Our Trainers
See our calendar of seminars and classes.
Ann Wichmann
Ann has taught throughout the country and spoken internationally on the
development and training of search dog teams in both wilderness and disaster
environments. She began training service dogs in 1975, when she became the
first female park ranger in the State of Colorado.
Co-founder of Front Range Rescue Dogs, Ann has also co-founded a park ranger service dog program, Search and Rescue Dogs of Colorado, and Search and Rescue Dogs of the United States. She served on the FEMA Canine Subcommittee from 1991 until 2004, helping to develop both the teaching curriculum and national standard for the Disaster Search Canine Readiness Program. Ann is a chief evaluator and mentor for FEMA and an evaluator with Front Range Rescue Dogs. She is the owner and operator of Jenner’s Run.
Brenda Aloff
Brenda’s childhood
love was training and showing horses. She has taken this knowledge about working
with large, potentially dangerous animals and applied it to training dogs
with problem behaviors. Unsatisfied with the results of traditional dog training,
Brenda studied marine mammal training, exotic animal training and learned
about wolf pack behaviour. Puzzled by the lack of answers in dog lore and
literature, and because traditional dog training techniques did not offer
the tools needed to deal with aggressive dogs, in particular, she became an
expert in behavior modification and positive reinforcement.
Brenda has published several books, including Get Connected With Your Dog, Canine Body Language: A Photographic Guide, and Positive Reinforcement: Training Dogs in The Real World. In her video, “Brenda Aloff’s Fundamentals: Foundation Training For Every Dog,” (available on DVD), Brenda explains and clearly demonstrates techniques that will train your dog to be a safe and reliable companion using gentle, positive methods.
Cris Goodhue
Before training search
and rescue dogs, Cris worked as a veterinary technician for more than 15
years. She has been training dogs for more than 30 years. In 1991, Cris began
training and handling search & rescue dogs. She has certified her dogs in
Trailing, Air Scent, Cadaver, HRD, Water, Evidence, Avalanche, Disaster,
and Narcotics.
Since 2000, Cris has taught search & rescue seminars throughout the Western United States, assisting numerous dog teams in training and certifying their own dogs. She has an unending passion for training dogs and for helping search and rescue handlers achieve their training goals.
Cris’s current dog, Osa, is a 4-year-old German Shepherd. Osa is certified in Level 3 Trailing, Urban Trailing, Cadaver, HRD, Air Scent, Water, Evidence, and Narcotics.
Teresa MacPherson
Teresa has a long
history of search and rescue experience, specializing in Canine Search and
Search Management since 1989. Her disciplines include Wilderness Search,
Human Remains Detection, Water Search and Disaster Response.
Teresa has responded to numerous missions on local, State, Federal and International levels. These deployments have included the OKC bombing of the Murrah building; hurricanes Katrina and Ike; the Bam, Iran, earthquake; the school collapse in Haiti; the Haiti earthquake; as well as responses to call-outs by the FBI, CIA, NCIS, and local law enforcement agencies.
In addition to responding to search missions, Teresa has instructed and evaluated across the United States and has traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the United Kingdom to assist in the education and evaluation of their search resources.
“I love search, I love dogs, I love what I do!”
Libby Milroy
Libby became interested
in formally training dogs after she met her husband. She loved the challenge
of trying to communicate such complex concepts and has extensively studied
various methods of training and developed ways to improve the training to
“fit” personal styles and individual dog’s style of communicating.
Libby has run AKC Field Trials and Hunt Tests, and UKC Hunt Tests, and is a UKC Hunt Test judge. She is also an active member of the Platte River Hunting Retriever Club.
Libby is originally from Scottsdale, Arizona and is a graduate of the University of Nebraska. She has spent all of her life surrounded by dogs. Libby lives in North Platte, Nebraska with her husband Ron Green, who is a veterinarian. They raise and train American Field Labradors and own and manage a veterinarian clinic. Libby and Ron currently have 12 dogs — 10 Labs and 2 Jack Russell Terriers — and Libby can’t imagine a house without dog hair!
