Nancy Droukas

Nancy Droukas, CPDT-KA, CNWI is the President of Performance Plus Dog Training Inc.  She has been training and showing dogs since 1992. She has achieved numerous titles and awards in the United States and Canada. Her first competition dog was a 5 pound Yorkshire Terrier named Biscuit with whom she achieved a Utility Dog (UD) title…no easy feat, to be sure, but very educational.  That training experience laid the foundation for her do no harm training philosophy and motivational techniques.  She went on to achieve an Obedience Trial Champion (OTCh) title on her rescued Labrador Retriever, Abby, and has since put an OTCh on two of her Golden Retrievers, Dash and Chance.  Her third Golden Retriever, Twist, earned his Utility Dog title (UD) in November, 2008 and was retired in January 2009 with 25 OTCh points and his Utility wins due to the demands of the business.  Her fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh Golden Retrievers, Grip, Rocket, Grab and Reason are works in progress and won't be ready for competition for awhile.  Nancy is also a member of the 200 Club. Membership in this club is attained when a judge awards the team a perfect score (200) for their performance. Nancy has several 200’s to her credit.  Nancy has also done a bit of retriever field training at an amateur level and has put Junior Hunter (JH) titles and Working Certificate Excellent (WCX) titles on Dash, Chance, Twist and Grip.  Her latest endeavor is K9 Nose Work.  She is a Certified Nose Work Instructor (CNWI).  To date she has achieved three NW1 titles and one NW2 title on her dogs. Grab and Rocket are in training for NW2 and Grip is in training for NW3.  Nancy has an insatiable appetite for learning.  She finds training for this new sport very exciting and invigorating.  She brings her enthusiasm and knowledge to the class room and inspires her students to embrace the time they spend training their dog no matter what the venue.

Nancy’s passion for dog training and pursuit of excellence along with her good humor has given birth to a premier training facility which offers something for everyone no matter what their level of expertise.  From the seasoned trainer to the first time dog owner, all are welcomed at Performance Plus Dog Training - a warm, friendly, FUN place to effectively train your dog and learn to build a strong, balanced relationship.

Carolyn Goudreau

Carolyn and her Golden Retriever, Gunther, came to Performance Plus for puppy classes, progressed to Basic Manners and in the process became hooked on competition obedience.  She quickly learned that at Performance Plus, you aren't just training your dog...you are training yourself on how to be an effective leader.  The lasting bond that is created between yourself and the dog is just amazing!  The education is never ending and there is something to be learned every day from every experience.

Since they first started training at Performance Plus, Carolyn and her Golden Retrievers have shown in AKC and CDSP obedience.  They have travelled to Pennsylvania to participate in the All Star Dog Obedience Championships tournament, a unique experience which puts the best of the best against each other in a fun, energized environment.  She had titled Gunther with a CDX and had trained hin through the upper levels of Utility before having to say goodbye to him due to cancer.  Griffin, her current Golden in training, is a blast to work with and she is looking forward to showing him in the near future.

Carolyn teaches Basic Manners classes here at Performance Plus.  Her goal is to mold her students approach towards basic training with fun, positive, consistent and rewarding methods.  In addition to incorporating basic manners such as sit, down, wait and stay in classes, it is also important for a person to realize how their dog thinks and why they behave the way they do.  In the end, a person takes so much more away from the class at the end of the day and can incorporate that into their everyday life with their dog.  Her goal is for her students and their canine friends to have a happy, easy-going, productive life together...going places, doing things....and enjoying the their time together.

Carolyn and her husband Gregg reside in Bridgewater with their Golden Retriever, Griffin and always have Gunther in their hearts.  Besides training Griffin, her other passions include horses, boating and relaxing on the beach!

Cassia began her career as an apprentice where she assisted in the training of tracking, patrol, and scent detection dogs.  Needless to say, she was hooked and training dogs and people became a lifelong passion!  Since 1998, Cassia has been professionally helping pets and their people with both manners and behavior.  In 2003, she completed her first certification and began specializing in fear based aggression and reactivity which she continues to do on a limited basis today.  Cassia believes in training the owner/handler to better understand their dog in order to facilitate clear communication, understanding, and willing participation.    She believes in treating the whole dog and that the beauty of training is in the journey, small victories, and quality of connection, as opposed to the final result.  In her years as a canine professional, Cassia has been an animal shelter manager, director of behavior and training, business owner, and is Pet First Aid/CPR certified.  She believes direct experience and thorough study of applied animal behavior are just the foundation for a lifelong education and study of dogs.  She continues to learn and grow through continuing education and seminars on both dog training and animal behavior management.  

Cassia's combined passion for dog training and love of the outdoors have led her to train and handle three operational wilderness air scent Search and Rescue dogs, one Urban SAR dog, and one trailing SAR dog.  As a former training officer, she has overseen the training and evaluation of numerous SAR dogs including tracking, trailing, and air scent and been on multiple international search and rescue deployments.  Cassia and her dogs have also dabbled in competition obedience, agility, and conformation.  In the past few years, Cassia has switched focus to training service/assistance dogs and training and handling hunting retrievers (she loves watching dogs do what they were bred to do!) Her past dogs include three German Shepherd dogs, an Australian cattle dog/Jack Russell mix, a malamute, a cocker spaniel, and a pitbull/husky mix. Cassia is currently owned by Red and Ellie, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers being trained for Conformation, Obedience, Nose Work, Hunt Tests, Field Trials and real life hunting.

Janet Steeger

Janet acquired her first dog, Nealy, an Australian Shepherd, nine years ago. Quickly learning he was reactive to just about everything in the environment, she began her journey to learn as much as she could about dog training and behavior to help her dog learn to cope. This journey led her to Performance Plus where, with lots of consistent, positive training methods, she has helped Nealy learn to cope with his environment and successfully competed in obedience, with Nealy earning his CDX title. They are currently having fun training for Utility and aim to compete this winter. In the last three years, Janet has added two rescue Belgian Malinois, Java and Abby, to her family. She trains Java in competition obedience and recently competed in a CDSP obedience trial, scoring two High in Trials. Abby is learning Nose Work and is excelling at searching out hidden odors.

Janet began teaching Basic Manners classes two years ago, wanting to share with her students how fun and valuable dog training can be. She embraces the power of marker training which provides clear, concise and timely information to the dog and helps build the dog's confidence and relationship with the owner. She enjoys watching the dog and owner blossom as they learn and grow together.

Janet resides in Bellingham with her Aussie, Nealy and two Malinois, Java and Abby, and the occasional Malinois foster dog.

Pat Scribner

"Dogs are my entire life!" says Pat Scribner. Pat is an obedience competitor, instructor and dog teacher. Her philosophy and training methods are all about building a relationship with the dog - - the performance will come. She believes dogs can learn different venues at the same time. Her approach is be fun, make the dog think, and he'll be eager to try anything. 

With her combined passion and joy for both field work and competition obedience, she has put OTCH titles on six dogs between 2001 and 2010 with three of those dogs earning Master Hunter titles.

 

Sheila Bennett

Sheila Bennett has been training her current dog Riley, a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon for about five years. Riley has achieved numerous titles including his UDX. During this time, Riley and Sheila have also been involved in AKC Rally, Conformation, NAVHDA field activities, and Companion Dog Sports Program (CDSP) and have titled in each. Additionally, Sheila has become a judge for the rapidly growing CDSP Obedience Venue.

Mike Tierney

Erika Marshall

Erika Marshall has been involved in purebred dogs since 1994.  Erika's main interest has been in conformation and reactive dogs.  Currently, she is owned by a herd of Mastiffs and several sight hounds.  Erika is a member of several local and national dog clubs including the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT).  

To further her education in canines, Erika has attended many seminars that focus on breed type, structure, and training techniques.  She is a graduate of the Karen Pryor Clicker Training Academy and earned the KPA-CTP designation that she can proudly add to her name. 

Erika instructs Basic Manners, Perfect Pups, and Canine Good Citizen classes at Performance Plus. 

Paul Orcutt

Paul Orcutt's K9 training career started in the United States Marine Corps.  After serving 10 years in the Corps, he continued his quest for dog training.  He attended Master K9 Police Service Dog Center where he studied canine obedience, tracking, explosive detection and K9 patrol and graduated with a certificate as a Master Trainer.  He is also a certified Police K9 Decoy.  He has worked / trained / certified with CIA K9, ATF K9, FPS K9, and numerous State and Local Law Enforcement K9 teams / agencies.  He just completed a successful 2 year tour in Afghanistan as an Explosive Detection K9 Trainer/Handler.  He has handled 5 different explosive detection K9's over the course of many years and has trained over 300 dogs in the detection field. 

Paul's training methods are positive based.  He believes in positive methods of shaping the desired behaviors in the dog. This method allows for a deep bond between the handler and dog to develop.  It also allows for clear, concise communication between dog and handler.

Paul instructs weekly advanced nose work classes, off-site nose work field trips, topic specific workshops and clinics exclusively through Performance Plus Dog Training.  

Sue LeVasseur

Susan has owned Airedales since 1970.  She started showing dogs in conformation and then training them in obedience shortly thereafter.

She and her dogs have achieved 9 CD's, 2 CDX's, and 1 UD.  Two of her Airedales have been owner-handled to their breed championships.  She started showing in agility in 1998 and her current Airedales, Cassidy and Callie have earned their AKC MX and MXJ and numerous other agility titles.   Most recently she has been showing in rally and has put Rally Excellent titles on Cassidy and Callie.

Lori Daigle-Santos

Lori Daigle-Santos has been involved with dogs for over ten years. She has been running agility for nine years and has been very successful with her current chihuahua, Squish. Lori has attended the AKC Agility Nationals, AKC Agility Invitationals, and the NADAC Championships. Squish has been a top five AKC Agility Chihuahua in the country for four years in a row. Together, Lori and Squish are currently working towards their second AKC Master Agility Championship!