Meet the Education Team

Stephanie developed her passion for dog training after adopting her third dog Lance in 2008. At 6 months old, he started exhibiting many behavior issues including reactivity and aggression. In a quest to help him out she learned as much as she could about dog training and behavior changing the trajectory of her life forever.

Her nose work journey started in 2010 when she attended an Intro to Nose Work Workshop taught by Amy & Ron and she was hooked! She started playing at home right away with all 3 of her dogs at the time – Lacey, Logan & Lance.

Stephanie pursued her CNWI and was finally certified in April of 2012 after passing her ORT with her very shy and environmentally sensitive dog – Logan – on his 3^rd attempt. She went on to compete with him and over the years his skill and confidence continued to grow.  Nose work changed his life forever!

After 4 years of taking classes and practicing at home, she started competing with Lance. He made such wonderful progress and went from a scared, highly reactive dog to a confident NW2 dog before ultimately passing unexpectedly in 2017 to lymphoma. He was one of those life-changing dogs.

She is currently competing with her dogs Leena & Benny and hoping to eventually compete with her reactive Wheaten Livvy if/when the time is right.

In addition to Nose Work, Stephanie teaches basic training & reactivity classes through her new business – Stephanie’s Sniffers. Besides being a Certified Nose Work Instructor (CNWI), Stephanie is also a Certified Behavior Consultant Canine (CBCC-KA) and a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA). She also has a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Northern Illinois University.