East Bay SPCA Home
The East Bay SPCA saves 
					and improves the lives of cats and dogs and connects
					people and pets in our community.

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The East Bay SPCA offers a wide variety of classes for you and your dog. Each trainer provides a unique perspective and a individual style that allows them to ensure you and your dog meet all of your goals.

Dog Trainers


Elissa Cline
Elissa's earliest memories include an insatiable desire to grow up to be either teacher or dog trainer. Now after 20 years she does both by teaching multimedia at City College of San Francisco and agility classes at the East Bay SPCA. She began 5 years ago assisting dog training classes at the East Bay Berkeley Humane Society. Wanting to do more, she took up agility and obedience with her own dogs and started competing. She is a graduate of the 6-week SFSPCA Dog Training Academy founded and taught by Jean Donaldson as well as the Consultant / Instructor Training Academy founded and taught by Trish King. Elissa presently resides with her 4 dogs adopted as adolescents from local shelters each with individual personalities and talent: Sally & Andy do agility, Leroy does obedience, and sweet shy Maggie does tricks. Elissa can help you find the hidden talent within your dog no matter how old (or young) he or she is. She uses positive reinforcement training guided by patience and a quick observant eye explained with a plainly spoken jargon-free language. Elissa can be reached at elissa@myholler.com.

Classes:
Puppy Pre-School, Fun with Clickers, Agility, Tricks for Fun, Small Dog, C'mon Let's Go, Basic Obedience I & II



Judy Bowman, CPDT
Dog training is Judy's 4th or 5th career, and it started when she got two 5-week-old puppies from the Berkeley Animal Shelter in a 2001 foster-to-adopt program. Pretty soon Judy realized she was reading dog books and practicing on patient Spikie-Rose (Ruffle moved on to another home) instead of working on database problems, and the collapse of the dot-com market was the perfect excuse to enroll in the SF SPCA Dog Training Academy. Since then, Judy has been teaching puppy, basic, and advanced manners topics at Piedmont Adult School and Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation in Walnut Creek, as well as doing some private training. Judy believes positive reinforcement works for both people and dogs, and classes should be fun. She is constantly amazed at the rapid progress she sees, whether it is learning how to get attention or perform a backward pivot. Judy enjoys developing new classes focused on particular needs.

Classes:
Basic Obedience I, Puppy Pre-School, Puppy Kindergarten, Canine Good Citizen (CGC)



Katrin Greim
Katrin Greim, MA, CTC is a professional dog trainer and experienced pet care provider. She received her Certificate in Training and Counseling with honors from the San Francisco SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers. She also graduated from the Canine Behavior Academy at the Marin Humane Society. Katrin is an AKC certified Canine Good Citizen evaluator and certified in Pet First Aid and CPR.

Classes:
Puppy Preschool, Basic Obedience I



Lenny Deets
Lenny has been working with dogs for over 20 years, and training at the East Bay SPCA for the last two and a half years. He believes the training style depends on the dog. He thinks the method to choose is the one that works best with that particular dog's personality and behavior, whether correction and praise or all positive motivation, as well the ability and desires of the dogs owner. He's worked with dog to dog aggression, dog to people aggression, food, toy, territory possession issues, basic obedience and behavior modification. You may see him with his 150 pound blind dog de bordeaux Mr. Magoo. Lenny welcomes you to enjoy your dog and truly make him or her a part of your life. You can reach Lenny at ldeets@eastbayspca.org or 510.563.4603.

Classes:
Puppy Head Start, Puppy Pre-School, Basic Obedience I & II, Intermediate, Private



Lisa Clifton-Bumpass
More information to come!

Classes:
Pet First Aid



Sara McCullough
Sara McCullough grew up in the quiet town of Sunol. She spent her childhood riding horses, pet sitting her neighbors’ animals, and rescuing and fixing the many stray cats in her secluded neighborhood. She has been rescuing dogs her whole life and that includes her childhood dog, a feisty Terrier named Mugsy, a smart American Eskimo named Kayla, and a big, fluffy, brindle Akita/Golden Retriever named Jimmy. For the past 8 years she has been in the animal care industry and has worked with both cats and dogs providing them with the necessary vaccinations to keep them healthy. For over 2 years now, Sara has worked at the East Bay SPCA learning about dog training, temperament testing and behavior modification. Her passion is training and developing puppies to give them the proper start needed to make them well-socialized, happy adult dogs.

Classes:
Puppy Head Start, Puppy Pre-School, Basic Obedience I



Sara Scott, CPDT
Sara Scott is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, a certified dog trainer, behavioral counselor, and is certified in pet first aid. Graduating from Petsmart's Dog Training Academy and The Marin Humane Society's Dog Behavior Academy I and II, she teaches all levels of obedience classes, specialty classes, private lessons, and offers behavioral consultations at various bay area locations. Sara is the dog trainer at Pit Bull Hall, a joint adoption effort between the Oakland SPCA and BAD RAP, Bay Area Dog Lovers Resposible About Pit Bulls. Sara also works with the House Rabbit Society and has pioneered clicker training workshops for rabbits and has dabbled in rabbit agility! Her pack includes Widget, a Lab/Queensland Heeler mix, and Leroy, a rescued pit bull who survived Hurricane Katrina.

Classes:
Small Dog I



Sarah Wharton
Sarah grew up surrounded by animals of all shapes and sizes, from wildlife to farm animals to household pets. She always loved dogs the best, and has many fond memories of several German Shepherds and one very independent Schipperke. Sarah pursued other interests for several years until 2002, when she fell in love with a completely untrained nine-month old Cattle Dog-mix named Bella. Sarah took Bella through multiple training classes, read everything she could find about dog behavior and training, and began competing in agility. She volunteered to walk and train dogs at a local shelter and fostered numerous dogs and puppies. Along the way she acquired a second dog, a Chow Chow-mix named Sunny. In 2005, Sarah realized that working with dogs brought her more joy than any other work she had done before, and joined the SPCA staff. Sarah has a huge soft spot for dogs with behavior problems. She loves connecting with these dogs in need of extra love, and teaching them the skills they need to be good family pets. Sarah enjoys teaching people how to better understand and communicate with their dogs, and she encourages people to always look for the best in their dogs. Sarah can be reached at 510-563-4624 or swharton@eastbayspca.org

Classes:
Puppy Preschool, Small Dog I, Puppy Kindergarten, Private Evaluations



Shayna Stanis, CPDT
Shayna loves dogs. Pure and simple. She first became interested in animal behavior while studying chimps. After teaching music at an elementary school, she started volunteering at a local animal shelter. She helped them with temperament testing and humane education projects, becoming an intern when a key employee fell ill. Shayna has been with the EBSPCA since 2002. She is now the Canine Manager and a major contributor to our dog training program. Shayna teaches all levels of obedience and truly enjoys watching her students learn how to lure, capture, use markers and use body language to their advantage. She is a strong supporter of positive reinforcement for obedience as well as behavior modification. She currently is owned by a goofy pointer mix named Koobi and a little ratter named Rambo. She looks forward to meeting you and your dog in class! Shayna can be reached at sstanisDT@comcast.net

Classes:
Basic Obedience I & II, Intermediate, Puppy Kindergarten, "C'mon Let's Go," Agility for Fun, Tricks for Fun, Private


Spay & Neuter Services
Learn about our affordable spay/neuter services and make an appointment.
Dog Training Class
Read about and register for any of our classes online.
Local Animal Control
If you've lost a pet, or found a stray pet, call your local animal control.



Oakland Adoption Center
510.569.0702

Oakland SPCA
Vet Clinic
510.569.1606

Oakland Spay/Neuter Center
510.639.7387

Tri-Valley Adoption Center
925.479.9670

Tri-Valley Spay/Neuter Center in Dublin
925.479.9674


Contact Us