Meet Our Trainers

Tracey Geddes – CPDT-KA & CTDI 

Tracey is a certified dog trainer with CCPDT as she believes to be a well-rounded trainer you need to have a deep understanding of behaviour. Tracey is known for her problem-solving skills, looking at each dog and handler as individuals and working within their abilities.  She has conducted many private consultations over the years, as she has a passion for problem solving and a strong desire to help clients reach their goals. 

Tracey has competed in agility for over 20 years training multiple breeds from an Akita to Papillons to two Malinois, a Mudi and just added a Border/Pap puppy! Tracey is a multiple AAC Regional winner and National Winner with her Papillon Twist and with her Malinois Trinity. She competes in AAC, CKC, and UKI. Her passion is agility but she’s also ventured into other dog sports; Rally, Conformation, Dock Diving, and Herding. She is looking forward to competing in Scent very soon!

Tracey is always continuing her education, whether it be agility or behaviour as she wants to keep up with what’s new and ever changing in the world of dogs! As one of the owners of Marvel Dog Training Academy she wants to provide the clients with a positive environment filled with experienced and certified trainers to make everyone feel they have the very best trainers to support their journey!

Kim Philipoff

Kim has been training and working with dogs for over 15 years, and believes that every dog no matter the breed has the ability to learn and develop new skills.  Kim has trained and competed in a variety of dog sports. Her dog’s have earned titles in Agility, Flyball, Rally Obedience, Scent (Nose work), Barn Hunt, Scent Hurdle and Tricks. She also spent some time performing with the President’s Choice Superdogs and instructed classes at the Superdog Spectrum for many years. Along with training and teaching she has fostered numerous puppies for local rescues. 

Kim currently lives with a variety of breeds and appreciates the diverse training styles’ that each breed requires. She also has a background in education, which can be very beneficial when helping others train their puppies/dogs. She understands that a one style fits all approach, does not always work. Kim also enjoys expanding her training knowledge by participating in classes and seminars with her own dogs.

Most importantly Kim believes that training a puppy/dog should be a fun and enjoyable experience, for both the human and puppy/dog. 

Becky Vantassel – CPDT-KA

Becky is dedicated to training dogs through fun, play, and engagement. She has been training dogs professionally since 2020, and loves to work with a variety of breeds. Dogs have been part of her life since she was a small child. She successfully competes in agility with her Great Dane and French Bulldog. These unconventional dogs have expanded her knowledge as a trainer and handler and has ignited her passion for dog sports. She currently lives with an eclectic group of dogs including her Great Dane, Bull Mastiff, French Bulldog, and Border Terrier.

Becky also has a Master’s degree in Adult Education and has over 20 years of experience teaching adults. This allows her to bring skills and expertise to training the human end of the leash! She endeavors to keep training fun and full of humor and works to create a safe and supportive environment for both the dogs and the people.

Alysa Lindberg – CTDI

Alysa has been working with dogs for over 15 years. She herself has owned a variety of breeds from Pit Bulls to Border Collies. Alysa owns the Aftershock Flyball team and has competed at the CanAm Classic (The North American Flyball Championships) with her own dogs. Alysa is also a regular cast member on the President’s Choice Superdogs Performance Team, travelling all over the country performing with her dogs. 

​Alysa is a talented flyball instructor, trick and freestyle trainer and also enjoys Rally Obedience, Nosework and Mushing with her dogs.

Sandy Hovey – CPDT-KA

Sandy grew up in the country where dogs and horses were part of the family lifestyle. She actively competed in multiple horse disciplines from a young age and showed across North America.

Over the past few years, she has switched her focus to competing primarily in agility with her dogs. Sandy shares her home with 2 dogs, Jade a (4.5 yr. old) French bull dog X and Grit a (2 yr. old) Border Collie.  Together they have participated in a variety of different dogs sports including: agility, disc dog, rally, barn hunt and nose work.

Sandy actively competes in AAC agility, CARO Rally and CKC Rally.  She has trialed Jade to multiple master level titles in AAC. In 2018, Jade won her first AAC Regional Championship and qualified for Nationals. Jade has also earned CKC and CARO Rally titles.

Jade proves that you don’t need a “stereo typical” agility breed to be successful. With her young dog Grit, she earned their CARO Novice MCL title at the age of 13 months. Grit is currently trialing at an advanced level in AAC. Continuing education is important to Sandy and she regularly attends seminars and participates in online courses with Sarah Stremming, Kathy Keats, Jessica Patterson, Tamas Traj, and Suzanne Boldt among others. Her hope is to continue to learn and grow her knowledge in the sport of agility.

Sandy loves to support and teach new teams in agility and to watch the human/dog relations develop, as new skills are learned.

Candice Malvin

Candice has been competing in agility for longer than she hasn’t been! Starting off as a junior handler with her bichon-cross Cassy and border collies Skid and Trick, Candice successfully competed in NADAC for many years. She earned numerous NATCHs, won multiple Championships (including Super Stakes Division) along with becoming the 7th dog/handler team in North America to earn a Purple MOD SQUAD for her distance work with Skid.

Since returning from university in Montana while earning her Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Candice has focused primarily on international style agility with her border collies Fawkes, Rodeo and Skor. In 2020, Candice & Fawkes earned a Wild Card spot to compete at WAO in Amsterdam, but unfortunately, they were unable to compete as the event was canceled due to Covid.  Candice, Fawkes & Rodeo competed for Team Canada at the 2022 European Open & Border Collie Classic events held in Belgium. Candice enjoys working with European presenters and has been lucky enough to be coached by Dave Munnings, Enya Habel, Daniel Schroder, Nina Gregl, Lisa Frick, Polona Bonac & Manca Mikec. She has a keen interest to bring a more European agility style to Canada as she works on becoming a UKI Agility Judge!

Ashley Miller – CPDT-KA

Ashley’s love for animals has always been a driving force in her life. She trained and competed in equestrian show jumping and worked with local animal rescue organizations to care for dogs and find them their forever homes. Eventually, Ashley added her first dog Nash, a Shepherd mix to her home. Together they have tried a variety of sports including, scent detection, dock diving and competition obedience before focusing and actively competing in agility. After being a one dog household for four years, Ashley added a Belgian Malinois named Ryn. Together they are actively training to one day compete in agility and rally obedience. 

Ashley has been training dogs professionally since 2019 and is a CPDT KA certified dog trainer. She has experience teaching group classes, private lessons and board and trains. She loves working with a variety of dogs and is passionate about making training fun and engaging for the dog. She takes great joy in working closely with dog owners, helping them establish a strong and beautiful relationship with their furry companions.

Jamila Mancini – CPDT-KA

Jamila’s journey with dogs began in 2010 when she welcomed her first golden retriever, Joey, into her life. This heartfelt bond ignited her passion for canine companionship and inspired her to pursue a career in dog training. In 2017, she turned that passion into a profession.

While managing a boarding facility, Jamila also graduated from Animal Behaviour College, as well as achieving her CPDT-KA certification, equipping her with the knowledge and skills to help dogs and their owners thrive together. Since then, she has trained dogs in various settings, from engaging group classes to personalized one-on-one sessions. Jamila’s experience also includes working with guide dogs, where she honed her ability to tailor training to meet the unique needs of each dog.

Jamila has two dog’s of her own, Jaxson a golden retriever who competes in conformation, rally, and scent detection and Sadie a formerly reactive rescue who loves scent detection and agility for fun!

Pauline Baldwin

Pauline has owned, bred, trained, showed and loved several breeds of dogs for over 35 years. She has mainly owned Newfoundlands, as well as a Cairn Terrier, Parsons Russell Terrier, two Shetland Sheepdogs and four Golden Retrievers.

Pauline’s passion for dogs has kept her busy over the years competing in; Conformation, Obedience, Agility, Water, Draft, Rally, Tracking, Go to ground, WC tests, Hunt tests, and Herding. Pauline has shown dogs in several different Countries and is currently a Judge for Water and Draft tests. Pauline’s passion has always been in Obedience, placing in the Top Ten all breeds with both Shelties and three of her Goldens. However, Pauline has found a new love; Agility, and in just a couple of years has succeeded in getting a CKC MATCH title on her first trained agility dog, with several titles on her Newfoundland and her current Goldens, (Teal and Raptor) are well on their way to their Agility Champions! 

Kristi Malone

Kristi began training and competing with dogs as a teenager over 20 years ago. She has competed in agility, obedience, rally, flyball and protection sports. Her current dogs include Ransom (now retired) who began his career in protection sports earning his PSA 1, at two years old. He then moved to focusing on obedience achieving multiple High in Trials, a perfect 200 score and his OTCH. Ransom also trains and competes in agility for fun and has competed in flyball and has done several shows with the Super Dogs. Kristi’s Belgian Malinois Chili is actively competing in agility, obedience and rally.

Kristi loves problem solving using creative, fun training to bring out the best in each individual dog. Kristi is very passionate about training in a way that creates the best possible relationship and connection between handler and dog.

Janet Ooms

Janet has been involved with dogs and dog sports for most of her life. She has competed successfully with her Cocker Spaniels in Conformation, Obedience, Flyball and Agility. She is a multi-venue competitor in agility, and has competed in NADAC, USDAA, CKC and AAC events. She has been a Pro Dog Trainer with Absolute Dogs since 2017 and is passionate about the games-based approach to training that Absolute Dogs provides. Janet is also a founding member of the Spruce Meadows Prairie Dogs performance team.

She is the owner of the Calgary Canine Centre and has been a NADAC Agility Judge since its inception in 1995. She competed in, and won, her division at the NADAC Championships in 2000 and 2008 and placed in the top 3 overall multiple years including 2nd place overall in 2012. Janet bred American Cocker Spaniels for over 30 years and currently resides in a house full of Cocker Spaniels, three American Cocker Spaniels and one fun, crazy Working English Cocker Spaniel she imported from the UK at 9 weeks of age.

Kathy Schneider

Kathy was introduced to scent detection 8 years ago with her Golden Retriever Tavin. When an opportunity arose to learn more and to teach foundation nose work she jumped at the chance. From there, she started taking classes and then apprenticed under Shanna Chynoweth who owns Dawg Gone Good. 

Kathy also enjoys on line and in person seminars and workshops, she is currently working on becoming a certified nose work instructor with the National Association of Canine Scent Work. She competes with her present Golden Retriever Troeigh in SDDA (Elite) UKC (Superior) and C-WAGS (Level 4) she has also received 3 Ace titles in C-WAGS and is working towards her Championship in SDDA. Kathy hopes to soon compete in CKC and NACSW, she also competes in Rally and has titles in Cynosport.

Irene Schneider

Irene has been involved with the nosework community for the past 10 years. She actively competes with her own dog Kennah at the excellent/elite level. She has earned titles in 6 different organizations (CKC, UKC, SDDA, CWAGS, K9ABC and NACSW. Irene is also a CWAGS scent judge and is actively involved with hosting and organizing CWAGS trials in Calgary.

Irene enjoys expanding her own knowledge through seminars and online learning. She is a nosework instructor/enthusiast and enjoys instructing all levels of nosework. Her passion for nosework is evident in her instruction and she enjoys watching her students learn and develop their skills.