Our CPDT-KA CERTIFIED Dog Training Instructors

Susan Bernhart, instructor and owner of Paws 4 Fun Dog Training and Agility, is Southern Minnesota's undisputed "go to" dog trainer. She is a highly experienced, nationally recognized and professionally certified dog training expert who is continuously knowledge assessed by CPDT-KA, the leading dog training certification authority in the country, and she is also sanctioned by AKC.

In short, Susan speaks "dog".

Why is certification important? Because it tells you that your dog is in the hands of a superior trainer. And Susan actually goes beyond what is required to reach that threshold of excellence.

Certification requires 300 hours of actual canine instruction, along with tri-annual coursework and exams, plus a signed recommendation letter from both a current CCPDT certified trainer and a Doctorate level veterinarian. Testing covers instructional skills, learning theory, ethology-scientific study of animal behavior, equipment, and animal husbandry.  

Courses include separation and isolation anxiety, house-training, food/toy/place/human resource guarding, anatomy/physiology (vet tech prep), and many webinars and conferences covering dog aggression. Her studies have also included a Master Aggression Course and Certificate.  Susan is an AKC Canine Good Citizen CGC Test Evaluator and can authorize "Tricks" titles sanctioned by the AKC. 

 We applaud the move by some states to require all trainers to be registered, continuously tested and certified by ccpdt.org.

Paws 4 Fun Dog Training has been in business in Owatonna since 2009, and during that time Susan has trained more than 3 thousand dogs from all over Southern Minnesota representing practically every major breed category recognized by the American Kennel Club. She currently teaches both private and group lessons in life-skills obedience, all levels of agility, behavior modification, aggression, AKC S.T.A.R Puppy Training and scent work. 

Susan practices what she preaches.... or perhaps we should say, she accomplishes what she preaches.

She has obedience and agility trained her own dogs (7 of them in all). Susan has won more than a dozen Master Agility Champion AKC titles and countless AKC national recognition awards. In 2011, she gained national recognition with the 11th ranked dog in the United States competing in AKC Masters Agility (Ninja), and has trained other dogs which went on to earn the coveted MACH distinction 

Jennifer Anderson is a Master Groomer and a judge for UKC Conformation shows.  She also shows dogs in conformation herself having won many Champion and Grand Champion titles and Best in Show awards. Her dogs also have titles in obedience, rally, weight pull, dock jumping, lure coursing and hunting. Jennifer has been a breeder of Standard Poodles and Silken Windhounds for over 20 years. Her puppies are sought after all over the country as performance and service dogs.  She enjoys agility at Paws for Fun with her husband and her current pups Matcha, a Silken, and Perdita and Georgette. Jennifer will be teaching a quarterly Sunday conformation class for beginners. Be sure to get on her wait list for classes. They fill quickly!