Our Trainers
Betsy Carey’s scent work journey began in 2011 when she adopted Rhys, a Pembroke Corgi. By pure luck, she signed up for a class conducted by Chris and Laura Busch, a class she still attends.
Betsy has been privileged to train with four dogs to date: Rhys, Pooka (terrier mix), Binne (black and grey mix) and Kislany (Mudi). Betsy has been lucky enough to attend three west coast Nose Work Camps, taking either Rhys or Binne.
Between Rhys, Pooka and Binne, Betsy has earned many element titles, NW1, NW2 and NW3 and earned her first Elite title in 2022. Kislany is early in her scent work journey and will complete her ORT this fall.
Betsy teaches using the NACSW method which builds a strong foundation in both the dog and the handler. This foundation is applicable whether student chooses to trial under NACSW or AKC.
She is an Associate Nose Work Instructor (ANWI) and will complete the certification program this year to become a Certified Nose Work Instructir (CNWI).
Danielle has put NATCHs on two Australian Shepherds and is close to a NADAC championship on a third Aussie. She came to dog training through horses. For the last twenty years, she has trained horses and taught riding while also competing successfully on the Paint Horse circuit.
Jenna Hoffmann is a certified service dog trainer dedicated to helping people and their dogs build strong, positive relationships. Her passion began with her childhood Sheltie, Dakota, and grew through years of fostering rescue dogs and volunteering with animal welfare organizations. She has worked with groups like The Labelle Foundation, Lovejoy Foundation, and the Boulder Humane Society where she developed a deep belief in the power of enrichment and behavior-focused training for every dog. Now based on the west side of Los Angeles, Jenna trains service and therapy dogs while continuing to expand her expertise alongside her own dogs, Tallulah and Frankie. Her approach is rooted in patience, creativity, and kindness, shaped by real-life experiences. Jenna loves working with both dogs and people, guiding clients through their training journey to build confidence, trust, and lasting connection.
Katie has been training dogs professionally for more than 20 years, holding certifications and memberships with several well-respected training and behavior organizations: Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA from CCPDT), Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC from IAABC), certified in Applied Animal Behavior through the University of Washington (UW-AAB), and she is Low Stress Handling and Fear Free Certified. Her specific interests in training focus on behavior modification, early socialization, tricks, advanced skills, and dog sports. Throughout her life and career, Katie has raised, trained, handled and competed with a variety of breeds. Her passion for training and interest in all aspects of the dog world has led her to explore multiple dog sports. She has competed in agility, obedience, rally, conformation, nose work, freestyle (dancing with dogs), barn hunt, earth dog, and has dabbled in a variety of others sports. In her primary sports of agility and rally she has competed at the national level with multiple dogs. Katie is also an AKC CGC and Tricks Dog Evaluator and Fetch judge. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Pyrenean Shepherd Club of America, and is a member of numerous local, national, and international training, behavior, and welfare clubs and organizations.
I started training with my rescue shelties in 2005 and quickly became addicted to the sport of agility. In addition to shelties, I have owned, loved, and trained a papillon and border collies.
I have a passion for International-style handling and competitions and have been fortunate enough to be selected to compete at the FCI World Agility Championships (2016) in Zaragoza Spain with Relay and 5 AKC European Open Teams with 3 different dogs in Hungary, France (with two different dogs), Austria, and The Netherlands. We have traveled to compete in Norway twice where Alibi and Caper each made the finals of the Norwegian Open. Alibi also made the finals of the Slovenian Open and Hungarian Open a few years ago.
We have been lucky enough to win a few National Championships here in the USA as well.
Agility is my hobby and it is so exciting for me to help teams make improvements or find understanding-no matter what the level. I am truly fortunate to be able to play and teach such a fun activity.
Robyn McNutt has had Keeshonden since she was a teenager. Robyn loves showing in conformation, obedience, rally, agility and has done pet therapy with her dogs. Robyn has shown all her dogs to breed champions and countless other titles. Robyn and her very special dog Mack were the second ever Keeshond to have earned the RACH (Rally Grand Champion) and the first west coast keeshond to earn this title.
Robyn is our beginning/intermediate/advanced rally trainer full of enthusiasm and knowledge about all levels of rally and primarily guides beginner students how to perform the first few levels of rally. Once they learn the basics of rally, students can move up to the excellent/master levels. Students are encouraged to show their dogs if they want and when they are ready WLAOTC trainers and fellow students are very enthusiastic and encouraging to help them get there.
Robyn has been a WLAOTC club member since 2007 and trainer since 2014. She is also available for private training and coaching.
Fun fact… Robyn used to race cars for 20 years and when she isn’t playing or showing her dogs, she still loves to get to the track to drive and teach high performance driving with the BMW Car Club.
Susan Light (ABCDT, CPDT-KA) is a Positive Reinforcement Professional Dog Trainer and Behavior Consultant who has a passion for combating dangerous and dated information about Behavior and Training.
To that end, she has hosted the Enlightened Pet Behavior Podcast (formerly Doggy Dojo Podcast) since 2021 so families can access quality information without cost being a barrier.
Susan works with dogs and cats for a variety of behavior issues from Basic Manners to Reactivity and Aggression.
One of her favorite enrichment activities is Tricks!
I have been involved in the sport of dogs since I was eight years old and checked out Milo Pearsall’s “Obedience Training Your Dog” from the local public library. I was enthralled with the visions that the book opened up for me and proceeded to train, not only my family’s own collies and mutts, but every dog in the neighborhood that happened to venture through our backyard. No fences or leash laws in those days in rural Indiana.
While I was a sophomore at UCLA, I acquired a sheltie mix puppy from the pound, snuck him into my “no dogs allowed” apartment and took him to class with me every day. While passing Stoner Park one evening, I spotted a dog obedience class in session and decided that “Bandit” and I should enroll. I was hooked and Bandit and I went on to attend classes all the way through Utility. In those days, there were no formal degrees for mixed breeds, but we were able to get the equivalent of our All American UD by competing in match competition.
In 1974, my husband and I moved to Malibu and I became an assistant trainer for Haleridge Kennels. Evelyn and Jimmy Hale raised English and Irish Setters and had raised and trained the Irish that were used in the making of “Big Red”. I took over the job of training the dogs of their private clients and assisting with the group classes they taught for the Malibu Township Council. In 1978, the Hales retired to Big Bear and turned their classes over to me. I began teaching for the West Los Angeles Obedience Training Club in 1998 and teach novice, ontermediate novice, advanced novice, competition obedience, open, utility, and conformation handling classes.
Over the years, my methods of dog training have changed considerably, from the old “never use food, or they won’t obey you unless they’re hungry” philosophy to becoming an avowed enthusiast of clicker training. Dogs and the people who love and train them are all different. A method of training which works for one team may not be ideal for another. As a dog AND people trainer, I believe it is my job to help the owner find and effectively use the method which works best for them, as long as the results are positive for dog and owner alike. In my classes, you may well find the dog and handler teams using different methods to accomplish the same goals. I think this flexibility make for a unique and rewarding group training experience.
My current dogs are all Keeshonden. I have been breeding, training, and showing Kees in conformation, obedience, agility, and therapy dog work since 1977 under my “Shoreline” kennel prefix. I have bred 37 conformation champions, 16 CD’s, 5 CDX,s, 1 UD, and numerous agility titles including many MACHs. Several of my dogs also work as therapy dogs. I am the President of the Keeshond Club of Southern California and also serve as the Health Committee Chairman for the Keeshond Club of America.
In my non-dog life, I am a graduate of UCLA with a degree in Psychology and worked as a bureaucrat for the State of California, where I was the Southern California Director for Medi-Cal Disability. I am married to a very patient husband and have a daughter who is also very active in showing dogs and horses.
Questions can be directed to obed@wlatoc.com or my email at tawnsinclr@aol.com.