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Meet the Training Team at My Dog's Place

Marge Lineweber - Owner / Manager / Instructor

Since childhood, Marge Lineweber’s life has been filled with animals. She was raised with an assortment of animals from reptiles, rabbits, sheep, and horses to dogs and cats. Marge’s love and respect for animals lead her to work in a veterinary practice, where she served as a veterinary technician for over 5 years. Her passion for dog training was realized when her Gordon Setter Java helped her find positive reinforcement training. While fulfilling Java’s love for socializing through doggie daycare at My Dog’s Place, Marge began to learn that dog training without force was possible, and the world of positive reinforcement training opened up to her and Java. Marge began to soak up all she could about positive training by reading books, taking classes, attending seminars, and apprenticing with established trainers. She does believe that the greatest teachers of all have been her dogs, “they tell us everything we need to know about training, we just need to listen."

Marge now shares her life with Fyssher (an Irish Red and White Setter), Derby (a Red Irish Setter), River (an Australian Shepherd), Noodle (a Pointer Mix), Pike (an Australian Shepherd), and Kade (a Gordon Setter). Together they enjoy agility, water sports, frisbee, flyball, pet therapy, rally obedience, scent, and search work, but most of all just the pleasure of each other's company. Her previous dogs were Java (a Gordon Setter), Summit (an English Setter), and Ares (an Australian Shepherd) who were instrumental in bringing Marge to dog training and changing the course of her life. They are both greatly missed and lovingly remembered every day.

Marge has owned and managed My Dog’s Place since 2002. She is very closely involved in the day to day activities of the business; conducting daycare interviews, training and supervising staff, setting class schedules and curriculums, and handling client communications. As one of the facilities instructors, Marge enjoys all aspects of positive reward training with dogs. She teaches Puppy Kindergarten, Basic Manners, Beyond Basics, Canine Good Citizen, Retrieving, Scent work, Thinking Dog, Basic Frisbee Skills, and Canine Water Sports.

Marge is a professional member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, a Certified Pet Dog Trainer, an AKC approved Canine Good Citizen Evaluator, a founding member of Canine Water Sports as well as a Canine Water Sports Judge and a Certified Professional Animal Care Provider.

Get in touch with My Dog's Place today!

Kristie Foss - Instructor

Instructor Kristie Foss has owned and trained her own dogs for over 30 years and has been teaching at My Dog’s Place since 2002. Currently, she is owned by three Australian Shepherds, Kemu, Kiri, and Yuki. She is a proponent of positive training techniques and uses clickers for both training and modifying behaviors. Kristie gets special satisfaction from training both dogs and their handlers in agility. Her training interests include tricks, obedience, agility, and general manners. Dogs of the past: Beloved Kobi and Teka. Kobi often visited classrooms demonstrating obedience and tricks, she accumulated many agility titles and was a Canine Good Citizen.

Kristie also has experience and special interest regarding dogs with behavior problems and has attended numerous training seminars and workshops on related topics. Her dog Teka taught Kristie the importance of patience and persistence.

Linda Caplan - Instructor

Linda Caplan, the owner of Freedom Hills Dog Training, has been a trainer in the dog industry her whole life. She currently shares her life with three Weimaraners – Tahlie, Kapri, and Aria and is very active in the breed ring and involved with breeding AKC Weimaraners.

Linda has seen the dog training industry evolve over the years. Starting as a traditional correction based trainer, she changed to positive methods in the mid-nineties and continues to use force-free methods based on scientific research.

Instructing at My Dog’s Place since 2006, her classes include Puppy Kindergarten, Basic Manners, Beyond Basics, Relationship Training Games, Out and About, Canine Good Citizen, and breed handling. Linda also trains privately in the client’s home with dogs that aren’t ready for class, have issues specific to the home setting, dogs that are too fearful or anxious to learn in a group setting or have behavior issues that need to be addressed on an individual basis. She also works with assistance dogs and has trained dogs for people that are physically challenged, epileptic, autistic, and PTSD.

Linda has a BA from Simmons College, is a certified Canine Good Citizen Evaluator, a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, Pet Professional Guild, and the Weimaraner Club of America.

Jennifer Saindon CPDT KA - General Manager / Instructor

Jennifer is a longtime animal lover. Her passion for dog training was sparked 16 years ago when she rescued two Siberian Huskies. Jennifer has volunteered with Cathy’s Rottie Rescue and CT Animal House. She’s fostered over a dozen dogs, and also trains adoptable dogs. Outside of her volunteer work, Jennifer has worked at 2 doggie daycare facilities, in the daycare yards, as a grooming assistant, and has pet sitting and dog walking.

Jenn started at MDP as an instructor in 2016 and became our General Manager in the spring of 2017. She’s a Certified Professional Dog Trainer, CGC evaluator and an ADPT member. Jenn has been training dogs since 2011, in basic and intermediate obedience classes as a positive reinforcement obedience trainer. She is currently teaching puppy kindergarten, basic manners, beyond basics, tricks & games, canine good citizen and focused fido She has three dogs of her own, a Chihuahua Big Papi, a pit mix Athena, and an Australian Shepherd Siggy.

Max Graham - Instructor

Max has always wanted to work with dogs ever since he was young. He has now fulfilled his dream of spending his days and some evenings with dogs and their owners helping them achieve a fun, obedient life together.

Max teaches Puppy Kindergarten and Basic Manners, and he runs several of our Puppy and adolescent social groups.

Max currently shares his life with Diesel a Pitbull Terrier. Together they visit schools and hospitals as a Pet Partners Therapy Dog Team.