Diane Battis.  Diane has been training and competing in dog sports for almost 20 years.  She has titled Shelties and a Border Collie in competition obedience, freestyle, rally-o and agility.  Diane has taken several seminars and camps with some of the best in their fields including Rosie Sutherland, Linda Mecklenburg, Mary Ellen Barry, Paulena Renee Hope, Karen Holik and most notably Kathy Sadao where Diane’s foundation of shaping and breaking down behaviors (whether manners, Rally or agility) into small pieces helps owners and their dogs to be successful.  Diane has also studied with Leslie McDevitt, author of “Control Unleashed:  Creating a Focused and Confident Dog” and uses these skills to help her students whose dogs are over the edge to cope as they learn to compete. 

Clyde Closson.  Clyde competes in multiple agility venues with several of his Golden Retrievers.  Two of them, Rosie and Olivia, have achieved their AKC Master Agility Champion title.  He is has been teaching beginning, advanced and master level  agility skills and course management classes with a number of local clubs for several years.  Clyde believes that agility ought to be fun, a philosophy that is evident in the joy and enthusiasm with which he and his dogs run, and that agility is just one more activity to play with your canine companion.  He is an AKC sanctioned agility judge.  

Katie Conn.  Katie Conn’s agility career started at Y2K9s where she began taking classes in 2000; she has been competing in agility since 2001.  Katie’s herd of Shelties includes  Oreo, her first agility and rally-o dog; Chip, a foster/rescue who earned the LAA Bronze in USDAA and the MACH in AKC;  Twix who earned the LAA Bronze and MACH 3 and placed fifth as a member of the USA/AKC World Agility Team; and her young dog Ritz who is in agility training.  Katie has trained with several of the top competitors including Rosie Sutherland, Linda Mecklenburg, Karen Holik, Mary Ellen Barry, Paulena Renee Hope and Wendy Pape. Katie teaches several agility courses for Y2K9s using the Awesome Paws Handling System method. 

Frank Heffelfinger.  In 2000 Frank began training his young Golden in agility and appreciated how it taught him the true meaning of a working relationship with his dog.  His dog Magic went on to earn many titles in agility and is also training his youngest Golden, Sizzle.  In addition to agility, Frank has ventured into other sports including dock diving and rally-o.  Frank has been teaching agility classes since 2003.  His primary goal is “Have fun” and he uses positive training methods to formulate this philosophy and to help his students build a foundation for a solid team and to bond with their dog.  Frank has trained and taken seminars with many of the top competitors and instructors in agility.

Janie Harris.  Janie’s original profession, teaching health/physical education and coaching, has allowed her to bring her teaching experience to her work with students and their dogs.    She started playing with discs about 10 years ago and quickly moved to competing and demonstrating disc play with her dogs at fairs, expos and for Animal Planet. Her primary dog sport is disc work for her business, Doggy Days Demos where the Harris team performs for schools and similar programs.  She is also a successful agility competitor. Those who discover the joy of disc play, find the play itself so rewarding that no treats are ever needed.   The secret to disc play, is for the handler to be able to throw catchable passes that the dog can grab in a safe manner. The dog needs to master the art of chase, catch, and return. Once the basics are mastered, there are numerous toss and fetch games that can be played.

Rosemarie Huey.  Actively involved in Dog Agility since 1997, Rosemarie has  been fortunate to have trained with some top level competitors including Stuart Mah, Wendy Pape, Karen Holik, Jen Pinder, Greg Derrett, Susan Garrett, Sue Tovino, Rosie Sutherland, Mary Ellen Barry and Jeannette Hutchinson.  Two of her dogs were semi-finalists at USDAA Nationals, as well as earning recognition on the USDAA Top Ten List.  Rosemarie’s border collies have earned four ADCH titles, two Bronze Lifetime Achievement Awards, and one Silver Lifetime Achievement Award.   Rosemarie’s specialty is working with puppies and young dogs.  She excels at making puppy work fun and gearing the class towards skills that will be useful in agility and other dog sports.

Lynn Hull.  Lynn Hull has been training her Labrador retrievers and border collies and competing in agility, obedience, rally obedience and flyball for 14 years. Her dogs are all certified Canine Good Citizens and two are currently Therapy Dogs as well. She has assisted in obedience, agility and flyball classes, has taught Therapy Dog/Canine Good Citizen preparation classes, and is currently assisting with flyball class and teaching Basic Canine Manners and Foundations for Dog Sports.  Lynn has taken seminars with a lot of top-level competitors including agility with Rosie Sutherland, Paulena Hope, Bridget McKnight, Barb DeMascio, Stuart Mah, Karen Holik, Donna Rohaus, Karen Holik; Control Unleashed with Leslie McDevitt; Canine "performance" with Chris Zink, David and Ria Acciani, Maria Duthie; and Flyball Seminars with Julie Norman, Springloaded and Kelly Robbins.  Lynn is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. 

Jacky Judd.  With a Bachelor of Science Degree in Animal Science from Delaware Valley College, Jacky started her career working with large farm animals and transitioned into dog training where she has been active for the past 20 years.  Jacky is on the Board of Directors of Live to Run Again and is currently the Training Director for Y2K9s.  Jacky has titled dogs of various breeds in conformation, obedience, agility, rally-o and freestyle.  She has attended several seminars and camps including Clean Run Instructor’s Camp.  Jacky’s main goal in dog sports instruction is to clarify and improve the dog/human relationship. 

Alexa Karaoulis.  Alexa has been working with dogs, sports, and training for over 15 years.  She has participated in Freestyle and Flyball, taught agility, and one of her most notable talents is working with dogs that for a myriad of reasons have difficulty coping with stressful environments. The reasons for any particular dog reacting out of stress are about as varied as for people. Often when a dog becomes stressed, their ability to cope with a situation diminishes resulting in a dog that barks uncontrollably, cannot sit still, pay attention, or worse yet behaves wildly. Alexa had the opportunity to work and train with Leslie McDevitt, the author of “Control Unleashed:  Creating a Focused and Confident Dog” of a book which addresses this stress-related behavior. Alexa’s teaching methods are positive, and her gift working with dogs also extends to the people who own and love these dogs.

Rose Lynch.  Rose has been training and instructing at Y2K9s for seven years.  She actively competes in flyball and agility.  Rose is a member of Fur Fun Flyball Team which is currently ranked among the top ten flyball clubs in North America.  Her border collies are accomplished flyball dogs with Lucy earning her Flyball Grand Champion (FGDCH) Title with 60,000 points, Snitch has earned FGDCH Title with 30,000 and Tam earning his FD at 11 years old.  She has assisted Deb Norman for several years and became the lead instructor in 2009.  Rose attends seminars sponsored by the top flyball competitors to continually stay on the cutting edge of the sport.  Her understanding of the methods and techniques presented is demonstrated by the success of the participants in her class.  Rose, along with Sally Silverman, will be teaching the exciting new sport of Treibball for the late winter 2011 session.

Leslie McDevitt.  Leslie McDevitt, MLA, CPDT-KA, CDBC, is a certified trainer and behavior consultant who has worn many hats at Y2K9s for over a decade, including Obedience Director and President. An internationally recognized behavior consultant, Leslie is known for her best-selling book, "Control Unleashed:  Creating a Focused and Confident Dog" which won an award for Best Dog Training Book of 2007. Leslie also has released two training DVDs, and her puppy book is expected soon.  Leslie developed her Control Unleashed course, the basis for her training system for dogs that are too distracted, stressed or reactive to perform well in off leash sports, at Y2K9s.  Leslie isn't only a teacher at Y2K9s, she is a longtime student and club member; her current agility dog is her beloved border collie Easy. Aside from agility, Leslie has trained and shown her dogs in obedience, rally-o, disc dog, musical freestyle and flyball.  Leslie is passionate about animals and clicker training and her latest clicker project is her appaloosa pony, King.

Rob Moore.  Rob Moore has always loved dogs but it took him a long time to get one or two of his own! He graduated Reed College in 1981 with a B.A. in Biology, and the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 with an M.S. in Education. It wasn't until 2006 that he finally got around to getting a dog of his own--a three-year-old Portuguese Water Dog, Nori.  He hit the ground running since then, taking obedience, flyball, and agility classes. Rob acquired a second PWD in 2007, a puppy born into Rob's own hands. He works and competes with Mr. Darcy regularly in flyball, agility, and PWD "water work." He has recently started teaching Basic Agility Skills at Y2K9s.

Deb Norman.  Deb has involved in dog sports for over 40 years, titling her first dog in AKC obedience and teaching, training and competing in various dog sports ever since.  In 1980 Deb was on the first Flyball team in Canada.  Deb’s leadership skills are evident:  1980-1984 Training Director Swansea Dog Training Club (Toronto, Ontario), Founder Best Friends Dog Obedience Club in 1994 (now Y2K9s 1999) where she also held the position among others of Training Director from 1994 to 2008.Deb was the Field Trainer for Paws with a Cause for over 10 years.  She is also the owner of the Fur Fun Flyball team.  In addition to teaching at Y2K9s, Deb also had her own private dog training and behavior counseling business and currently works for Fort Washington Vet Hospital.  She has taken dozens of seminars and attended several camps including Gary Wiles (clicker training intro), Bob Bailey (chicken camp) and Jean Donaldson (clicker training).

Cindy Otto.  Cindy has been training her dog, Dolce, for eight years and her cat, Zucca, for three years and is a CTDI (Certified Trick Dog Instructor --www.domorewithyourdog.com/pages/trickdogtitle.html).   She is active in animal assisted therapy and Dolce has earned both his TDI (Therapy Dog International) and CGC (Canine Good Citizen) titles. He also competes in agility, where he has several titles; flyball, where he has his FM; and is a fanatic for tricks and has his ETD. Cindy has been teaching a tricks class at Y2K9 Dog Sports Club since 2009. She uses clicker training and other positive techniques for training. Cindy also produces monthly tricks videos featuring Dolce and Zucca (www.likedogsandcats.com) to promote important animal health issues.

Marisa Scully.  Marisa began her dog training journey in 2005 when she sought help for her two "naughty" dogs.  Discovering many different training methods and philosophies and not knowing which were best, Marisa began dog training extensively. Marisa has three dogs - two Pit Bulls and one small terrier mutt - all rescues. Marisa volunteers regularly with the director of training and behavior at the PSPCA and usually has a foster dog in addition to her three resident dogs. Marisa loves to continue to learn and enjoys attending seminars and conferences, as well as sharing ideas and working closely with other amazing trainers, especially those at y2k9s. In addition to y2k9s Marisa runs a small training business where she provides private, in-home training and behavior consultations.

Sally Silverman.  Sally Silverman started training dogs about 10 years ago and has been active in Y2K9s ever since. She has found that using positive reinforcement, play and lots of understanding yields the best results. Sally has competed in agility with five dogs, all Australian Shepherd and her current Aussies, Tinker and Bounce, both recently earned their AKC Master Agility Championships. They also compete in USDAA and ASCA agility where they have earned titles and qualified for national competitions.   In addition to agility, Sally has a passion for canine freestyle which combines the challenge of training precise, complicated behaviors with creative presentation. In WCFO (World Canine Freestyle Organization) Tinker and Bounce have earned several titles in multiple divisions. In addition to teaching freestyle and agility, Sally has taught beginner obedience, tricks, and puppy class at Y2K9s.

Rosie Sutherland.   Rosie has been competing in agility since 1996, starting with an Australian Shepherd and then several border collies. Her dogs Todd and Rhyn both earned USDAA Platinum Lifetime Achievement Awards, the highest title in USDAA agility. They also earned MACH titles in AKC. Risk is currently trialing at the most competitive levels in both venues, and has earned the AKC MACH. Rosie has also recently begun trialing with FloJo and is looking forward to trailing her youngest border collie, Gem. Rosie trains regularly with Linda Mecklenburg and teaches classes and seminars for several New Jersey clubs in addition to Y2K9s Dog Sports Club, where she is the Agility Director. Both she and her students have been finalists in AKC and USDAA national championships, and one student competed on the AKC World Agility Team.  Rosie recently started herding with another border collie, Spec.

Samra Zelman has been competing in agility since 2001 and obedience since 2004. Her dogs have earned over 40 titles in obedience, agility, retriever hunt tests, and conformation. She became a CGC Evaluator in 2006 and has taught CGC preparation classes since 2009. Samra currently has a Golden Retriever, Delta, who is working toward her MACH and UD, a Papillon, Cedric, who is also working toward his MACH, and an American Staffordshire Terrier, Alba.  In addition to dog training, she is interested in canine sports conditioning and rehabilitation. In her other life she is a VMD/PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania.