Meet Our Team.
With an impressive 58 years of collective experience, our dog training team brings an unparalleled depth of knowledge, skill, and passion to every training session.
Our team members have dedicated their lives to understanding and enhancing the relationship between dogs and their owners, ensuring that every dog becomes a well-behaved and happy member of the family.
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Our Expertise:
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Drop-off Day Training: Providing socialization and training in a specialized daycare experience.
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Behavioral Training: Addressing common behavioral issues such as reactivity, barking, chewing, and aggression with effective, positive reinforcement techniques.
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Obedience Training: Teaching dogs' essential cues and manners to ensure they are well-behaved at home and in public.
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Puppy Training: Providing guidance on housebreaking, socialization, and basic commands to set puppies on the right path from an early age.
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CATHIE LEE
CPDT-KA
KPA-CTP, ABCDT
Owner, Training & Behavior Director Enrichment Center Manager
& Content Creator of K9 Wisdom
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Certified Professional Dog Trainer, Knowledge Assessed
Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner
Animal Behavior College Certified Dog Trainer
American Kennel Club Evaluator
Cathie (AKA Cat) is a Colorado native from the Salida area and is a proud dog nerd. Her current stomping ground is in Northern Colorado, and her business K9 Wisdom is excited to call Berthoud home. She has been a certified dog trainer since 2004 and opened up K9 Wisdom in 2011! She is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer, Knowledge Assessed, a graduate of the Karen Pryor Academy, a graduate and Certified Dog Trainer through Animal Behavior College, a Professional Member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT), and is a certified AKC (American Kennel Club) Canine Good Citizen Evaluator. In addition, Cathie is a Mentor Trainer for CATCH Academy, where she mentors aspiring dog trainers!
Prior to opening K9 Wisdom, she mentored under other professional dog trainers and worked in the Training and Behavior Modification Department of a nationally recognized Humane Society. While working at the humane society she gained invaluable experience working with homeless dogs with behavior problems, conducting Behavior Evaluations/Assessments and matching the right family with the perfect dog.
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​She believes dogs learn behaviors best with humane training methods. She values and believes in the power of relationship-based training and uses it as the core when working with clients and their K9 best friends. Knowing all dogs (and owners!) learn differently she uses training styles that work for the individual dog/owner team, setting every client up for success! She utilizes Mark and Reward based training as she feels this opens up the line of communication between owner and their canine sidekicks, all while speeding up learning!
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Cat has an enthusiastic devotion to keeping current on "all things dog". In doing so she is able to provide an unsurpassed training experience to her clients, while helping their four-legged friends learn how to be well mannered and appropriate. She pursues ongoing continued education by attending seminars throughout the year and keeps current on all new canine literature.
Cat's main focus as a trainer is to help owners and their dogs create lasting bonds. She resonates with and strives to improve the lives of shelter dogs and dogs with behavior issues. Specializing in shelter dogs, reactivity and dogs who lack confidence has given her a well rounded view of the canine world. Through her work with reactivity and aggression, Cat has created a well versed curriculum for dogs of all ages and struggles. In order to help her community reduce adoption returns, aggression and reactivity, Cat focuses strongly on teaching owners how to properly socialize their puppy and has many programs that are designated for shelters and rescue!
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When not training dogs, you'll find Cat spending time with her family camping, hiking or creating art with her daughters. You will also catch her training her horse, clicker training her sugar gliders or rearranging her hedgehog's habitat to mimic his natural environment!
MADDY HALL
KPA-CTP
ENRICHMENT CENTER DAY SCHOOL SUPERVISOR
GROUP CLASS & PRIVATE TRAINING INSTRUCTOR
Maddy’s parents have told her that her love of animals, especially dogs, started before she could speak! She started college in Ely, Minnesota for Wildlife Management and ultimately has been drawn towards dog training and behavior modification. She has been working with people and dogs since 2011 in the form of dog walking, pet sitting, and management in dog boarding.
Early 2019 she began her dog training goals of professionally helping people and their animal companions and earned her KPA-CTP from Karen Pryor Academy.
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She has worked at K9 Wisdom since 2020, and is currently the Enrichment Center Day School Supervisor and enjoys teaches group classes and helping clients through private training.
Maddy is a big dog geek, and enjoys continuing to learn more about dog behavior and training. She is passionate about helping dogs and their people have great relationships with clear communication. She currently shares her life with Charlie, her female German Shepherd and is excited to add another dog to her life as soon as the right dog crosses her path!
KRISTY CRUZ
KPA-CTP
CCDT
GROUP CLASS INSTRUCTOR
Kristy is a devoted mother of six and a grandmother to eleven, proudly owning two cats and one dog named Ruby Sky. Her passion for rescuing animals started at a young age, often saving baby birds that had fallen from trees, aiding butterflies that couldn't fly, and rescuing worms drying up on the ground. Even the flies and moths in the house were gently caught and returned outdoors by her parents at her insistence. As a child, her dream was to become a veterinarian.
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During high school, Kristy focused on business classes and career exploration. She soon realized the less pleasant aspects of being a vet and shifted her path to business and legal studies. At sixteen, she landed her first job doing data entry and had the unique opportunity to work with the Mayor of Fort Collins, entering data on beavers for a published book. Her business skills proved invaluable, enabling her to help open the Alternative Youth Center and assist with structuring the Restorative Justice program.
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As a young adult, Kristy married and started a family, which reignited her interest in the medical field. She decided to return to school and obtain her Certified Medical Assistant certificate, opening new doors for her. She worked at a surgery clinic, as a PCP, and later as a supervisor at Interim Healthcare. This knowledge and experience were also beneficial in her personal life, as she had children with medical needs and aging parents. She chose to end her medical career following the passing of both of her parents in 2019.
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In her 50s, still drawn to the animal world and having faced challenges with her own pets, Kristy enrolled in Catch Canine Trainers Academy and earned her CCDT with honors. The highlight of her training was having Cathie Lee as her mentor. While sitting in Cathie's classes and learning from her team, Kristy found her professional home and has never looked back. Now, she runs both Puppy Kindergarten and Beyond Basics classes. Her goals are to become skilled in working with a variety of clients and return to school to become certified as a Service Dog Trainer.
JENNA ROGERS
DAY SCHOOL PLAYGROUP & ENRICHMENT COORDINATOR
ASSISTANT TRAINER
Jenna’s love for animals began early with her family’s first dog being her ever present companion since birth. This passion and love for the relationship between dogs and their people has only grown through the years pushing her to learn and develop in every aspect of animal welfare.
Jenna has been working in the small animal welfare field for 18+ years. She has a deep passion for the industry and a desire to help pets and their people build a deeper, more meaningful connection.
During her years in the industry she has strived to expand her knowledge and expertise in all things canine. Her time at the Longmont Humane Society gave her the opportunity to explore different methods of behavior modification as well as fine tune her knowledge on animal behavior. She was tasked with behaviorally assessing the cats and dogs in order to place them in the best homes.
Most recently, she comes to us from the Longmont Camp Bow Wow, where she used her knowledge to help build a positive, care driven team. She helped guide and develop their knowledge base on dog socialization and interactions, running successful and safe play groups.
Jenna has 3 dogs of her own and a 5 year old son. She spends her free time outside and adventuring with all of them.
Jenna is constantly learning and striving to be the best possible advocate for her canine friends. This has grown to be a deep seeded passion in teaching and guiding dog owners. She loves not only being able to spend so much time with all the wonderful pups, but jumps at every opportunity to help an owner create a more deep and meaningful relationship with their own pup. She looks forward to continuing this development with the team here at K9 Wisdom Training.
