Leash & Teach was founded by former PK–12 educators who merged classroom teaching methods with dog training expertise. Our classroom may be virtual, but our instructors have sharpened their teaching chops through years in real classrooms — giving us a greater ability to teach our clients, not just train their dogs.
We believe dog training gives owners the opportunity to learn and grow right alongside their dogs. Our proven methods are tailored to our clients as well as their pets — to achieve our mission of empowering dog owners with the knowledge and skills needed to select, raise and train their dogs effectively.
Like any good teacher, we expect you to do your homework and practice what you’ve learned — with the understanding that we’re here to encourage, listen and provide helpful feedback along the way.
Faculty & Staff
Every instructor has a background in education — degrees, classrooms and all. Here’s the faculty lounge.
General Manager & Head Trainer
Hannah holds an education degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and spent five years as a licensed K–12 public school teacher. She specializes in service dog and obedience training — particularly retrieval work for mobility assistance and medical alert — and is always pursuing workshops and continuing education. At home: husband Perry, daughter Ida, standard poodle Siegfried and rescue dog Rosco.
Training Methods & Continuing Education
Claire earned dual bachelor's degrees in education and special education plus a master's degree, and taught elementary special education before joining Leash & Teach. She's a search and rescue K9 handler with K9 Grady (human remains detection) and K9 Maeve (live find air scent), previously trained task-trained service dog Milo, and shares her home with two working Labs and a standard poodle.
Owner · Curriculum & Program Development
Carrie's 25-year education career spans preschool teacher, general and special education teacher, inclusion specialist, preschool principal, special education administrator and special education director. She holds a bachelor's in speech pathology and audiology and a master's in special education. Married 22 years, with two daughters and two shepadoodles.
Obedience Trainer & Group Training Consultant
Amy holds a degree in deaf education and a graduate degree in criminal justice, which she taught for 15 years. She specializes in rescue dogs with behavioral challenges and loves leading group training sessions. Her crew: dogs Ari and Lucy, and cat Delilah.
“These trainers are phenomenal! They helped with my rescue dog Buddy… Being a teacher myself, I was impressed at the way the trainers were able to teach me — someone who had never owned or trained a dog — and communicate effectively over video sessions. It made me feel more confident in my abilities to handle my dog, since I was the one doing the commanding while the trainer coached me through it!”
Nothing compares to the bond between a human and a four-legged friend — and being part of that is what we love.
Start Your StoryMeet the Faculty
Every instructor holds a degree in education — several hold multiple, including master's degrees in special education — and taught in real PK–12 classrooms before training dogs professionally. On the dog side, our team's experience spans obedience, service dog training, search and rescue K9 handling and behavioral rehabilitation, with ongoing workshops and continuing education as standing policy. We're teachers by training and dog trainers by obsession.
Because the human is half of every training equation. Most dog training fails at the owner's end of the leash — not from carelessness, but because nobody ever taught the owner how to teach. Breaking skills into steps, communicating clearly, checking understanding, giving useful feedback: that's classroom craft, and it transfers directly to teaching families with dogs.
A specific teacher-trainer matched to your program and goals — the same person session after session, who knows your dog's file, your family and your homework history. Service dog clients work primarily with Hannah, our head trainer, whose specialty is exactly that work.
Between the four of us: standard poodles, working Labradors, shepadoodles, rescues and two operational search and rescue K9s. Every method we recommend has been lived with, not just read about. Our dogs are our first students and our toughest critics.
Accessibility, loyalty, compassion, innovation, community and transparency. They're not wall art — they're why pricing is quoted before you commit, why the mini session is genuinely free, and why we'll tell you the truth even when it's not the easy sell.
