Prep Your Pup
Training Academy®
Preparing
Respectful
Enriched
Puppies​
Prep Your Pup Training Academy offers a network of nurturing puppy centric trainers dedicated to providing both you and your puppy with the essential foundation for a harmonious and happy life together. Start your journey on the right foot - and paw- with the preparation you need to build a strong, lasting bond.
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About The Trainers
Prep Your Pup Training Academy is comprised of, and refers training opportunities to, an affiliated network of dog trainers. We benefit from sharing the vast knowledge base and diversity that each trainer brings to
Prep Your Pup. All Prep Your Pup Puppy Trainers utilize positive reinforcement training methods. We incorporate Puppy Culture Enrichment Training into our daily work with each puppy. We capture naturally occurring positive behaviors, reward them and build upon them.
Julie
Pennsylvania
My name is Julie Bastis. I am a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA). I live in Central Pennsylvania with my husband and children. We have two adult Sheepadoodle sisters, Daisy and Clover. Daisy was born deaf and Clover acts as her ears. They are both trained in sign language.
I trained my first puppy when I was about 10 years old under the guidance of my veterinarian father. I informally trained many other puppies through the years. After years as a therapist in hospitals and senior living facilities, I opted to stay home to care for my father-in-law on his journey with dementia. In 2018, as I was looking for something to do, but needing to be close to home training puppies became my full-time job.
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At Prep Your Pup our approach to training is to capture positive behaviors, reward them and build upon them. This is referred to as a Positive Reinforcement training philosophy. We incorporate Puppy Culture Enrichment Training into our daily interactions with puppies.
I am a member of APDT (Association of Professional Dog Trainers) and regularly complete continuing education.
Samantha
Pennsylvania
My name is Samantha St.Clair. My passion for training dogs began with my heart dog, Tucker, over 14 years ago. Tucker inspired me to learn more about dog behavior and training. We earned several agility and trick dog titles together over the years. I spend most of my free time reading books and watching videos about dog training, have volunteered at several animal shelters and began a career working with dogs (and other animals) through pet photography and publishing. Every time I interact with dogs, I carry my philosophy of creating a bond with them through positive reinforcement.I continue my education through professional training conferences such as ClickerExpo, am active in a variety of training groups, and currently volunteer as a puppy raiser for a service dog organization. I share my home with PAD Cody, who is currently on a path to becoming a mobility assistance dog. He goes everywhere with me and has been such a joy to raise. I cannot wait for your puppy to start their journey with me!
Melanie
West Virginia
Melanie is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT) with a wealth of training and behavior modification experience. She has more than a decade of experience training dogs and has worked both privately and in classes with owners. Melanie graduated with distinction as a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP), is a Fear Free Certified Trainer and an AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator. She is committed to science-based, force-free training methods, uses positive reinforcement to keep dogs and their people happy and strives to teach simple, effective methods to achieve goals. Melanie is committed to providing the most effective, convenient solutions to her clients' dog training needs. She avidly pursues ongoing continuing education and professional development by attending several seminars per year and keeping current on industry literature. When not helping clients to enjoy easier lives with their canine companions, Melanie takes her dogs to therapy visits and participates in agility.
Kate
Pennsylvania
Kate has been working with dogs formally since 2010. For 5 years, Kate operated a New York City based doggy daycare that included overnight care. This was the perfect venue for her to hone her positive reinforcement training techniques. Her training paved the way for smooth transitions for pets and pet owners within the city's diverse population.
Now located in Southwest Pennsylvania with her eight-year-old daughter, Kate has retired from her twenty-year career in higher education and career services to work with puppies full-time. She enjoys working with families, children and their dogs to build communication styles that foster confidence and positive interactions.
Kate continues to take advantage of opportunities to enhance her knowledge of dog behavior through LIMA methods.
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Melanie G.
Pennsylvania
Hey there, I'm Melanie! I live in Central PA on a small farm with my husband, three children, and array of critters - both furry and feathered!
Growing up, we always had a dog, cats and horses. We have also had rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, birds, ducks, chickens and sheep. One of my fondest childhood memories was bottle raising an orphan lamb in our home - who followed our Golden Retriever around thinking it was her momma!
I began raising and training service dogs when my twins were only 3 years old...6 years later we haven't stopped! I loved the positive reinforcement-based training I saw within the program. Raising service dogs has helped me hone my skills and fueled my love for training puppies! I am happily juggling raising service dogs, training puppies for families, home schooling my children and running my mini homestead. I am excited to continue to advance my knowledge in LIMA practices and further education in professional dog training.
I cannot wait to welcome your sweet puppy into our home and hearts!
Lauren
Pennsylvania
My name is Lauren Gamble. I live in south central Pennsylvania with my husband, son and Newfydoodle, Doug. Growing up, I was always surrounded by dogs at home. I enjoyed volunteering at animal shelters, raising money for various animal organizations, and watching shows about dogs and dog training.
It wasn't until I started volunteering for Phoenix Assistance dogs, and raised PAD Will, that I realized how much I enjoy training dogs. The PAD trainers were always impressed with my ability to apply the training advice they gave me to make Will successful. PAD Will is now a fully certified working service dog for a wonderful lady in New Jersey. He lives the best life going to the beach and swimming almost everyday.
I recently became trained to evaluate teams for their Public Access Test through PAD. I look forward to continuing my dog training education.
I use positive reinforcement and LIMA methods. I enjoy working with puppies and am excited to give them a solid foundation that can be built on for the rest of their lives.
Kristin
Massachusetts
Hi, I’m Kristin Damiano and the owner at The Balanced Dog. I have been working with dogs since 2016 and launched my company in 2019. My love for training and working with animals came from owning my childhood dog, Snowy, an American Eskimo. She came from a puppy mill so I made it my mission to help her overcome her life before us and gain the confidence she needed to live in this big world. I currently reside in Massachusetts with two German Shorthair Pointers and one rescue dog. We do all sorts of sports from rally to hunt tests and everything in between! If I’m not at work or training dogs- you can catch me on the trails with my crew!
Laura
Colorado
Laura has been training professionally since 2016 and has helped hundreds of dogs and their families form strong bonds rooted in trust, understanding and clear communication. She currently lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado with her very patient husband, two kiddos and two dogs. After seeing so many dogs struggle as adults because they didn't get the foundational training and proper socialization as a puppy, she has made it her mission to help as many families as possible set their puppies up for success from the beginning so they can enjoy calm, confident, fulfilled lives.
