Our Furry Friends Training Center

Victoria Swiger is a certified Tellington TTouch Practitioner I and a

retired certified Veterinarian Assistant. She has been working with

and training animals for over 20 years. For 38 years she has been a

music teacher with a strong passion for all animals. The money she

earned from her music profession has allowed her to pursue her

childhood dream of working with animals. She began by working with

dogs in basic obedience training. This was so much fun for her that she

wanted to find more ways to work with animals. In 2001 she became a

Certified Veterinary Assistant and became involved in companion

animal rescue. She welcomed a wide variety of animals into her home

including, rats, hamsters, a ferret, and many birds.

Animal rescue was

a very rewarding experience for Victoria, but brought to light a lot of

new challenges. She wanted to find better ways to work with the dogs

and cats that were coming to her with a variety of issues that

obedience training alone wasn't able to help. This is when she looked

further

into the

Tellington TTouch Method.

Two rescued dogs

presented her with some new challenges and she asked a TTouch

Practitioner for help. The work was so impressive that she decided to

get the training, and in 2003, she became a Tellington TTouch

Practitioner I. Currently she is pursuing certification in animal nutrition

Training With Respect & Understanding

Meet the Trainers

Since then, Cherie has been helping families teach their dogs to be well-behaved members of the family. She
teaches effective and humane methods to teach basic obedience and a wide variety of other types of classes
including Agility For Fun, Rally Obedience, Helping the Cautious Canine, Feisty Fido and more. Ms. Maitland also
offers classes to help people prepare to take and pass the AKC Canine Good Citizen Test. Cherie is now also an
approved AKC CGC evaluator. Cherie also helps with more serious problems including fearfulness, anxiety,
aggression towards people, dogs and cats, nuisance barking, and safety with kids and dogs. She hails more from
the new school of training, incorporating learning theory and understanding canine psychology (see Philosophy &
Methods) to teach people to be great dog owners, handlers and leaders. When needed, other approaches are
incorporated, because she believes that there is often something valuable to learn from most approaches and that
flexibility and tailoring methods to a specific owner, dog and situation is crucial. Cherie's instincts about what people
and their dogs need to be a better team, combined with her practical knowledge and step-by-step teaching style is
extremely effective.

She now lives in the Sierra Foothills with her beloved 3 dogs, 9 cats, and her horse, a mustang lives on a nearby
ranch. Contact her to discuss your dog(s) and your training needs and get started on an educational and satisfying
experience with Our Furry Friends.

Our
Furry
Friends

Cherie Inherited Some of Her Connection With Animals From Her Mom

Cherie Maitland
Owner, Head Trainer &
Behavior Specialist

Karol Burke
Disaster Preparedness &
Kaleidoscope Pet Services

Jamie Holms, NCPT, RVT
First Aid & CPR for Dogs

Judy Gamet of
Dogs Can Dance
Canine Freestyle Classes


			MEET THE OTHER TRAINERS and INSTRUCTORS AT OUR FURRY FRIENDS TRAINING CENTER .

Kathryn Miele
Competition Rally Obedience
Competition Obedience

As a teenager, Kathryn began her lifelong love of “all things dogs” by

taking her two family pets---one a collie mix and the other a Golden

retriever---to obedience classes in her home state of Michigan. In high

school she worked at a veterinary clinic, then headed off to college and

25-year professional career in advertising, marketing and public

relations.

Kathryn has been training and showing Labrador retrievers in

conformation, obedience and rally for more than 12 years. She is an

active

member of Hangtown Kennel Club and the Sacramento Dog

Training

Club where she often stewards at obedience trials and

matches.

She

continually strives to learn new training methods by

attending classes,

seminars and workshops given by nationally and

internationally known

instructors and competitors. Kathryn advocates a

positive team-oriented

approach to training, and works to create a

trust-filled bond between dog

and handler. She is currently training for

Open/Utility level exercises, and

showing in rally obedience, with a

goal of earning an RAE title with her

Labrador retriever.

For more

information on

athryn'

classes s

ally Obedience Classes

page and for Competition Obedience classes see

Obedience

Classes page.

Jamie Holms is a registered vet tech with 9 years of experience

treating

a wide variety of companion animals, from dogs and cats

to large

animals & exotics. Her particular interest is emergency vet

care; she

has seven years experience in that field. Jamie is also a

volunteer

instructor for Hangtown Kennel Club obedience classes,

and teaches

pet manners classes at a local veterinary hospital.

She lives in Camino

with her Lab, Chance, her Golden Retriever,

Eleanor, and her cat,

Grace.

For more information on Judy's classes
presented at Our Furry Friends Training Center

Karol Burke has a varied career background, with an emphasis on

children

and animals.She has been a vet assistant, 4-H horse project

leader, and a

volunteer at Sierra Wildlife Rescue and the

SPCA as

an assistant dog

trainer. She has always had a menagerie of pets,

and

been active in the care

and rehabilitation of friends and neighbors

animals. Karol worked at a local

residential treatment facility for many

years in a number of capacities. She

implemented and taught an

Animal Science curriculum, introduced a dog

agility program to the

boys using volunteer's dogs, and started the first equine

program.

While there she also participated in EAP (Equine Assisted

Psychotherapy) with other staff and in a counselor's role with the

boys.

The

experience was extremely inspirational, and Karol has

since

completed the

Level One certification with EAGALA as an

Equine

Specialist. She has owned

her own business, Kaleidoscope

Pet

Services, since 2004, and is a graduate

with honors of the Animal

Behavior College as a Dog Trainer, specializing in

addressing

problem behaviors in the home. Since the tragedy of Hurricane

Katrina,

Karol has been passionate about

Disaster Preparedness

for pet

owners, hoping to help prevent similar tragedies through

education and

preparation. She lives in El Dorado, C

alifornia

with her

dogs Kameo

and

Rocket, a turtle, and two Button Quail.

Cherie Maitland, an animal lover and educator from way back, moved to California from Vermont in
1984. Her varied work background includes personal coaching and counseling, small business
management, accounting, teaching and running kids after-school and summer camp programs.
Cherie began working with dogs at the SPCA as a volunteer in the 1980's on the California Coast.
In the early 1990's she was introduced to the world of humane horse handling and Natural
Horsemanship. It made so much sense to Cherie to train and guide a horse by understanding their
point-of-view, that she sought out people who were doing the same thing with dogs. She assisted
with dog training classes, behavior problem appointments and went back to the shelter as a
volunteer adoption counselor and dog handler. She studied and trained with a variety of other
trainers from a wide range of philosophies. After adopting a "problem" dog, (who is now the
wonderful dog you may know as Pepper,) Cherie needed the behavioral expertise of several local,
prominent trainers. After years of studying with and assisting other trainers, and working with dogs at
the shelter, Our Furry Friends was born in 1999 in Santa Cruz, California.

Victoria Swiger
T Touch Practitioner I