Meet the Team

 

Sandy Novotny, National Training Manager

Sandy is one of several ABTA upper management personnel that worked her way up through the ranks.  Starting as a trainer, she was promoted to District Training Manager , then to Regional Training Manager and finally to her current NTM status.  Sandy brings over fifteen years training experience including:  obedience lure coursing, agility, and feline training.  In 1994, she campaigned a cat to A.C.F.A's cat of the year.  Sandy has trained her own dogs through U.D. and is currently focusing on training toy breeds.  In her spare time, Sandy and her dogs do therapy work at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. She believes, and we agree, that every trainer should have a well rounded knowledge of breed specific training to be truly successful.

 

Jenni Fisher, Regional Training Manager

Ms. Fisher is one of several ABTA upper management personnel that has worked her way through the ranks to attain a Regional Training Management position. Jenni started training for ABTA in 1999 and since then has trained for ABTA in several Petco stores throughout Massachusetts.

Jenni Fisher
Jenni Fisher with Gemini on the left and past apprentice Carol Ahearn on the right

After doing an outstanding job as a trainer, Ms. Fisher was promoted to Senior Trainer, where she worked touring stores in the New England area.

In addition to her performance with ABTA, Jenni has become a model trainer for numerous apprentices enrolled in the Animal Behavior College (ABC) program. Jenni enjoys teaching Puppy Kindergarten, Basic Obedience, Advanced Obedience, Clicker Training and Agility. She is a qualified Canine Good Citizen Evaluator for the AKC and apprenticed under world renowned author, Nancy Baer, where she specialized in behavior disorders in dogs.

Jenni obtains the most enjoyment from watching "problem" dogs turn into lovable, well behaved pets through ABTA's Petco Obedience programs. In addition to her strong dog training background, Jennifer Fisher has over a decade of teaching experience working with elementary school students, from Kindergarten through 6th grade.

 

Jill Cameron, Canadian Regional Training Manager

Jill has been an ABTA team member since 1995. She started as a District Training Manager for Oregon and Washington State. Jill then served as the Regional Training Manager (RTM) for the Pacific Northwest Region and Mid Atlantic Region. When ABTA expanded its scope into Canada, Jill was appointed Canadian RTM. Jill has trained over 8000 dogs in her 30 year career. She is active in Search and Rescue, Ring Sport and German Shepherd Rescue. Jill is a member of: The German Shepherd Dog Club of Oregon, German Shepherd Dog Club of America, Working Dog Association of America, Ring Sport International, Northwest K-9 Association and Dove Lewis Pet Assisted Therapy Group.

 

Crystal Yencich, District Obedience Training Manager

Crystal has over 20 years of Dog related experience as a breeder/owner/handler of AKC Champion Irish Wolfhounds, as well as years of experience training her own dogs and others for both the AKC Show ring and Obedience. Ms. Yencich was discovered by ABTA when she attended an ABTA basic class with her Poodle. She began training for the company in Oct 2000. Crystal taught Basic, Puppy, Advanced and Private Classes. Later she was promoted to Senior Trainer and toured Petco stores in the Portland Metro area. In April of 2002, she was promoted to District Obedience Training Manager (DOTM). As the nation's only DOTM, Crystal was instrumental in helping a test program to succeed in Petco District 9. During the test, D9 stores showed a 48% increase in business. The highest increase in the company. Crystal is currently owned by a 5lb toy poodle named Ebony Rose and a firm believer that toys need Obedience as well as the big dogs. Like Sandy Novotny, Crystal believes in breed specific training; as the original job a dog was bred for, strongly influences their behavioral traits. Yencich keeps her training skills current by attending professional training conferences yearly and keeping abreast with the latest research. She is a member of APDT.

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