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 focusing on Board & Train.  After serving as an apprentice, she became a Staff Instructor at People Training for Dogs in New York, 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, Nicole Wilde and ethologist Ray Coppinger, to stay up to date on the most current positive based training methods.  One of her favorite learning environments has been 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, dog and children relationships and separation anxiety.  Her background and specialties include conformation show handling, Puppy Obedience, Advanced Obedience and competitive Rally Obedience training and is currently working on her K9 Nose Work certification. Cathy was featured on Animal Planet's "IT'S ME OR THE DOG" as a guest Rally Instructor, has been a guest panelist on dog behavior at the annual Cat Writer's Association and other seminars and is a regular featured guest on the radio show The Pet Connection.  She regularly gives talks on body language and behavior around metro Atlanta, is a pet columnist for Our Town Magazine Gwinnett and has written articles for the APDT Chronicle of the Dog publication. 

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.  She also spent 18 months chairing the APDT's C.L.A.S.S. task force which developed the new nationally recognized Canine Life and Social Skills program being utilized by trainers throughout the country.  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.