Trainers

Julie Noyes: Chief Trainer

Our chief trainer and the developer of our methodology is Julie Noyes. Julie has enjoyed training dogs for over a decade and will work with you and your family on canine obedience and socialization. She offers comprehensive training for your service dog, working with many families to train their dogs basic obedience all the way through service dog status. Her experience and instinctive gift with scent dogs provides our clients with knowledge that they are receiving their dog from a trusted and well practiced source for service dogs.

Julie is a member of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and has experience in several areas, including search and rescue dogs, wilderness search dogs, cadaver dogs (one of a handful in the USA), and is a FEMA evaluator. She is a level 1 certified handler and an evaluator for those wishing to become FEMA canine handlers.

Julie was deployed to the World Trade Center in September 2001 to assist with the aftermath at Ground Zero. Her cadaver dog, Hoke, successfully found a number of firefighters under several feet of rubble. She has been deployed to many national disaster sites, including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Her accomplishments have taken years of scent work and hundreds of hours training multiple dogs. She is considered by FEMA as one of their top handlers in the country and is extremely respected by other handlers. She has a wonderful working relationship with several breeders whom she trusts to help her pick a dog that is eager to work and has the perfect temperament for a family. If after working with the dog (puppy), she decides the dog will not perform perfectly as a service dog, she will ask the breeder to take back the puppy and find a dog that will meet her high expectations.

Jean Upton: Family Coordinator

Jeannie, Julie's sister, has been in the training industry for many years. She assists in the basic and initial scent training of the dogs. Her primary responsibility is to the families, helping them learn how to hone the skills of their dog and to create an environment at home for the dog and its owner to grow together. This is an important step as the dog's training must be constantly reinforced through specific games and training exercises.