Katie Brennan

Katie Brennan is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant and Professional Dog Trainer (CDBC & CPDT-KA). She has been training dogs professionally for over a decade. Her first dog, Kimma, helped forge her deep passion in dog sports. Once a fearful Finnish Spitz, Kimma became the first in her breed to earn numerous titles and hooked Katie on performance sports. Her notable accomplishments include: highest titling agility Finnish Spitz in history (also with the most QQs and MACH points), first female Finnish Spitz to be invited to AKC Agility Invitationals, highest earning Finnish Spitz in AKC Rally, and first female Finnish Spitz Trick Dog Champion. 

Katie places a lot of importance on making the learning process fun and exciting for everyone, while still being sure to set up teams for success with proper foundational skills. She has also helped many students find solutions to behavioral hurdles that had previously prevented them from being able to shine in a competition setting. Through her success with her Finnish Spitz (a breed not typically seen competing), Katie has come to believe that there really is a sport out there for everyone. She loves helping owners realize the potential in their dogs. 

Katie's expertise expands far beyond manners and performance training, as well. Throughout her career she has chosen to expand her knowledge into the working dog world, training Urban Search and Rescue dogs at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center and at the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. Over the years, she’s found that what she has learned from training USAR dogs applies directly to performance training, as motivation, confidence, and timing are vital parts of successful working and dog sports teams.  

Along with her two Finnish Spitz, Kimma and Jari (who has broken his own share of breed records!), she also competes with her Sheltie, Sonya Blade, in a variety of venues.  She continues to work for the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation as a recruiter, helping turn shelter dogs in need of rescue into rescuers.