Trainers

All trainers are required to attend approved educational seminars every year to enhance their dog training knowledge and skills.

Amy Day

Daycare Trainer

Amy comes to Canine Craze with a long history and hands-on experience in rescue work – successfully helping assess, train, match and place shelter dogs in forever homes. As a life-long animal-lover and volunteer, she has received extensive recognition and ongoing education in animal welfare, developing a special interest in behavior cases and working with bully breeds. Amy resides in West Des Moines with her husband, son and three dogs – Moose (Boxer), Tank (Great Dane) and Jaidyn Marie (Boxer/Pit).

Clint Knox, ABCTC

Trainer

Clint’s interest in dog training began with a Skye Terrier at the age of 9, but it wasn’t until a clicker class in 2004 that he became hooked! He professionally started training in Phoenix, AZ after graduating from the Animal Behavior College (ABC). He later returned to his Des Moines roots, where he lives with his two clicker-trained American Bulldogs Vega and Cash. Not only does Clint have a knack for dog training, he also enjoys riding motorcycles, fishing, the Packers and playing bass in a local band “Crusader.”

Gloria Shipman, CPDT-KA

Trainer

Gloria has been training and competing with her own dogs since 2002; she has been teaching classes since 2003, and became a Certified Professional Dog Trainer in 2008. To Gloria training with her dogs is some of the most fun she can have, regardless if they are in the agility ring, herding pasture, tracking through a field of waist-high grasses or in the obedience ring. She enjoys teaching others how to train their dogs by teaching them how dogs learn. It’s not about dominance, it’s about a relationship. Her philosophy of competing is not all about the ribbons and titles, but spending quality time with my dogs in a public forum that shows their natural partnership based on trust and respect for one another. Whether she is teaching a beginner dog class or an advanced rally class, she gets such a thrill when she sees owners and their dogs finally “get it”. Gloria is currently serving on an Association of Pet Dog Trainers task force for developing a new dog behavior evaluation program. Gloria’s role models are Patricia McConnell, PhD, CAAB and Gail Fisher; they both have shown by example that positive training methods can lead to stellar success in the dog competition arena.

Certifications & Education

Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA)
Canine Good Citizen Evaluator

Pets
ARCH U-CD Mr. Bister Biscuit Boy CD-H, RAE, RO1, RL1X, RL2X, OA, NAJ, OF, NAC, NCC, NJC, TN-N, CGC (“Izzy”, 6 yr old Australian Shepherd)
Send Me in Coach TDI, CGC (“Jersey”, 4 yr old Golden Retriever)
BB’s Buzzin Round Ewe (“Skeeter”, 1 yr old Border Collie)
Buddy CD, TDI, CGC (10 year old retired Golden Retriever)

Mark Voyna

Daycare Trainer

The newest member of the team, Mark joined the staff part-time in 2011 and has quickly progressed through Canine Craze’s training program. He loves seeing his furry students learn in the daycare environment, and is working on perfecting his training skills. The oldest of six children, Mark lives in Des Moines and enjoys playing guitar, his friends and his dog Laci.

Jenny O’Brien Konior

Trainer

Jenny grew up with border collies and rough coated collies, but when she moved to Albany NY for grad school, she stumbled upon a golden retriever rescue and was hooked! Since 1999 she have been heavily involved in golden rescue in each of the 4 states of the country she has lived. She had a golden retriever who she fostered (and later adopted-Ollie) who brought her into the work of obedience and animal behavior in 1998. While her favorite class to teach will always be basic obedience (Foundation I here at Canine Craze) Scott has recently introduced her to agility and WOW! Since then she has been instructing Canine Craze Foundation Agility Classes as well has trained her new dog “Gabe” to run in agility.

Certifications & Education

Currently studying for her CPDT certification

Pets

Ollie; CGC, TDI (rescued golden retriever at the Rainbow Bridge since 5/17/2006)
Sam: (rescued golden retriever at the Rainbow Bridge since 2010) CLP (Champion Lush Puppy!)
Gabe: Golden Retriever

Renee White

Trainer

Renee currently runs agility with her 8 year old Labrador Retriever Belle. Together they have achieved the top level of agility success and earned awards at many national competitions.

Certifications & Education

Since November of 2005, Renee has been training privately with Ann Braue (5 time Agility World Team Member) and attended multiple training camps at ABCTC in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Learning from the best has made a HUGE difference in their abilities.

Accomplishments

-2011 AKC Nationals Finalist, 8^th Place in the 24” Division
-2010 AKC Nationals Challenger, 24” Division
-2010 AKC Demo Dog, AKC World Team Tryouts
-2009 #3 Ranked AKC Labrador Retriever
-2009 1^st Place, Round 2, AKC Invitational
-2009 Competitor, AKC World Team Tryouts

Pets

MACH Princess Lily Belle III MXF – Yellow Labrador

Coming Soon, Border Collie Puppy

Rhonda Comegys

Trainer

Rhonda Comegys began search and rescue in 1993 as a canine handler. Her disciplines include
wilderness search, human remains detection, water search and disaster response. She has responded
to several local and state level missions in the Midwest including the tornados in Joplin and Parkersburg,
and the recovery efforts at Oak Grove cemetery.

In addition to responding to missions, Rhonda is a canine evaluator for the Alliance for Emergency
Response Instructors & Examiner, the National Association of Search and Rescue, and a coach for Paws
of Life.

Rhonda is a member of Nebraska Task Force One and Iowa Task Force One. In 2004 she co-founded and
is currently a director of K9 Alliance of Iowa, a non-profit organization that promotes and supports the
training and education of all working K9 teams.

Ryan Anderson

Trainer

Sarah Gandy

Daycare Trainer

Sarah’s passion for dogs began with her first spoken words: “Pup Pup.” She later discovered the world of dog training at the age of 12 with her Beagle Molly and soon became the class star. At home, Sarah would build agility courses with tinker toys and books. A DMACC Vet Tech graduate and professional trainer, Sarah loves studying canine behavior and helping people and their dogs. She makes her home in Beaverdale with a Mastiff, Maggie, and two Mastiff-mixes, Zak and Sadie (both CGC certified), and enjoys arts, crafts and making macramé collars!