We are the best team to trust with training your dog

Jennifer Hack, Certified Professional Dog Trainer and Behavior Specialist

In addition to Jennifer’s understanding of dog psychology and behavioral science, her natural ability with animals has given her the ability to be a top tier dog trainer of pets, service dogs, and working dogs. Since a young age, she’s been able to communicate with animals in an extraordinary way. Jennifer’s educational background is in Clinical Psychology.  She first became interested in training and animal behavior while working with her horse; she dreamed of being a horse trainer and as a teen she was inspired by the book “The Horse Whisperer” about horse trainer Monty Roberts.  Dog training went from being a strong interest to being a career.  A true animal lover, she’s often fostering her Pit Bulls, German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, and rehabilitating problem dogs.

Jennifer on a movie set for a feature film

PHILOSOPHY: Jennifer’s style of training recognizes that in order to train a dog, we have to see things through a dogs eyes.  We also have to feel the dogs energy and read them through the process.  Too often we only see what we want (and end picture), and we don’t consider how a dogs mind works and the process through which they learn.  Her training style is dynamic.  She thought of the name “Dynamic Dogs” because of the many different things dogs can do, and also to reference the interesting “dynamics” between dogs and their owners.  Those dynamics between owner and dog is what our trainers work with every day!  It is as much about teaching the humans.  Jennifer’s training style is dynamic, meaning: engaging dogs in training, she gets them involved and participating actively through a balanced system of reward, marker training, and relationship.  She encourages handlers to engage their dogs in the training;  it is much more than just giving out commands, she taps into a dogs motivations and channels their drives.  Timing is an important key.  Training is a process that continues to proofing the dog in new environments and being consistent with your own behavior- with the end goal being reliable performance.

CREDENTIALS:  Jennifer has worked with hundreds of dogs, small and large.  In the Chicago area, she has trained dogs hands-on for their owners, including advanced and off-leash, service dogs, and rehabilitation of aggressive dogs.  She is experienced in instructing group classes, agility, private obedience, in-home training, behavioral consultation, dog talent animal actors, and therapy dog training.  Jennifer has trained psychiatric service dogs, alert dogs, and service animals for people with multiple disabilities.  She enjoys training and handling talent for movies, print ads, and commercials.  She has provided independent expert testimony for court cases involving dog bites.  Her expertise has been featured in tv show pilots, local news specials, Yahoo local, two radio shows, and various other media outlets.

Jennifer with K9 student "Rommel" outside a dog park

Jennifer is a Professional-level Member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT), supporting member of the International Association of Behavior Consultants (IABC), certified AKC Good Citizen Evaluator, and a member of Schutzhund USA.   In 2007, Jennifer was certified through the Certification Counsel for Professional Dog Trainers, earning this credential by demonstrating knowledge and experience in dog training, and a commitment to continuous education. Each professional dog trainer who earns the designation is required to achieve a certain number of hours teaching classes and providing private training before being permitted to sit for a psychometrically sound written examination covering canine ethology, learning theory, animal husbandry, as well as giving references from veterinarians, clients, and colleagues.  Jennifer keeps up to date on advances in the field of canine behavior.  In her spare time, she enjoys training and spending time with her Belgian Malinois.

See Jennifer on WCIU.com Dog Training Tips Videos HERE

Aliya Carey, Certified Professional Dog Trainer and Behavior Specialist

Aliya has a great dedication and talent for dog training.  She is certified CPDT-KA through the Certification Counsel for Professional Dog Trainers.  She works with clients dogs, patiently teaching basic to advanced obedience skills, as well as instructing lessons, in-home private lessons, and classes.  She problem-solves behaviors (aggression, dog-aggression, phobias, anxiety, jumping, pulling, obedience issues, and more) and customizes each obedience lesson. She preps dogs for service dog tasks, movie talent, and trick work.   She has trained service animals to do many tasks including retrieving items, psychiatric service dog tasks, guiding handlers to safety, turning lights on and off, opening doors, and more.  She understands different personalities and trains each dog to their full potential.

Aliya began her career with Dynamic Dogs, and has spent time training her Cattle Dog Mix, Mischa, adopted from Animal Welfare League and competes in AKC obedience trails, recently taking second place out of 20 dogs as one of the only mixed breeds.  Aliya can truly relate to pet owners dealing with behavior problems because her own dog was adopted with quirks and aggression issues.   Training was the solution and Aliya carried it through.  She is training to compete in Obedience and Utility.  She has taught her dogs a large repertoire of behaviors, including: advanced obedience, tricks like spin, speak, roll over, stick em up, bang, army crawl, touch, high five, retrieves, scent detection work, and all commands from far distance and around distraction.

Aliya truly has a natural talent for training animals, teaching them and achieving obedience while resolving behavior issues.  She demonstrates leadership in a group of dogs at the training center as they are socialized.  She continues to learn new techniques to add to her training repertoire and fine-tune her skills, as all of the Dynamic Dogs trainers value continued education.  She has two awesome dogs, Mischa, and Echo a Lab/Border Collie/Pit Mix, who enjoy weekly trips to the dog park and forest preserves.

Video: Aliya’s dog retrieves keys

Video: Opens fridge, brings a drink, closes fridge

Barry Knowlton, Dog Trainer

Barry has experience working with dogs of all types and temperaments.  He enjoys working with puppies and doing drive-building exercises.  He is great at reading the behavior and body language of canines and progressing their training and social skills.  He works with is own dogs who are trained in advanced personal protection, Mya, a Belgian Malinios and Mason, a German Rottweiler.  He trains dogs with the goal of demonstrating excellent focus in distracting environments. 

Video:  Barry working with his Rottweiler Mason

Jim Mora, Professional Dog Trainer, Personal Protection Trainer, Certified USA Schutzhund Helper

Jim Mora trains in conjunction with Dynamic Dogs.  Jim has almost 3 decades of dog training experience.  He transforms dogs using positive reward-based systems in his training.  He has coached handler-dog teams to compete on a national level.  He is highly qualified to train dogs for personal and family protection.

Jim’s philosophy in training is to set dogs up for success by giving them the skills necessary to excel.  He coaches handlers on how to mold their dogs into strong, confident, and obedient companions while building up a spirited and winning attitude.

He is a certified Regional Level helper through Schutzhund USA.  Schutzhund is a German dog sport based on police dog type training, consisting of obedience, tracking, and protection trials.  His success, in large part, is due to his education in dog psychology and in utilizing the most effective motivational training techniques.  Jim began his career in California, training his own dog, a German Shepherd, at a competitive level in AKC obedience.  Jim took his dog to the highest AKC obedience level- the Companion Dog Excellent (CDX).  From there, Jim continued his career in Schutzhund with his German Shepherd, achieving Schutzhund 3, often called the “masters degree” for dogs.  He competed at a regional level and his dog had 2 perfect tracking scores of 100.  Upon moving to Illinois, Jim continued to compete in Schutzhund with a rescued German Shepherd to a SchH3.  For his SchH2 he scored 100 in tracking.  He built this dog from the ground-up, scoring high in trial for his SchH2 with (out of 100 possible points) 98 in tracking, 94 in obedience, and 95 in protection.
Over the years, Jim has helped clients bring out the best in their dogs, believing that the attitude of the dog is everything.  His greatest accomplishments are in training dogs that others have said would never make it.  He enjoys working with the “underdogs,” building a dog up and demonstrating that changing how a dog feels and thinks can make all the difference. Jim owns a farm and boarding/training facility in the western suburbs.  His personal website is www.MoraSport.com

Jorge Jaen, MD, Kennel Operations Manager, Head Canine Caretaker

Jorge provides excellent care for the dogs while managing the kennel operations.  He reads body language and knows each dogs personality in order to best provide for their needs.  Jorge attended the Universidad Latina in Panama City, Panama where he received his MBA and studied for six years to receive Doctor en Medicina, (Medical Doctorate).  He worked for several years as a general practitioner in a public healthcare clinic in Panama City.  Jorge grew up with several dogs including a Husky, his beloved Rottweiler Cici, and a Poodle.  He loves all animals, especially his black cat “Shadow” adopted from Anti-Cruelty Society.  The dogs love his positive and upbeat energy and enjoy attention and playtime with him.  His only downfall is that he spoils the dogs!

Paulino Ponce, Canine Caretaker

Paulino cares for the boarding, daycare, and training dogs, supervises groups, maintaining and clean and safe environment.  Dynamic Dogs is thrilled to have him as part of our team.  He is trained in reading dog body language and best care practices.  Paulino is originally from Nicaragua, where his family has hunting dogs.  In his off-time he attends college.  He favors all the small toy breeds, but also loves Pit Bulls, especially our rescues, the foster dogs from Chicagoland Bully Breed Rescue (pictured).  He can often be seen outside playing ball with the dogs.  Animals pick up on his calmness and caring energy.

Linda Kay, Professional Pet Stylist

Popular Chicago pet stylist Linda Kay is known for her expertise in grooming and her “doggie makeovers”.  Skilled and talented with grooming dogs of all breeds and size, she provides the best dog styling in the Chicagoland area.  She was formerly an instructor at a grooming academy and has even owned her own shop previously.  She is popular among owners of Bouviers, Black Russians, Doodle mixes, and Porties, Poodles, as well as Shih Tzu and Yorkies.  She can do AKC show grooming, easy-care pet haircuts, as well as handle the “difficult to groom” dogs, turning everyone into clients for life!  Linda also has experience in training and handling dogs of all temperaments, she has owned German Shepherds and trained her Belgian Malinois in French Ring Sport and has titled dogs in competitions.  See GROOMING for more info

WHO DO WE SERVE?  Our trainers and behavior specialists work with many pet parents, our clients include:

• Busy professionals
• Veterinarians
• People who have tried many other trainers
• Professional athletes
• New puppy owners
• Clients who have just rescued a dog
• Families who want a well-trained pet
• Clients who compete in dog sports
• People who want to learn to be a better dog parent
• Those experiencing behavior issues
• Disabled individuals with assistance dogs
• Those who travel a lot for work and trust their pet with us
• First-time dog owners
• Families who want home protection K9s
• Those who feel their dog is out of control
• Owners with dogs requiring more socialization
• Therapy dog handlers
• Foster parents for rescue dogs
• Those struggling with aggression problems
• Clients who have obtained a dog from a breeder or kennel
• Working-dog owners
• Those who have Herding Breeds, Pit Bulls, Toy sized dogs, and more