Past Instructors

Past Instructors

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Past Instructors (these are old bios and may be out of date)

Kim Seiter: Kim has actively been training and competing in the sport of agility for over 7 years with multiple breeds. To date, Kim has titled to the Masters levels, 6 different dogs in 3 different Agility venues. She also has competitive obedience background and and experience showing toy breeds in the conformation ring. Kim's training approach is built on relationship building and the principles of operant conditioning. She trains all foundation behaviors with a clicker and play based methods maximizing the bond between dog and handler.

Joe Coles: Joe is a favorite with students because of his wit and humor - but don't let that fool you! Joe has trained and shown his Golden Retriever Cassie to the AKC MACH2 and they have participated in the AKC Nationals for three years. He also has an up and coming dog , a really fast young border collie Zippy who is now at the Excellent level.

Marisa Capazzo: Marisa has been training dogs for over 6 years. Her first rescue German Shepherd, Schnapps, was trained to competition level but his career was cut short due to cancer and hip dysplasia. Her next 2 dogs were also rescues, Draven, a German Shepherd, and Bandi, a Border Collie. Draven is the first MACH rescue German Shepherd. He won his national specialty in agility in 2003 and has been high scoring rescue 3 years running. Bandi is currently running at the excellent level and placed 2nd in her class at her national specialty in 2002. Her next 2 dogs, Japanese chin, are a father and daughter duo. Tony-O was a finished show chin that needed a job. His job is running agility, showing in obedience, and training in tracking. He currently holds the record for the most titled chin in breed history. His daughter, Kamikaze, is a owner/breeder handled champion. She just stepped into the agility ring this fall and already has her NAJ in 3 trials. Lastly, Marisa's new dog, German Shepherd, "Tang" is a puppy in training. Marisa believes in the clicker training method and focuses on the handler dog relationship.

Deborah Patrick: has been involved in agility since 2002. Her first dog, a Canaan, was listed as AKC's No. 3 Canaan dog in 2004 and No. 5 in 2005. For a short time she also ran a rescued All-American in NADAC. She currently runs a Border Collie, MACH5 ADCh Pray, who, in 2005, was the AKC's No. 3 Border Collie. Deborah and Pray had 2 placements in the very competitive 24" class at the 2007 AKC Nationals and finished 4th place overall as well as qualified and competed at the AKC World Team Invitational. Deborah has experience in three venues of agility, AKC, USDAA and NADAC, but is mostly active in AKC. She is ready to share her methods of handling and specializes in creatively helping students at various levels with many different breeds. She lives in Southern New Jersey and trains alone at her home.

Susan Rocco: has owned, trained, and competed with dogs for over 20-years. While she has trained and competed with dogs in Obedience, Flyball, and Dock Diving, her passion is for Agility. Susan’s competition history includes over 300 first place runs with hundreds of 2nd and 3rd place runs as well. Her dogs have twice competed at the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge and also several times at the AKC Nationals and World Team Tryouts. Most notable is that she qualified and competed at the AKC World Team Tryouts with her young dog Ambush.

Susan has trained her Golden’s, MACH2 Tucker ADHF (Agility Dog Hall of Fame), MACH2 Cisco and her Border Collie MACH2 Havoc. She has also trained her young BC Ambush who attained, after only several months of competing, an MX, MXJ. Presently Ambush is more then half way to his first MACH. Susan has broad and diverse experience with many different breeds, both small and large and has a keen eye for detail. The hallmarks of Susan’s training philosophy are: no one method works for all dogs; consistently sending easily understood and correct cues; agility should be fun for the dogs and handlers. Of all of her accomplishments she gets the most gratification when her students share her success. Many have already attained MACH and Multi-MACH titles and have qualified and competed at the AKC Nationals.

Tinna Brown has been involved in agility since 1999 and focuses on maximizing each student team’s potential and is always willing to learn. Her first dog, MACH3 ADCH Calabria was the first Alaskan Malamute in history to achieve a MACH, MACH2, MACH3 as well as an ADCH. In December of 2006 after several months battling cancer, Calabria attended the AKC Eukanuba Agility Invitational Championship in Long Beach, California and finished in second place out of 101 dogs! Currently, Calabria is still the number one Alaskan Malamute in AKC Agility at eleven and a half years old.

Her second dog, ADCH Frazzle MX, MXJ, TM-S, is the $10,000 2005 World Cynosport Games 26" National Steeplechase Champion. In 2005, Frazzle placed in two rounds at the AKC World Team Invitational, won medals at the Purina Incredible Dog Agility Challenge and was ranked in the Top Ten in USDAA. Currently, Frazzle is one Double Q away from finishing his MACH; and, at six and a half, he is semi-retired from competing in agility due to epilepsy. As a result, we ("Friends of Frazzle") have been heavily involved with raising funds for research for the AKC Canine Health Foundation.

Her third dog, Stomp MAD GCH JM RM OA OAJ NF is in masters (just three legs from his ADCH) as well as excellent in AKC. In 2007, Stomp qualified for and attended USDAA Nationals in Arizona at just three years old. Her latest addition is Tirade who is just 10 months old.

All of her dogs have had several television and advertising appearances including the CBS Morning Show, Fox Channel 5 News, Animal Planet and ABC’s Good Morning America. She has also written several articles for Clean Run Magazine.

Kathy Johnson has been active in agility since 2002. She currently competes at the Excellent level with 3 Australian Shepherds.

MACH Frisco OF, her first agility dog, achieved his MACH in May 2008. Her second Aussie, Sierra MX MXJ OF, is very fast and is known for her tight turns and very competitive times in the large 20 inch class. She is also close to achieving her MACH as well. Vegas OA OAJ NF, her new tri Aussie, went from novice to excellent in just one season.

Each one of her dogs has a different running and jumping style, and Kathy has used many different handling systems with each to reach success. Kathy has trained with many of the top area instructors and continues to train with them as well as attend seminars and workshops to keep her training methods diverse and current. Kathy is well known for her soft spoken and positive energy towards agility and enjoys focusing on fundamentals. In her "spare" time, Kathy is a RN BSN at JFK Medical Center.