Dogs and their people -

trisch

Amanda saw something special in my Walter when he arrived at the SPCA & selected him for a program to learn his basic skills while working with at risk kids. He graduated in the top 5 of his class. After Walter & I became a family we continued to work with Amanda & learned to be a team by having fun! We played our way to better communication & learned a long list of advanced skills along the way. Amanda is the most creative problem solver I have ever met. Her intuitive understanding of dogs & their needs is beyond comparison. If you & your pupper need help, you will find no one better than Amanda.

Laura Kelley

We have worked with Amanda for over ten years with different dogs—some for behavior training some for agility and reactivity. In 2018, we adopted a 1 1/2-year-old cattle dog from rescue. When we got him home, we realized he had a high prey drive and wanted to go after our senior cat. We felt the introduction was unfair and stressful for our senior cat, and we’re considering returning him to the rescue. Amanda stepped in and helped us by teaching the dog impulse control and creating a safe zone for the cat. It took some work, but they coexisted well until the cat passed two years later. It has been five years, and that dog, Roon, is a well-adjusted dog who camps, hikes, and adventures with us. Thank you, Amanda; we would have missed out on this great dog if not for you.

Jim Johns

We trained with Amanda for about one year with our reactive rescue dog, Auggie. It made the difference between keeping Auggie isolated and always on leash to allowing her to run off leash in public parks. That made a huge improvement on her quality of life. Amanda was great and I’m very grateful to her.

Susan Allen

Amanda has this ability to read a dog and their person and devise a training plan that facilitates communication and a stronger bond. She makes the classes enjoyable and entertaining, while unloading a ton of great suggestions, information and insights, in a kind and gentle way.
My completely untrainable wild beast of a dog was walking on-leash sweetly next to Amanda's dog and I was shocked and amazed. Bunny was uncomfortable around all dogs, but Amanda never gave up on us, even when I did.
Amanda mixes encouragement with an understanding of both people and animals. Her years at the SPCA and the thousands of dogs and cats she helped, along with their people, are a testament to her skills.
And I have yet to meet an animal or human that doesn't love Amanda!

Barbara Gicquel

Amanda is the person I met at the SPCA when I first went there with a pet issue. The second time I met her was for Puppy Class with Simba. She introduced Simba and the other pups to Agility obstacles at our last class, and Simba took to them like a duck to water. That was the beginning of a relationship I will remember for the rest of my life. She started working with me and Simba and we continued to work together until Simba and I were doing extremely well at Agility Trials. She made learning easy and fun. She’s great at making positives happen.

During this I rescued another dog, Lucy, who had profound aggressive behaviors toward small dogs and profound fear of large ones. Amanda tackled this issue head on and dealt with both sides of Lucy’s issue fully and successfully.

Amanda was skilled and knowledgeable in her role as head behaviorist at the SPCA of Monterey County. I was devastated when she and her family moved to Chico. She was so central here, where I still live. I have a new pup now. He has all the ingredients that could see him growing into a very talented Agility Dog. Only thing missing is Amanda. My loss and the SPCA of Monterey’s loss, is Chico’s gain.

Gina Cat