About Carolyn

Carolyn is back to full time Consulting and Training in 2022! Offering programs based on positive reinforcement with a focus on allowing the animal choices for a stronger relationship and training outcome. Behavior consulting and scent work will be the primary focus along with other offerings.

Carolyn has been training dogs professionally since 1985 and in some way most of her life. In 1991 she founded Gemini Dog Training, a full-service training and daycare facility. Selling Gemini in 2006, Carolyn concentrated on behavior consulting and training classes for reactive dogs as well as her popular agility classes, beginner and advanced clicker classes and workshops, earth dog, tracking and Nose Work. Carolyn has trained and mentored hundreds of potential dog training instructors. Many of her previous students and staff trained through her instructor programs have gone on to become Certified Pet Dog Trainers (CPDT), running their own classes and businesses. Carolyn also found time, from 2007 to 2015, to be one of the first Karen Pryor Academy Instructors in the country. From 2012 – 2021, Carolyn created and developed a program that finds rescue dogs and trains them as service dogs for veterans. In addition to her duties as Training Director at the service dog organization, she was the puppy raiser and primary trainer for a police tracking/search dog for a local PD in 2021. Carolyn also continues to instruct a busy schedule of Nose Work classes, teach at Nose Work Camps, present dog training webinars and host and perform certifying official duties for NACSW trials.

Along with her training and behavior work, Carolyn wrote Clicker Basics for Dogs and Puppies, and has 2 DVD’s, one on Agility Foundation and one on Scaredy Dogs available through Clean Run Productions. Carolyn co-taught two canine cognition/behavior courses at Harvard University Extension School with Bruce Blumberg PhD, lectures to dog trainers, and worked as a behavior consultant for the MSPCA, providing Reactive dog training classes and behavior therapy for shelter dogs and their families until 2018.

Carolyn’s interest in training started in childhood rearing a foal, training several young horses, and preparing them for competition and pleasure riding. It was a natural transition to start formalizing her interests through her undergraduate education that included course work in art education and a heavy interest and course load in psychology. Carolyn was an Association of Pet Dog Training (APDT) member 1995 for many years, having served on the Ethics Committee for several years. In November 2001, Carolyn made dog training history along with 117 other dog trainers in the USA, passing the first professional certification test promoted and developed by APDT and administered by Professional Testing Corporation.

The desire for a better understanding of the canine mind and behavior has been the motivating factor in all aspects of her dog experience. Beginning with traditional training techniques, she knew there had to be a better way. Pursuing that better way has evolved into clicker training and a more thoughtful scientific and effective use of operant and classical conditioning. Carolyn believes that training and behavior modification should be safe, enjoyable, and successful for both the dog and the humans who love them. Most importantly, she maintains an open mind to new information and what every dog can teach the human student. Experiences such as breeding English Springer Spaniels for 12 years, co-founding an English Springer Rescue organization, running a boarding and training kennel, working as a veterinary technician, apprenticing with Canine Behavior Services in Northwood, NH, teaching and counseling thousands of dog owners, training and cultivating her business’s teaching staff, and attending many, many educational seminars including the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) conferences, Tufts Annual Symposium, the Dogs of Course Advanced Instructor Training Course, Clean Run Camps, Clicker Expo and Bob Bailey’s Chicken Camps I,II & III, ABA Living and Learning with Animals Course with Dr Susan Friedman, Natural Encounters trainer course in 2015 and 2020 and NEI tec talks have all served as a continuing source of education.

Carolyn has been training, competing, and titling dogs for over 35 years in obedience, conformation, tracking, agility, earth dog, and K9 Nose Work.