Nicole grew up training dogs and horses for her family and friends. After graduating from college with a double major in marketing and advertising, she took a position at a large dog training facility as a daycare manager and worked her way up to head trainer.
Nicole switched her focus to animal behavior in a shelter environment in 2005, when she joined Animal Friends, a no-kill organization based in Pittsburgh.
Between 2008 and 2012, Nicole worked for the Pennsylvania SPCA as the Director of Animal Behavior and Training. In this role, Nicole specialized in retraining and rehabilitating fighting pit bulls and helping them adjust to life as family pets.
From 2011 to 2016, Nicole worked for New Leash on Life-USA as the Director of Behavior. Her responsibilities included developing curriculum, speaking at conferences and events on behalf of the organization, and working hands-on with inmates and their rescued dogs.
From 2011 to 2021, Nicole taught the shelter behavior residency at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine.
Nicole remains active in animal rescue as a clinician and contractor at several area shelters.
Training Philosophy
Nicole believes that dogs – like people – learn best when they’re having fun! That’s why she practices results-oriented positive reinforcement training with a focus on building the bond between you and your dog. Her goal is to set you both up for success!
Services
Philly Unleashed offers a variety of services, including:
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Group Classes:
Puppy Kindergarten, Level 1 Obedience, Level 2 Obedience, All Levels Obedience, Trail Time, Intro to Agility, Agility Course Skills, Canine Good Citizen & Therapy Dog Prep, Dogs With Attitude, DWA 2, Recall Bootcamp, Rally Obedience, Shy Dog, City Dog
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Private Lessons:
Puppy Jumpstart Package, Basic Obedience Package, Behavior Modification Package, Virtual Lessons
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Farmcamp:
Farmcamp Vacations, Board and Train
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Behavior Walks
Certifications
Certification Counsel for Professional Dog Trainers – Board Member
New Leash on Life – Director of Animal Training and Programming
Chester County SPCA – Development of Behavior Programming
Animal Behavior College-Dog Training Mentor and Instructor
CATCH Canine Trainers Academy – Training Mentor
Pennsylvania SPCA- Director of Animal Behavior and Training
American College of Applied Sciences-Animal Behavior Residency Instructor
Yale School-Developed curriculum for an Animal Assisted Therapy Programming
Humane Society of the United States-Campaign to End Dogfighting Trainer
Jersey Mike’s Subs-Selected, trained, and implemented a service dog for a young boy
University Of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine- Development and teaching of shelter behavior rotation
American Kennel Club-Canine Good Citizen Evaluator
Specializations
Puppy Development & Behavior, Leash Reactivity & Dog Aggression, Separation Anxiety, Fears, Phobias & Anxious Behavior, Aggression Towards People, Intra-household Aggression, Cat Behavior, Dog Sports, Tricks & Agility
Training Methods
Positive reinforcement training
Customer Reviews
“We have had our Double Doodle in puppy class and it was great. Sophie also has had private classes to work on her specific issues. Nicole is brilliant in finding solutions and tweaking our behavior for an obedient dog. Successful training from a very skilled and understanding group.”
- Nancy S. & Sophie
“We have been taking agility class with Nicole and Philly Unleashed for just about a year now. Our dog is a rescue border collie mix with some fear issues, and doing agility is an awesome way to build up his confidence. We had taken agility lessons for many years before we moved to Philadelphia, and we were anxious to get started again.
Nicole was wonderfully welcoming, and zeroed in on our dog’s skill level and training style in about two seconds. She manages to find the delicate balance between challenging our nervous guy while making sure he doesn’t get too stressed. For example, he was never able to do the full-height teeter totter obstacle before (it moves and makes loud noises). We had been working on it for ages before we came here. Nicole had him fearlessly zooming over it in no time! She is also really understanding of his fear of other dogs (which can make him a little reactive), and is great about making sure we structure class when other dogs are there so that they don’t have to interact. And when they do see one another, it’s highly controlled and is used as a training situation to help him see other dogs without barking. The extra steps she takes to give us and our dog a stress-free and enjoyable experience are evidence to us of how much she cares about each individual dog and his/her needs.”
–Morgan E. & Hoth
“So happy to have a great trainer like Nicole. When we adopted a nervous reactive dog we didn’t know how to train her. What Nicole taught us was valuable. Our dog was super smart, we were the ones who had to be trained to understand her. 5 years latter . . . Kirin is every dog sitter’s favorite, her favorite game is tricks and treats especially with kids who will give her treats for any trick. She is so good we bring her everywhere, on planes, trains and automobiles all across US and Canada. Thank you for helping us understand Kirin.”
–Ange B. & Kirin
Social Media Links
Check us out on Instagram
Media Appearances
A number of local and national television shows have featured Nicole, including Animal Cops: Philadelphia; Animal Planet’s: Dogfighting Exposed; National Geographic Network’s show ‘What Breed Am I?’
Many publications have featured her work, including The Dodo and the Wall Street Journal.
