Dog Agility Association (USDAA) trials. In addition to agility, Storm is a therapy dog visiting a local Alzheimer’s facility as a certified member of Therapy Dogs International (TDI). Finally, when time permits, Jennifer and Storm like to dabble in Canine Freestyle dancing. Storm is an All American, (border collie/cattle dog mix) and has a playmate at home, Star, who is also an All American (border collie/munsterlander mix), that her partner Ramunas runs in agility trials. The teamwork and bonding that occurs with agility has been one of the most rewarding relationships she has had with a dog and is excited to bring this opportunity to other dog owners and their special friend(s).
Jennifer may be reached at wagintail@verizon.net
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Kim Kezer
Kim grew up in Narragansett, RI and graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a BS focusing on Aquaculture. She first became involved with animal training at Mystic Marinelife Aquarium, where she worked for 13 years with a variety of seals and sea lions, dolphins, beluga whales, penguins, fish and invertebrates. In 1998, she and her new husband moved to Massachusetts with their Rottweiler and cat. There Kim became a Senior Zoo Keeper with Zoo New England (Franklin Park Zoo and Stone Zoo), where she gained experience with many land species including giraffe, primates, hippos and large cats. She is now the zoos’ Animal Training Advisor, educating staff on training methods and helping them develop training programs.
Kim and her husband now live in Amesbury with their two Irish Water Spaniels (IWS), Fiona and Selchie, and their cat, Diesel. Kim’s earlier experiences with animal training and her experience training her own dogs led her to the show ring with Fiona, her first Water Spaniel, who is now a breed champion with RN and CD titles in obedience. Kim and Fiona will compete at Westminster this year. They are also working on Fiona’s CDX and RA, and, in the field, on her JH (Junior Hunter) title. Fiona is only the 80th IWS in the history of the breed to earn the IWSCA All Around IWS award in recognition of her accomplishments. Fiona is the mother of Kim’s second IWS, Selchie, who was born in March, 2007. Selchie has a natural love of retrieving and has been great fun to train.
Kim began her formal career as a dog trainer after attending puppy classes with Fiona. Since then, she has taught a variety of courses including Tricks, Canine Good Citizen, and Therapy Dog. We are delighted that she is now bringing her wealth of training and competition experience to Fit-N-Trim.
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Linda Knight
Linda’s love of teaming with animals began in childhood with showing American Saddlebred horses and Collies. In 1994, she began her career as an owner-handler of Shetland Sheepdogs and moved into breeding shelties in 1996. Her top-winning bitch was a tenth generation champion in her tail female line. Linda has specialed her champions and achieved multiple Group and Group 1 wins, leading to placements in the top 20 conformation Shetland Sheepdogs in the United States. Linda judges at AKC matches, has handled and finished client dogs, and taught all-breed handling classes for the North Shore Kennel Club. Many of her students have handled their dogs to championships. Linda’s philosophy for training a show dog is to above all have fun. The show dog learns quickly what is expected of him when he is working, so instilling a positive attitude in the dog is of utmost importance. In the show ring, judges assess the whole picture, which is the sum of breeding, rearing, teaching, conditioning, nutrition, grooming, and presentation. Linda teaches a variety of tips and tricks that she has found to be useful in her years of handling in the show ring. Linda is a Board Member of the North Shore Kennel Club, Past President and current Board member of the Granite State Shetland Sheepdog Club of Southeast New Hampshire, and a member of the American Shetland Sheepdog Association. Linda is a provisional AKC Junior Showmanship Judge. Linda can be reached at millstoneone@comcast.net
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Nadine Perry
Fit-N-Trim’s newest instructor, Nadine Perry, grew up with dogs and inherited her love of animals from her father who was always rescuing a stray pup or dog. He would just come home with a new member of the family that someone had given him or was not wanted elsewhere. When she was 5, Nadine brought home her first stray. Happily for the dog her owners located her but even at 5, she was prepared to feed and train her
Nadine learned about Agility from Julie Daniels, a well-know trainer and competitor and ultimately joined an agility club and began teaching agility. Nadine has taught at Bo-Gee, New England Agility Team (NEAT), and Riverside Canine as well as at the Bainbridge Island Parks and Recreation Department in Washington.
She has competed with her dogs, Coco and Rubens, at USDAA, NADAC, and AKC trials. Coco has earned her USDAA Masters titles in Standard, Snooker, and Jumpers and also her NADAC Elite titles. Rubens earned his AKC and NADAC Novice titles before having to retire due to an injury. Nadine is now preparing her newest dog, Twinkie, for competition. Twinkie is a newly-certified Therapy Dog, who recently earned her TDI. She needs only 3 more points to finish her breed championship. She has gone Best of Breed over Specials at her 4 most recent trials.
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Judy Regan
Judy Regan brings a strong combination of practical competition experience and formal training to Fit-N-Trim. She started training more than a decade ago when she and her husband, Mike, adopted Livey, a beautiful mixed-breed puppy. She first trained Livey in Obedience and then, after watching a demo at the Topsfield Fair, caught the agility bug, which led her to Karen and Fit-N-Trim. In January of 2009, after only a few years of competition, Judy and Livey brought home a C-ATCH. Judy now has two Border Collies, Reese and Amber. Reese has his C-ATCH and is working on his Excellent titles in AKC and Amber, who is not yet two, is quickly moving up the ranks. Judy and her dogs are now also competing in USDAA.
Judy’s interest in training soon made her want to teach…particularly at the Beginner and Advanced Beginner Agility...because she recognized the importance of a strong foundation for dogs starting their agility careers. Since beginning to teach three years ago, she has taken a variety of classes and seminars including Control on Leash and Dealing with Reactive Dogs. She has also taken a series of Prime Time Seminars specifically designed for young dogs just starting agility.
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Bunny Watson
Bunny has been working with animals almost all her life. As a child she raised and showed English Lop rabbits with the Great Scott 4-H Rabbit and Cavy Club. She also showed horses. Wanting to make animals a career, she majored in animal science at Mount Ida College with a focus on veterinary technology. While at Mount Ida and after graduation, she worked as a vet tech in Topsfield and North Andover. In 1997 she became an animal curator at the Museum of Science in Boston, overseeing the care of its live animal collection. Working at the museum gave Bunny the opportunity to work with a large variety of animals including invertebrates, reptiles, mammals, birds, and amphibians. She has trained many of the animals including a bobcat, woodchuck, opossum, meerkat, porcupines, and chickens.
Bunny’s interest in training dogs began in 1990 when she got her first Belgian Sheepdog, Riggs. Riggs was very special and was a certified Therapy Dog for many years. Her next Belgian, “Strider” came along in 2005. They began training in agility and obedience when Strider was 10 weeks old. Strider has since earned three AKC titles in Rally Obedience. Bunny and Strider are now working on their fourth title. Now that Strider is older, they are beginning focus on agility competition. Bunny is also working with her adopted cocker spaniel, Wednesday, in agility. In addition to working with wildlife and training her dogs, Bunny has one horse that she competes with in dressage.
Bunny especially enjoys working with beginners and their dogs. She really enjoys watching as they become a team as they have fun learning new skills together.
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