Staff
About Mary McNeight, The Service Dog Academy and Diabetic Alert Dog 101
Mary McNeight holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Michigan and is a graduate of the only dog training degree program certified by the State of Washington. She is a professional member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, holds a CPDT-KA (certified pet dog trainer – knowledge assessed) granted by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, and is certified by the American Red Cross in pet first aid. With more than 5 years of training experience, she has had multiple requests nationwide for her services and to speak on behalf of dog training.
Having attended the APDT conferences in 2009 and 2010, the 2010 Clicker Expo, Fear Aggression and Play Workshop, the Dr. Ian Dunbar seminar in May 2010, Diabetic Alert Dog Training classes in California in 2009 and classes with the top Narcotics Dog Detector for the Seattle Police Department in 2011, she is committed to continuing her education and professional development by continuously attending seminars and dog training conferences nationwide. (Mary is currently scheduled to attend the APDT conference in San Diego in October of 2011 as well as Clicker Expo in Portland Oregon in January 2012.)
Using only methods approved by the American Humane Association and positive reinforcement techniques, Mary is available for private training sessions as well as offering small group classes for both service and pet dog training in order to provide the best possible service that caters to your needs. Mary is also dedicated toward providing low-cost service dog training for people with disabilities ever since she had to become the resource she needed to train her own dog for service work. Currently, Mary is training her yellow lab for both psychological and physical disabilities and for diabetic alert.
A certified dog trainer who has experienced life before a service dog, and life with a service dog, Mary McNeight is the best resource to help train your pet or service dog. She can be found teaching at The Service Dog Academy at her dog training studio in the heart of West Seattle.
Find out more on how Mary got started on King 5’s television program Evening Magazine or watch it though this web link or clicking on the image below.
Image © Evening Magazine
Operations Manager Carrie Rubens
Carrie Rubens has just joined the Service Dog Academy as our new Operations Manager. She will be helping us get you scheduled for classes and appointments, respond to your emails, answer the phone, write our press releases, help us advertise the classes, manage our inventory and just be the all around go to gal for anything non training related. Growing up in Pacific Northwest, she moved to San Francisco via San Diego where she obtained her Bachelor’s in Journalism from San Francisco State University in 2008. Eventually, the calling to return to her native northwest got too loud and she faithfully returned home. Having been raised around an eclectic set of animals from cats, to turtles, chickens and llamas, she recently adopted her first pet dog, a 4-year-old Manchester Terrier named Rondo. She loves taking him on long walks, runs, and frequent trips to the park. Carrie also enjoys playing tennis, loves music, and watching basketball, and is excited to be a part of The Service Dog Academy team!
Account Robert Rosen
Robert graduated from UW-Tacoma in June 2010 with an accounting degree and a GPA of 3.75. Admitted into Beta Gamma Sigma, the national business honor society, which is awarded to the top 10% of graduating business students. Passed all four parts of the CPA exam on the first try. Robert served as a VITA tax assistant during the 2008 tax season and recently started volunteer work as a bookkeeping assistant at the Veterans Administration (American Lake Veterans Golf Course). Robert has also created websites with .NET, C#, and SQL Server. Robert is a part-time guardian of a border collie mix, a black lab mix, and an American Eskimo dog.
About our wonderful class volunteers!
Jearl Newman
Jearl came to the Service Dog Academy as a private client wanting to train his new puppy, Blondie, for service work. He caught the dog training bug on his first visit and continues to help us teach our classes. Watch out for Jearl, his excitement for dog training is quite contagious!
