Our Trainers
All of our classes are staffed by highly qualified professional trainers. Our trainers off.er experience with all breeds of dogs. They are truly interested in you and your dog.

Dave Signorotti
Novice


Dave has been training dogs for over 25 years. He has been working for SCDTC as a trainer or assistant trainer for more than 12 years. He has earned titles with his dogs in obedience, rally and scent work. His other interests are golf, hiking and fishing.

His current dog is a Labrador retriever, Top Dog’s Red Bluff Rising NW1

Dave's dogs include:

J Jamaica’s Gem CDX RAE; Gunsmoke’s Storm A Brewing UD; Sharays Same Day Air CDX; Hightest Firing On All Cylinders BN RN NW3

Wendy Silveira
Rally Novice\Intermediate
Rally Advanced\Excellent\Masters

Wendy hails from South Africa where she began her love affair with dog training with her beloved Rough Collie, Rob Roy.

Moving to America she started training in Rally when it was still a non-regular class. Her passion for Rally was born with Chelsea, a spirited red field Golden who excelled in the Rally ring, As a team they epitomized the spirit of Rally: having fun in the ring and making it look easy. Sadly Chelsea lost her battle to Cancer when she was not yet 5.

Having fallen in love with Goldies, Wendy acquired her second golden from an excellent working line and went on to obtain her RE with Kelly Ann, a lovely blonde golden. Bitten by the Obedience bug, she has gone on to obtain Kelly's CD and is working on her Open title. Kelly's joie de Vie makes her an ideal dog for doggie dancing (Canine freestyle), which has become another passion of Wendy's.

In 2010 Kelly Ann was bred and Janey Full of Promise came into the world. Wendy is presently working on Rally with Janey. With her RN under her 'collar', Janey is living up to her name!

Wendy has judged Rally at all levels at numerous fun matches. As a long time English teacher, she enjoys interacting with her doggy students and imbuing them with her enthusiasm, passion and knowledge of dog training.

Dick Symons
Drop-In Conformation
Dick has been involved in training and exhibiting dogs for more than 40 years. Since his retirement from IBM as a programming analyst, he has really gone to the dogs - conformation, obedience, tracking, agility, herding, and pet assisted therapy!!! He is an experienced conformation and obedience trainer, Therapy Dogs International (TDI) evaluator, and a Mixed Breed Obedience and Tracking judge.

He admits that the capabilities (brains, beauty, alertness, energy) of his Belgian Tervuren far exceed his. He questions who is teaching who - "I teach them the human games and they teach me Life."

Dick and his wife (Sue) have four grown daughters and are proud grandparents to eight. The Sue/Dick team have shown in the US, Canada, Bermuda, and Mexico earning over 165 titles.

Symons' dogs include:

CH CT Cinema Angel Marjii Sylmons - UD, AX, AXJ, XF, HT, CGC, TDIRVA
Symons' Treasure Jessi - TD, NA, NAJ, NF, TDI

Belgian Tervuren of the past:
CH Hilton's Tammi Symons - CD
Int Ch Starwind's Jessi Symons - UDT, HT, CGC, TDI, C-O-P, BAR
Ch Symons' Treasure Dixxi - UDT, HS, CGC, TDIA
Ch Symons' Treasure Jeff - UDT, PT, CGC, TDI
Ch Symons' Treasure Jenni - UDT, TT, HIC, CGC, TDI
Symons' Treasure Discovered - CDX, Dagger
Ch Symons' Treasure Harbor Light - VCD1, PT, CGC, TT, TDIA, Toro
Symons' Treasure Francci - CD, CGC, TDI
Ch CT Symons' Treasure Izzi - UD, OA, OAJ, PT, CGC, TT, TDIAOV
Ch Symons' Treasure Kurtiss - UD TD, OA, OAJ, PT, CGC and TDIAOV

Lynn Buck
Novice, Open, Utility

Lynn Buck has been competing in AKC Obedience Trials for 43 years. She has owned 20 dogs: Two Great Danes, two Golden Retrievers, 1 Labrador Retriever, and 15 Border Collies.

Her first obedience trial was with her male Great Dane. He went on to earn his UD by the age of 3 years. He was a consistent qualifier throughout his show career with scores of 196.5 and ranked number one for his breed. He competed in Gaines Super Dog in the Super Dog Division. He qualified after competing in the first day of the two day event showing twice in Open and twice in Utility.

Her dogs have achieved 4 Obedience Trial Championships (one Lab and 3 Border Collies)

4th place Gaines Super Dog with her Labrador

1st place Gaines Open Division with her male Border Collie.

4th place Cycle Utility Division with her female Border Collie.

She put the first Utility title on a Clumber Spaniel in the history of the breed.

Nationally ranked in Delaney and Shuman systems

Multiple High in Trials, High Combines and 200 score.

Multiple UD’s, UDX’s and Obedience Master 8

Her students have achieved Obedience Trial Championships, multiple High in Trials, High Combines and national rankings. She has privately trained students for competition in 44 different breeds.

John Strassner
Scent Work

John is a natural teacher. He is a tenured professor in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science, and has been training dogs for over 5 years. John is an AKC Scent Work judge (qualified at all levels), as well as a judge in SDS (Sniffing Dog Sports) and USCSS (United States Canine Scent Sports). He has taught Scent Work for both competition-orientated teams as well as teams that just want to have fun and enjoy the sport.

John excels at:

  • Getting handlers to know their dog – when their dog is in odor vs. when they are engaged in something else
  • Increasing drive in their dog
  • Understanding some basic science of how odor moves and travels
  • Understanding how to set hides that test specific skills
  • Understanding how to problem-solve as a team
  • Understanding how to compete successfully (e.g., assess the challenges of a search area, including environmental factors and time limit)

John and his wife Kim have two Shetland Sheepdogs that excel in a number of sports. However, their favorite is, of course, Scent Work. Lance is the oldest (6 years), and is currently the #1 ranked Sheltie in the nation in AKC Scent Work. He is the only Sheltie to have a full Scent Work Excellent title (meaning that he has titled at that level in containers, interiors, exteriors, and buried hides), and has his Master’s title in all elements except buried hides, where he needs 2 Qs. Lance is also the newest Sheltie to have achieved his Versatility Championship (less than 30 Shelties have done this in the past 15 years!). Gwen is 18 months, but already has her Scent Work Advanced title, and two Scent Work Excellent titles (one in Containers, and one in Interiors). She is currently ranked #3 in the nation in Shelties.

VTCH Chisterling Sir Lancelot II RN PT CAA BCAT SWE SCM SIM SEM SHDN RATM CZ8PB CGC TKA ELT1 L1C L1E L1I LIV NJC TN-N SDS-AP

Fallcreek Camelot’s Lady Guinevere CA BCAT SWA SCE SIE SHDA RATN CGC TKI

Madeline Becker
Scent Work

Madeline was born and raised in San Jose where she attended San Jose State University and graduated with a degree in biology.

Animals have always been her passion, especially owning and training Labrador Retrievers. Her love of Labradors began with obedience training in 4-H club, lead to pursuing a career in the veterinary field, and continues with her current passion for canine scentwork.

Madeline has been heavily involved with scentwork for the past 5 years. With her Labrador, Posie, she has trialed with all the major nosework/scentwork groups including NACSW, USCSS, SDDA, SDS, as well as AKC. She has attended numerous workshops/seminars/classes, California Narcotics Canine Association joint conferences, and four weeklong nosework camps in Oregon and Colorado.

Madeline’s dog, Posie, is currently trialing at the elite level in NACSW, holds iron dog titles in Sniffing Dog Sports (SDS), and is trialing at the excellent level in AKC. She is currently sharing trialing and the training of her new, young Labrador, Pax, with her daughter and husband. She finds sharing her love of the sport addicting and enjoys the rewards of helping others build a special relationship with their dog through nosework/scentwork.

Deanna Hardin

Deanna Hardin has been teaching dog training in Silicon Valley at a variety of venues since 2013. Originally from Michigan, she moved to California after attending Western Michigan University and pursuing a Biomedical Science degree. Deanna’s own dog, Bella, a rescue, is a border collie mix who’s competed in USDAA agility, Flyball tournaments, lure coursing, as well as having her CGC and Advanced trick titles. While Deanna currently has one resident dog, she actively fosters for rescues and has helped dozens of dogs and puppies this way. Deanna utilizes scientifically backed positive reinforcement and reward based methods to ensure your dog or puppy integrates successfully into your family.