Trainers & Instructors

At Stone Mountain Pet Lodge we believe that you have a very unique and wonderful relationship with your pet.  We are excited to offer a variety of training classes to help enhance and develop that important relationship!  Whether you simply need your pet to learn “Sit” and “Stay” or you wish to explore their ability in a more athletic way, Stone Mountain Pet Lodge has a class for you.

Jim Barry, Speaker Jim Barry, CPDT, CDBC, is Reston Dog Training's principal training instructor. He is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant under the auspices of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC). Jim also has the designation of Certified Professional Dog Trainer (Knowledge Assessed) from the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, an independent body that administers qualifying examinations for trainers. Jim is also a professional member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT). He takes a leading role in the dog training profession. He has been editor of the ethics column for the APDT newsletter and manager of the tutorial case study program for members of IAABC. Jim serves on APDT's Member Relations and Communications Committee and on IAABC's Ethics Committee. He is author of The Ethical Dog Trainer (Dogwise, 2008) and co-author of Positive Gun Dogs: Clicker Training for Sporting Breeds (Sunshine Books, 2007). He is one of only two trainers in the United States authorized to give awards for field tests sponsored by the UK Gundog Club. Jim also gives seminars on professional ethics for trainers. Prior to opening Reston Dog Training, Jim conducted training and behavior programs for thousands of family dogs in Southern New England through his company R. I. Dog Guy, LLC. He was named Volunteer of the Month at the Potter League for Animals, Rhode Island's premier animal shelter, in November, 2004. Jim is a former federal government executive and university professor. In addition to his dog training activities, Jim is a senior fellow at the Center for International Development and Conflict Management of the University of Maryland, where he conducts research on international issues and teaches programs in negotiation and crisis leadership.

Jacque Hoye, Professional Dog Instructor I have had dogs all of my life, but started training them in 1994 when I got my Labrador Retriever, Nuisance. He taught me all about the world of competition and earned a UD (Utility Degree) in Obedience as well as his MX (Master Agility title) and his MXJ (Master Agility Jumper title). He also had a UKC U-CDX (Companion Dog Excellent title) and an ASCA UD. He inspired me to become an agility judge for the American Kennel Club. He finished his career training with a junior handler and earning many titles with her. My next dog is Marquis, a 10 + year old Border collie who really taught me what being a trainer was all about. She has exceeded my expectations and has earned over 40 titles in Conformation (AKC Champion), Agility (AKC MX-MXJ; USDAA; & NADAC) Obedience (AKC UDX; UKC U-CDX;& ASCA CDX), Tracking (AKC TD & TDX and ASCA TD), Herding (AKC PT and HSAS), and Rally (AKC RE). She is a VERSATILE COMPANION DOG 3 and has the Versatility Excellent title with the Border Collie Society of America. She has been shown and titled in 6 different areas. She is a very versatile dog and is enjoying semi-retirement. Isis is my next dog and is truly a gift. She is an 8 year old border collie & has titles in AKC Agility AX, AXJ; USDAA agility AAD; & NADAC; Obedience AKC UD; ASCA CD; Rally RE; Herding AKC HIBS, HSAS, PT; and AKC Tracking TDX. She is also a VERSATILE COMPANION DOG 3 with the AKC and has that Versatility Excellent title with the Border Collie Society of America. Due to an unfortunate injury her competition remains on hold for the time being. My youngest dog is a two year old Border collie named Sizzle. She has earned her TD tracking title and has earned 22 agility titles since she began competing in November of 2007. CPE CL2-R; CL2-H; CL2-S; CL2-F CL2; ASCA GS-N; RS-N; USDAA SSA; SG; SR; AD; ASA; AG; AR; AAD AKC NA; NAJ; OA; OAJ; AX; AXJ; NF. She is currently competing in Masters for USDAA and Excellent for AKC. She is truly a JOY to RUN! She has 2 herding started A course sheep legs and her first Rally leg. She earned High Scoring Jumpers dog 2 days the Border Collie Society of America National Specialty and also earned HIGH COMBINED for TOP DOG! I am very active in competing and training in dog sports and am also an American Kennel Club judge for Agility, Obedience and Rally obedience.

Bits Foerg, Professional Dog Trainer Stone Mountain is proud to welcome Bits into our Headwater Canine Training program! She comes with years of credibility and experience in the canine world. Bits has been training dogs for 20 years, and teaching others to train their dogs for 15 years. She has taught obedience from puppies to competition level, CGC classes, rally obedience and flyball. She has trained in agility (which is her current focus of competition), tracking, herding and conformation. She has worked at shelters and for training schools. Her current dogs are rescue smooth Border Collie Gavia (CGC, FDCh-G, RL1, CL2-R, CL2-S, CL2-F NJC NAC TN-O) who is 6 years old, and Pyrenean Shepherd La Brise Corbeau Doreé (Corbi) (CGC, TCQ, NA, NAJ, AD, SSA, SG, TG2, NJC, NAC, TG-N) who is 4 years old. Both are currently competing in agility, and will be returning to rally obedience soon. They are her Dream Dog Duo, come to life. Previous dogs included Wizard(CGC, FM), the world’s only Icelandic Fetchund, (actually a Lab/Samoyed cross) and Larque, a Pyrenean Shepherd who taught her many things about dog behavior. She has also lived with or trained (at last informal count) 36 breeds of dogs and more interesting mixes than could be counted.

Jessica Sabraski, Instructor I started training my first agility dog, a rescue Aussie named Buster, in 2002 and began competing with him in 2004. Buster is a very sweet and sensitive dog and loves agility training. Competitions were a little overwhelming for him but through patience and positive training he was able to have fun. Retired now, Buster earned many agility titles including his MX (Master Agility title), MXJ (Master Agility Jumper title), EAC (Elite Standard) and EJC (Elite Jumpers) as well as several titles in CPE and ASCA. My current competition dog is 6 year old Joey (Border Collie pictured with me, photo courtesy of Kelly McFaul-Solem). Joey started agility training as a puppy and quickly caught on to how much fun agility is! He received his NADAC NATCH in 2007 and is currently competing in Excellent for AKC, Advanced/Masters for USDAA and Level 5 in CPE. Also in training is Joey’s littermate Party who came to live with us when she was 4.5 years old. She has just started her competition career and is doing very well. While I actively compete in several agility venues, the time I spend training my dogs is my favorite part of agility. I enjoy seeing them figure things out and I can see that they love the game of agility as much if not more than me!

Annie Holmstrom, Instructor Bright, energetic and dedicated, all come to mind when you meet Annie. Growing up, Annie's life consisted of being surrounded by a variety of dogs including a Cocker Spaniel, German Short-haired Pointer, Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Poodle, Labrador Retrievers, and of course Yorkshire Terriers. In addition she also spent time as a volunteer at the local Humane Society. If not working with dogs, Annie spent many hours training as a International Figure Skater. With over 15 years of training twice a day and hundreds of metals won, the natural progression was to move into coaching. Both to children and adults of all levels and abilities, including the mentally and physically disabled, Annie has successfully coached figure skating, as well as a variety of other popular sports for over 8 years. Annie's current Agility/Working dog is a Yorkie named Baxter. Baxter is definitely teaching Annie the ups and downs of training, especially about training Terriers! Currently Baxter is competing in CPE, and AKC, with USDAA agility trials not far behind. In addition to agility, Annie has goals to get Baxter his Canine Good Citizen title as well as compete with him in competitive Obedience, and at the Working Yorkie National Specialty show. Once you see this team work together, you know they are something special.

Denise Yokom, Instructor Denise received her first agility dog, an Australian Shepherd name Foster, in 2000. She trained him for 2 years and started competing in 2002 in AKC, NADAC, ASCA agility trials. Denise found that Foster was a dog that loved to please her and did agility as it was something she wanted to do. Her next dog Revi came along in 2004. Revi was much more of a driven dog and loved the game of agility as much as Denise. It showed in their performances as they won the Open High in Trial Award at the ASCA Nationals in 2006. Revi and Denise continue to be top of their game as were invited to the ASCA Agility Finals in 2008 and are on the list at #27 in the country for 2009 ASCA Nationals. The newest family member is Wager. He is, as most pups, full of energy and ready to go. Denise is currently enjoying training him in agility and we are sure they will be a great team. When Denise is not training Revi and Wager, she is a Mom to her son Jack and also is a Cardiac Rehab Therapist/Exercise Physiologist.

Dena Brown, Instructor Stone Mountain Pet Lodge is excited to welcome Dena Brown to it's lineup of instructors. Dena joins us with many years of experience teaching all types of canine related classes. Her full bio will be coming soon!

Dan Olson, Instructor Dan has been involved in the sport of dogs, and has been formally training dogs for competition since 1978, when he got his first Golden Retriever. Dan has trained both Golden Retrievers and English Setters for Obedience, Fieldwork, Hunting, Flyball, Agility and Rally. He has received many titles in all of these venues on both breeds in both the US and Canada. He has a twelve year old retired English Setter. He is currently training and showing his five year old Golden Retriever, Seth in Obedience, Agility and Rally.

Bev Olson, Instructor Bev has grown up with dogs all her life. She has been training and competing for over 16 years. Her first obedience dogs were a cocker spaniel and a sheltie. After that, she moved on to train a caucasian ovtcharka and continued on to title her rottweilers in obedience and agility. Currently, Bev is enjoying training and competing with her border collie, Remington. He has already titled in multiple dog sports including agility and rally, and will soon start his competitive obedience career.

Denise Smith, Instructor Denise has always surrounded herself with dogs. Her current canine family includes Kaylee (yellow lab), Tanner (golden retriever/shepherd mix), and Rylee (yellow lab). It has always been an important goal for Denise to involve her dogs in as many aspects of her life as possible. Training, teamwork, and commitment made this goal a reality. Denise has a strong interest in pet therapy work and, while living in Kansas City, certified her dogs with Pets for Life. Now in Minneapolis, Denise continues to team up with her dogs to visit hospitals and nursing homes. It is amazing to witness first-hand the therapeutic affect dogs have on the sick and elderly. To keep up with the active side of her life and the endless energy level of the retrieval breed, Denise has been training her dogs in agility for the past several years. For the benefit of her overly exuberant and extra large lab, Denise discovered the sport of dock jumping! Denise shares the role of trainer with her dogs. As a runner, Denise enlists the help of her canine companions as her running partners/trainers. They have joined her on several competitive races and always accompany her on training runs. A long-term goal for Denise is to become part of a search and rescue team. After working with dogs in a variety of settings, activities and training environments, Denise is excited about sharing her experiences and knowledge to make the most of the relationship between dog owners and their canine companions.