Donna’s formal work with dogs began in the summer of 2002 as a volunteer at the ASPCA in New York City. In addition to volunteering, she hoped to gain experience to one day be prepared to care for a dog of her own.
At the time, Donna lived alone and commuted to Manhattan where she worked as an education associate at the International Center of Photography. In the autumn, circumstances hadn’t changed much, but Donna had met and fallen in love with a three-year-old German Shepherd who’d arrived at the shelter as a humane law enforcement case after legal seizure from a neglectful and physically abusive owner. Donna took the dog home a short time later and named her Sammy.
Donna returned to volunteer at the ASPCA several years later and was deployed to Kentucky with the Field and Investigation Team to work on one of the largest puppy mill raid cases to date. She was also an active volunteer in the dog enrichment program for the Guiding Eyes for the Blind in Yorktown, NY, and worked at Pet Rescue in Harrison, NY, and The Humane Society of Westchester (HSW) in New Rochelle, NY, as a volunteer trainer in their ‘train to adopt’ program.
In 2013, Donna completed an eighteen-month course of study with the Northeast Regional Dog Trainer’s Academy (NRDTA) run by Bobbie Bhambree, Founder & Director of DogCentric Training & Behavior and HSW’s former head trainer. Currently, she volunteers 4-12 hours a week with CPR (Companion Pet Rescue) in Southbury, CT.
At the Humane Society of Westchester, Donna often taught the ‘What Every Shelter Dog Should Know’ (AKA Dog training 101) class as well as the monthly Green Dot, Dog Walking classes for junior, adult, and family volunteers. She joined DogCentric Training as an associate from 2015-2017 and now provides private training and puppy socialization and manners classes.
In an ongoing quest to expand her knowledge of training skills and dog behavior, she is a regular attendee of lectures and workshops. She completed Sue Sternberg’s Instructor Training Course (ITC) at the Rondout Valley Animals for Adoption facility in Accord, NY in the summer of 2015 and Suzanne Clothier’s ITC program in 2016.
