Meet Our Puppy People Team

All Puppy People trainers are highly skilled dog trainers who have a passion for helping clients solve their dog problems. We simply love what we do and it shows! 
All of our trainers and assistants are certified in Pet First Aid.

Richelle Sanson, Director of Training

Richelle is the current manager of Petopia and is now pleased to join the management team of Puppy People as Director.   Richelle not only looks after the day to day management of the business but now leads and develops our talented group of trainers.

Richelle has been training dogs since 2000 in the areas of pet manners, schutzhund, agility and competitive obedience and from this experience and her work at Petopia, has gained great skill in dealing with a wide variety of canine behavioural issues.   She continues to upgrade her knowledge of dog behaviour by reading and attending as many seminars as possible; most recently this has included a two day work shop with Karen London.  Richelle has a firm commitment to positive reinforcement and motivational training, a commitment which is shared by all staff at Puppy People.

Richelle enjoys working with clients and helping them to coach their canine companions.  It is her goal to ensure that every client and every dog enjoy the training process.  She especially enjoys assisting her clients and their dogs in developing a strong lifelong bond based on mutual respect and understanding. 

Richelle shares her home with a three year old Staffie named Bubbles; together they have dabbled in agility and fly ball.  She also has a number of other animal companions such as cats, birds, snakes and other reptiles.   She is also is a part of the Petopia professional grooming team. 

Dr. Brandi Jacques, Ph.D., ARCT, Instructor

Dr. Brandi Jacques has been training dogs since 2000. She has been competing in agility since 2002 with her Shiba Inu, Soshi. Together, they have placed on the podium in AAC Regional and National Championship classes for the past three years running, finishing 6th overall in 2004 and 2006. Brandi and Soshi were named to the 2006 AAC National Agility Team for the IFCS World Agility Championships.

In addition, they have several television appearances to their credit, including segments for Top Dogs, Breakfast Television, City TV, Rogers Cable, Pet Network and the CBC. Brandi and Soshi recently auditioned for the David Letterman Show. Soshi and Brandi love to perform!

Brandi is also working with Zona, her adopted Belgian Malinois. Zona is an agility dog in training with brilliant prospects. Brandi is also assessing her for work as a service dog and an animal actor. Zona loves to work, play and perform tricks.

When she’s not training her dogs, Brandi is performing as a concert pianist, teaching music at her busy studio, writing for DogSport Magazine or teaching agility. She is also co-authoring a book on agility. Her Ph.D. is in education.

Annika Barnstaple, Instructor

Annika is a devoted animal lover who soon realized that she wanted to pursue a career working with dogs. Annika is a popular and enthusiastic member of the Puppy People team. She brings a wealth of experience in working with people from her full time job as a customer service representative at Global Pet Foods. Annika frequently answers client’s questions about pet care and nutrition.

Annika adopted a stray named Miishi and has trained her using positive training techniques. Annika both reads and attends seminars to further her knowledge about dog behaviour. She says one of the many joys of working with clients and their dogs is to help them build stronger relationships with their pets.

Emily Bush, Assistant Trainer

Emily has been an assistant trainer for Puppy People for over two years. She is the proud owner of two energetic coonhounds - Mathilda – the redbone/walker hound mix and Wellington – the English coonhound. Wellington is a rescue dog and working through his issues has been an extremely rewarding challenge. Emily says she gets lots of practice applying the techniques she has learned because her own dogs are in a “continual” state of training.

Emily loves working with clients and feels that life long learning about animal behavior is part of her journey towards becoming a well-rounded positive dog trainer. She has attended many conferences/courses with Pat Miller and Jean Donaldson and enjoys working with all of the many breeds of dogs that attend classes at Puppy People. Emily finds the variety of breeds and breed mixes in the classes refreshing and enjoys discovering the unique characteristics of each breed as well as the impact that these differences have on training.

Scott Nygren, Assistant Trainer

Scott is an enthusiastic addition to our staff as he’s been training his own dogs in obedience, agility and conformation for years. Scott is professional dog walker and pet sitter so he has plenty of hands on experience with dealing with typical puppy and dog problems that most owners face. He is dedicated to helping clients bond with their dogs and is working towards a career in training.

One of his dogs, Fezzik, is a shelter dog he and his wife adopted more than 5 years ago and have had success in raising and training. Soley, Tindra, and cat Darcy are all special members of their family and have all had some training (even the cat!).

Jan Kelly, BA, APDT, Assistant Trainer

Jan shares her home with Tasha, an 8 year old Samoyed, and Charlie, a 9 year old Border Collie rescue.. Charlie came into Jan’s life at 5 years of age- anxious, afraid of human touch, not knowing how to communicate with other dogs, or any idea what a toy was .Through Jan’s patience, perseverance, and lots and lots of repetitions and baby steps Charlie is now a bright eyed, happy canine. Helping Charlie develop his full canine potential through positive training methods and the resulting transformation and shared joy has been the inspiration for Jan’s pursuit of learning as much as she possibly can about canine behavior She avidly reads, watches videos/DVD’s, and tries to attend as many seminars as possible in her quest to learn as much as she can about canine thinking, communication, and training .Jan has attended the Gail Fisher “ In Celebration of Dogs ;From the Practical to the Magical” seminar and is looking forward to hearing Suzanne Clothier speak in the fall 2007.

Jan is committed to helping people train their dogs through positive methods, setting them up to succeed, and deepening their relationship with their canine family members. Jan is grateful for the clients and their pups and this opportunity to be part of the Puppy People team.

Donna Davidson, B.A. Psychology, Founder

Donna started Puppy People in 1983, to help families develop a positive lifelong bond with their dogs. Donna is a best selling author, lecturer, and an expert on dog training and the use of positive training techniques. She is the author of numerous articles in consumer pet and trade publications and has appeared on; The W network, CFRB Radio, and was a regular guest on CITY LINE five years. In 1996, she was named “most commanding trainer of the year” in Toronto Life Magazine.

Ms. Davidson is the co-author of the best selling book, The Canadian Dog Owner’s Companion, A Guide to Selecting, Caring For and Training your new Dog or Puppy, published by Macmillan. She has been a keynote speaker at; All About Pets, The Ontario Veterinary Association and the Toronto Academy of Veterinary Medicine. Ms. Davidson holds a B.A. Psychology from York University. She holds numerous certificates from courses on effective communication, early childhood education and solving canine behavioral problems. She is the founding member of The Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers. Donna lives in Cambridge with her husband Wayne and two dogs, Tara and Tango.

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