Our Team

• Professional Member Association of Pet Dog Trainers
• Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed
• Canine Good Citizen Evaluator, STAR Puppy Evaluator, Tricks Evaluator
• Associate Certified Behavior Consultant IAABC

Karen graduated from Becker Junior College in 1976, where she received an Associate of Science degree in the Veterinary Assistant Program. She was a veterinary technician at Angell Memorial Hospital for nearly seven years. While there she became interested in dog training as she had acquired an untrained 9 month old American Eskimo pup who had numerous behavior problems. Karen took him to a companion class given by Dr. Amy Marder, an animal behaviorist-veterinarian at Angell Memorial Hospital.

Soon after completing the course Karen asked to monitor the classes to learn more. She became seriously interested in behavior and training and was offered a job as a training assistant for Dr. Marder’s classes. She fueled her interest by attending classes and seminars and reading books by other trainers. Karen’s philosophy was guided by the positive reinforcement techniques taught by Dr. Ian Dunbar, a noted behaviorist and veterinarian. He started an Association of Professional Dog Trainers in 1993 of which Karen is a current member. Their mission is to build better trainers through education. Karen embraces that mission and believes that through her instruction she can build more knowledgeable dog owners.

• Fear Free Certified Professional
• Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed
• Canine Good Citizen Evaluator, STAR Puppy Evaluator, Tricks Evaluator

Janice’s interest in training started in 1993 while watching “Free Willy”. She was in awe at not only the behaviors that Willy could do with his trainer, but also the relationship that developed between the two of them. After that movie, she knew she wanted to become an animal trainer. In 2008, she graduated from USF in Tampa with a degree in Psychology focusing on animal behavior. She had a few different animal care/training positiongs in the marine mamal field including positions at Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Mystic Aquarium, and Coral World Ocean Park. During those years, her love for positive reinforcement training flourished!

In 2014, Janice stumbled upon Karen and PAWSitively Obedient and immediately fell in love with the way she was using positive reinforcement training to help people and their dogs! She quickly became a dog training assistant and in 2018 became a certified professional dog trainer.

Now, she is an advocate for appropriate puppy socialization AND positive reinforcement training. She strives to help owners enjoy training as she thinks it should be FUN for you and your dog to learn together while creating a bond that will last forever. She believes in a fear free, cooperative approach and states, “You truly are able to accomplish great things with consistency, dedication, and motivation!”

• Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed
• Fear Free Certified Professional
• Canine Good Citizen Evaluator, STAR Puppy Evaluator

Jackie has over over 20 years of experience working with dogs in both a veterinary setting and in the behavior world. As a certified veterinary technician and canine rehab practitioner, she started learning about behavior as a training assistant to Karen Lanoue-Lambrecht  in 2001, all while cultivating my career in the veterinary setting. It started as a way to get her “puppy fix” and slowly turned into an amazing opportunity to help people understand their dog’s behavior and how to deal with it.

Jackie teaches group basic/advanced obedience on Monday nights while maintaining a full time position as a certified veterinary technician with VCA South Shore Animal Hospital, specializing in canine physical rehabilitation. You will often find her in our training center with her own “assistant” Mulligan.

• Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Kncowledge Assessed
• Canine Good Citizen Evaluator, STAR Puppy Evaluator, Tricks Evaluator

Growing up Victoria was about everything and anything dog. She enjoyed and looked forward to caring for her family dogs. Vic’s dog training journey began when she adopted a Staffordshire terrier mix named Angus. Angus has taught Vic how to be kind, compassionate, understanding, and patient. Working through Angus’ behavioral concerns, using clicker training and positive reinforcement based training, allowed Vic to watch his confidence grow. That experience made her fall in love with dog training. Vic loved it so much that she wanted to make it my job; and that’s exactly what she did; Vic started with PAWSitively Obedient in 2018 as a training assistant and, after receiving her certified professional dog training certification in 2021, became a full time dog trainer.

Victoria has close to 10 years experience working with dogs as a doggie daycare attendant, dog trainer and veterinary assistant. Her favorite part of being a dog training instructor is watching dogs build relationships with their owners. Vic truly believes solid relationships with our dogs helps boost their confidence and ability to navigate the world. When not training, she is likely spending time with her own 2 dogs; Angus, a Staffordshire terrier mix and Ahri, a Siberian husky and her fiancé Jonathan, rewatching The Office.

• Certified K9 Nose Work® Instructor
• Professional Member Association of Pet Dog Trainers
• Karen Pryor Certified Training Partner
• Canine Good Citizen Evaluator, STAR Puppy Evaluator, Tricks Evaluator

Maureen Dwyer is a Karen Pryor Certified Training Partner (KPA-CTP) and a Certified K9 Nose Work® Instructor (CNWI). Maureen believes training should be fun for both dog and owner. She earned her KPA-CTP with her training partner Abby, who was a 12-year-old Jack Russell terrier. Abby proved you can teach an old dog new tricks and the training enriched her life in her senior years.

As an avid advocate and participant in K9 Nose Work®, Maureen also loves introducing new students to the activity and training them on the foundational skills for fun and competition. Maureen and her Australian Shepherd, Bo earned the Nose Work Level 3 (NW3) title. Maureen’s Golden Retriever mix, Arrow has earned his NW3, AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) and AKC Community Canine (CGCA).

Always curious, Maureen continues to expand her knowledge of dog training and behavior by attending seminars, workshops, and conferences. She also is a member of ADPT (Association of Professional Dog Trainers). Maureen gets great pleasure out of teaching dog owners how to train their dogs using positive reinforcement and she loves watching the canine-human bond grow and deepen through training and dog sports.

• Victoria Stillwell Academy Dog Trainer – online certified

Palestina has been around animals her whole life. SHe has a diverse background working with animals including in animal focused retail, working as a veterinary technician, and has a well rounded animal sheltering background.

While Palestins had always had a dog growing up,  it was when she adopted my her own dog, Kira, that her focus on dog behavior and training really started. Kira was a shy, reactive pup from Puerto Rico who thrived under reward based learning. Palestina started reading and learning all that she could about how to could help Kira gain confidence and improve her life.

In December of 2022, Palestina raduated from the Victoria Stillwell Academy of Dog Training. She now has had the pleasure of working with PAWSitively Obedient since February of 2022. Palestina state, “It brings me so much joy when a dog “gets it” when learning a new behavior. Helping families bond with their canine family members while solving unwanted behaviors through positive training is such a wonderful experience to see!”