About Me
Hi, My name is Katie Bickett. I have always been an animal lover. I started working with animals when I was 7 years old. I rode horses and competed in jumpers on the A circuit and also competed in eventing and dressage competitions. Along the way, and without any formal training, I trained all of the family dogs. They would come to the stable with me and hold a stay while I rode. When I was done, I would call them into the arena so they could have fun running around.
In 2007, I attended Animal Behavior College to become a certified trainer. I worked for Kristen Phillips at Advances in Animal Behavior (Pawsitively Heaven) for almost 15 years. As the head trainer, I taught Puppy K, Adolescent Obedience, Basic 1 Obedience, Basic 2 Obedience, Rally Obedience, Beginner Agility to Competitive Agility, basic privates to behavior problem privates, board and train dogs, come when called classes and I did house calls. In 2021, I became an AKC Canine Good Citizen evaluator, Puppy Star evaluator, Urban Canine Good Citizen evaluator, AKC Community Canine evaluator and an AKC Trick Dog evaluator. I have also trialed my dogs and achieved titles in in AKC agility, CPE agility and APDT Rally Obedience. My family is very important so I'm not competing as much as I would like to. When the kids are older, I plan to go back to trialing on a more regular basis. My kids learned at a young age about how to treat the dogs. They learned how to ask the dogs for important commands like stay, come, leave it, go to the mat and more. They also do chores for the dogs like cleaning up the yard, feeding and walking the dogs. I feel like it's important that the kids and dogs to have a bond, My favorite part of dog training is the connection between the dog and the owner. I love explaining how both the dog and the handler's body language communicate to get the behavior the handler wants. With patience, understanding and positivity, you could have a great dog. I have had so many amazing dogs in my life. Bucket, Daisy, Tippy, Zeko, Zena and my big boy Mac have all crossed the rainbow bridge. Each dog has helped me become a better dog trainer. I currently have two dogs. Molly is a 17-year-old Pit mix. She has taught me so much. When I first adopted Molly from AWL, she was the only dog not barking. Well, she must of lost her voice while there. She had the most obnoxious, high-pitched bark that she used frequently. She was full of anxiety and very aggressive to other dogs. With positive training she became a great dog. I couldn't ask for a better dog for my kids to grow up with. She is my first agility dog and she made me look good. Always covered my mistakes when I messed up. Molly learned tricks in minutes. One of my favorite tricks is riding a skateboard. She is of course retired for agility but still a very active for her age. I got Lady when she was one from a previous client who didn't have time for her. I was extremely happy to take her home since I already trained her. She was a pretty rowdy dog. Before I trained her, she was kicked out of all social groups for being very excited and very annoying to the other dogs. After training she was able to play with the rowdy group and the quieter group of dogs. I feel like all she was looking for was mental stimulation to become a good dog. Lady has competed a few times in agility. I'm hoping to find some time to get her back on the field this year. It's very important to me that the owners are happy with my training. I love starting at the beginning and I love a good challenge. I put a lot of love, thought and patience into each dog I train. |