Dog Trainers
Claudia Romard
Claudia has helped pets and their people learn the ins and outs of dog agility and obedience at Gardner Animal Care Center since 2007. Claudia is originally from Germany where she started training dogs competitively in 1985. Since she was just a little girl, Claudia's favorite breed has been the German Shepherd Dog. Even so many years later, she still is a faithful friend of the breed.
After she moved to the United States in 2002, she immediately started giving pet obedience classes. Besides normal training classes, Claudia specializes in problem behavior dogs and has helped many humans better understand their four-legged friends.
Claudia and her husband have a 7 year old son share their home with two sable German Shepherd companions. Claudia competed actively in a sport called Schutzhund, the "triathlon for dogs," which incorporates tracking, obedience and protection (similar to the skills used by police dogs). Claudia and her husband are closely involved in the training of police K9s.
Rachel Brostrom, CPDT-KA
Rachel has been training and showing dogs for nearly 20 years. She is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, and a Certified Canine Good Citizen evaluator through the American Kennel Club. Rachel is also a trial representative and judge for APDT Rally and a Professional Member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers.
Rachel's competitive spirit, interest in training and showing, and love for dogs began as a child. Over the past 10 years, Rachel and her dogs have focused on Agility with Abby (1994-2008), Maximus, Kobe and Libby earning well over 100 agility titles. She currently competes in the highest levels of agility with her dogs and continues to love the sport! Her dogs are also titled obedience, rally obedience and herding competitors.
Rachel believes in building teamwork using positive reinforcement with both dogs and their owners! She finds that agility is a wonderful avenue for enriching the relationship between dogs and their owners, plus it's fun and great exercise! Rachel's past and current agility clients compete in all levels of agility in a variety of venues.
Rachel holds a Bachelor's Degree in Biology and Secondary Education, and a Masters degree in Education. A former high school teacher, she is currently staying at home with her human children, taking time to teach classes for Gardner Animal Care Center and the Monadnock Humane Society.