At Gentle Touch Pet Training all of our trainers have a few things in common. We all believe in and enjoy training with positive reinforcement methods; we all have a passion for dogs and enjoy sharing that passion with other people; we all spend lots of time with our dogs either competing or in some way practicing what we teach in the real world; and we all believe in continuing education. Many of our trainers (with the exception of our Agility Instructors Diane and Mia) started as clients with Gentle Touch Pet Training many years ago and worked their way into a training position here. At Gentle Touch we’re very proud of the quality of our trainers and are thrilled to be able to share their expertise with you and your dog.

Teah Anders founded Gentle Touch Pet Training in 1999 and has enjoyed teaching people and their dogs clicker training for more than10 years. She has successfully taught thousands of people the clicker training method. She is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers and is a professional member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT). Teah has also earned a CAP2 (Competency Assessment Program – Level 2) certification through Kay Laurence’s Learning About Dogs organization in the UK. In 2008, Teah published a comprehensive dog training book entitled, “Click ‘n Connect: Training Your Dog a Lifelong Journey.”

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Diane started training in agility 14 years ago. About 2 years into the training some new agility friends enlightened her to the joys of the clicker, and power of training with positive motivation and fun. Since then she has attended many seminars and camps to learn in depth about agility, and in the process she has also developed a keen interest in dog behavior and learning theory. With that interest has come more education through reading, seminars, and several Clicker Expo’s and intensive training in chicken camps level 1 and 2 with Bob Bailey. Diane has blended this knowledge to train her own dogs and is currently enjoying sharing her expertise with agility students at all levels.

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Mia Grant has been teaching agility for over 10 years for facilities in Santa Barbara,Ventura and San Luis Obispo County, plus traveling out-of-state to teach seminars. She’s worked with dogs her entire life and discovered agility in 2000. She has had the pleasure to help a diverse variety of dogs and people. She feels the fun of the sport is the most important thing for both the dog and the handler. Mia focuses on positive training methods for agility, using lots of toys and cookies (for the dogs). Her classes benefit teams with all levels of interest in agility, from the casual enthusiast, to teams that want to compete at the highest levels. She has attended many seminars/workshops/private lessons with top level trainers and continues to do so, to stay on top of the latest developments in the sport.

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Katie has been around dogs and dog training her entire life. From a very young age, Katie was taught how to live and work with dogs by her Mother, who raised and competed in Conformation and Obedience with Boxers. because dogs have always been a big part of her life, she feels that training is essential for a harmonious relationship.

Katie was first introduced to clicker training years ago with her rescue Pit Bull mix, Skye. Katie found clicker training to be a good fit for her and has never looked back. Through experience, Katie learned that she can achieve the same levels of reliability with positive training methods as she did in the past with more “traditional methods” of training.

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Darcy found clicker training and Gentle Touch Pet Training in 2005. She began assisting in a variety of classes at Gentle Touch several years ago. Darcy had the pleasure of growing up with many dogs; most of these dogs were homeless and welcomed into her family. She never did any formal training with her dogs until she got her Rat Terrier, Buddy. She had never had a dog quite like him and needed to find help for him. She was hooked after her first class. Clicker training has truly changed the way she lives and works with her dogs. All three of her dogs are rescues and she believes clicker training has helped them to become more confident and happy dogs. She is always looking for new games to play with her dogs and she is always amazed at how willing they are to play.

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Denny has been with Teah at Gentle Touch Pet Training for the past ten years, and was one of the very first students to begin assisting/apprenticing with classes and now teaches a Competitive Heelwork/Relationship Seminar and assists many other classes including Puppy Preschool and Feisty Fidos. Denny competes in 7 different dog sports and each year, attends numerous seminars given by competitors at the top of their field, with an emphasis on building motivation for Competitive Obedience and Agility.

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Ivy Underdahl is one of the trainers at Gentle Touch Pet Training in Arroyo Grande, California. After taking her dogs through GTPT from Puppy Kindergarten to advanced training, she began interning for the owner, Teah Anders. After a year or so of internship at GTPT, she began assisting in the classes. Eventually Teah recommended Ivy start teaching one of the beginning classes.

Many years later, Ivy looks back on those events as true life-changing moments. She now either assists or teaches Puppy Preschool, Puppy Enrichment, Clicker High, Elementary, Clicker Class, Canine Musical Freestyle, and Clicker Conformation Handling Classes!

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All of our training assistants began as clients first and through their enthusiasm and joy of training began helping with our group classes. Our class assistants share the philosophy of believing in positive training methods. Each person who helps with GTPT classes also spends time every year attending top-rate seminars, as we all believe in continuing education and always improving our skills. Many of our assistants are avid competitors in various dog sports and enjoy sharing their knowledge and love of dogs with our clients and their dogs.

Georgia’s family always had dogs so she had the pleasure of growing up around them. In Junior High School, she got a Cocker-mix that was her very own to train. Georgia went right to work teaching her tricks, including a somersault! In 1959, Georgia’s family moved to Nipomo. That’s when she got her first horse. Her dog always joined them on rides running along and sometimes chasing cats. To solve the problem, Georgia taught her to put her feet on the horse’s front leg and Georgia would lift her dog up on the horse where she would ride with her!

The first dog that Georgia formally trained was a hunting breed mix. She took her to a traditional Obedience class where she was trained using a choke collar. Georgia was not a fan, even then, of this method of training.

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Kendra Kinnan is a Washington State native with a BS in Aquatic Sciences from University of Washington but dog training is her passion, and it shows.

Kendra has always loved animals, especially dogs from a very young age. She started clicker training her Rottweiler mix, Mayce, in 2002 but she didn't find true positive training mentors until she met Teah and her staff. When she attended Teah's Puppy Preschool class, she saw how beneficial positive training was, not just in developing desired behavior, but also in developing a balanced relationship between her and her hyperactive pup Freckles. She feels clickers are not only an invaluable tool for communicating with our dogs but this type of training has endless possibilities.

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When Teah asked Lisa to write a short "bio" about herself, she said the first thing that came to mind was "A house is not a home without a dog." That sign hangs on her home office wall, and it’s what she believes. Lisa says that dogs are truly their best friends.

Like many of our clients, Lisa has learned to balance a family life with raising dogs. She currently shares her life with her husband, four children and five dogs. Four of the dogs are very large Bernese Mountain Dogs (Duncan, Murphy, Riley & Guinness) and one is a herding dog mix (Sorcha-bean).

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Having clicker trained her ridgebacks in agility for the past eleven years and competing in the most competitive classes of AKC agility, Betty was thrilled to be given the opportunity to assist the beginning agility classes at Gentle Touch. She has also assisted with the Puppy Preschool, Puppy Enrichment, Elementary Clicker Training, Feisty Fido, Introduction to Nose Work and Rally-O classes.

Betty has long been interested in learning the various theories of dog training. She has attended seminars given by Ken Ramirez, Kay Laurence, Elicia Calhoun, and Chris Bach. She has read many books on clicker training and has used that knowledge to experiment with her own dogs. Both dogs know a number of tricks and are willing to entertain on request.

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