Cathy Bruce, owner of Canine Country Academy, LLC in Dacula, GA, has been training her own dogs and studying dog behavior long before becoming a Certified Pet Dog Trainer.  After completing a successful career as a singer/actress on Broadway, she decided to pursue fulltime her love of dogs. In 2003, she launched a successful in-home dog boarding business where dogs of many different breeds inhabited her house at any given time.  She apprenticed with Nancy Strauss at People Training for Dogs, where she also taught classes in Puppy Obedience, AKC Canine Good Citizen Prep, and Competitive Rally Obedience, and teamed up with long time friend and Animal Planet's "It's Me Or the Dog" Victoria Stilwell to run Dog Trainers of New Jersey.  There she taught in home private lessons for dogs and owners dealing with obedience and behavioral issues. She continues to attend seminars and training workshops with trainers and behaviorists such as Suzanne Clothier, Ian Dunbar, Turid Rugaas and ethologist Ray Coppinger, to stay up to date on the most current positive based training methods.  Two years ago, she visited Wolf Park in Indiana where she studied wolf behavior and how it gives us a better understanding of the behavior of our domesticated dogs.

Cathy teaches in-home private lessons and group classes for dog owners ranging the gamut from puppy training needs, such as housebreaking, socialization and dealing with destructive behaviors to more serious issues like dog to dog aggression and dog to children relationships.  Her background and specialties include conformation show handling, Puppy Obedience, Advanced Obedience and competitive Rally Obedience training.  Last year, Cathy was featured on Animal Planet's "IT'S ME OR THE DOG" as a guest Rally Instructor.  She has been a guest panelist on dog behavior at the annual Cat Writer's Association, and gives talks on body language and behavior regularly around metro Atlanta. 

In 2008, Cathy founded the Georgia Dog Trainer Forum, an educational and networking organization that includes professional dog trainers and behaviorists from all over the Atlanta area.  As a dog trainer, she strives to educate dog owners on how to better communicate with their dogs using only positive methods and employing a number of different techniques.  Every dog and owner has different needs and Cathy diligently works with her clients to discover those needs and meet them effectively.

Betty Emrey began the journey into dog training through volunteer work at the ASPCA in New York City. Over five years there, she walked shelter dogs, taught other volunteers how to walk shelter dogs, introduced dogs to potential adopters and apprenticed as a trainer. For the past three years, Betty has been teaching puppy kindergarten and basic obedience classes at Canine Academy and Playschool in midtown Atlanta. She also teaches in-home private lessons. At Canine Country Academy, Betty co-teaches the Reactive Dog class with Cathy. In addition to teaching, Betty also volunteers at the Atlanta Humane Society in adoptions and with the Paws 2 Teach shelter dog classes.  Betty has enjoyed competing in both Agility and Rally Obedience, but it’s her work with shelter dogs that inspires her as a trainer. So many great dogs wind up in shelters because of behaviors that could have been avoided or fixed with proper training. Her goal is to help dogs and their people stay together. Betty serves on the Member Relations Committee of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, is a member of the Georgia Dog Trainer Forum and the Atlanta Rally Club, and is studying to take the pet dog trainer certification exam later this year. Betty lives with three rescue dogs: a chihuahua from NYC, a rough coat collie from NOLA, and a black and white mix from the streets of Decatur.