About Us

Bri is a huge animal lover. Having grown up in a family that always had dogs, she always had an interest in how their minds worked. Being familiar with guardian breeds, she rescued her first Cane Corso in 2018 named Moose. Moose and her began attending Family Dog Training Center in early 2020 with Moose later on receiving his CGC & Therapy Dog Certification. She first met Kelly in a CGC class, and fell in love with the facility and training style! Soon after she approached Kelly about how to learn more about becoming a dog trainer., she was offered an opportunity to volunteer at Family Dog. After attending nearly every class as both a participant and volunteer, she began to work as an assistant. During this time she continued to log her hours at the training center until in October 2022 when she passed her exam to attain a certification of: Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed through the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers. 

Bri is currently married with 3 dogs and a cat. Although Moose passed away in 2022 he currently lives on through PepperToni a 3 year old female Basset who helps out in our reactive class, Puma a 2 year old female Cane Corso who is also a certified therapy dog, Drago the resident male Cane Corso puppy of the house, and Lynx a 1 year old female Maine Coon kitten who rules the dogs! 
Her goals always consist of expanding her knowledge by better understanding the doggy brain as well as learning new and better ways to help our canine counterparts! 

 
Bri instructs Basic Manners and Obedience on Tuesdays as well as assist’s with a variety of classes including: Reactive1, Puppy 1 & 2, CGC. TDI, and  Leash Work.

Pictured – Bri on her wedding day with Moose, her ring bearer  

Love for all animals but especially dogs led me to become a volunteer at the Kansas Humane Society.  At KHS I have been fortunate to have been involved with programs that taught me a lot about working with dogs.  Basic manners for the dogs and canine courage for fearful dogs.  I had the privilege of working under two great trainers in the puppy class and basic obedience.

Having a reactive dog led me to Kelly and the Family Dog Training Center.  I was very excited to become a volunteer and absolutely love to see the dogs and their 2 legged friends.  What a joy to see each family graduate from the class and leave with pride and a smile on their success.  

I am so excited and eager to learn with every different dog and person I meet.  

Melissa (or Mel as we call her) started taking classes at FDTC in 2019, when the business started to grow and Mel was looking for a job it just seemed natural that she would come on board as the receptionist and master of chaos. She does everything from answer phones and emails to cuddle the Puppy Day School puppies to assisting in classes. When not at FDTC you can find her at a local brewery with one or both of her dogs, Pixel and Giga. Mel loves to travel, she has plenty of stories to tell- don’t worry, she finds dogs to pet on most of her travels. She is a volunteer and foster with local animal rescue Beauties and Beasts. Mel is a graduate of FHSU with a BFA in interior design.

Alyssa is a Class Assistant at FDTC who is passionate about helping dogs and their owners build stronger bonds through positive reinforcement training. Alyssa was first introduced to FDTC in Fall 2021 when her German Shepherd, Andromeda (aka “Drama” – she’s earned that nickname), started showing signs of reactivity. Through the course of the Reactive Dog class, Alyssa was amazed by the transformations that dog training could produce. Since then, she has taken almost every class FDTC offers, both as a participant and volunteer. About a year ago, she rescued a Great Pyrenees named Comet who has since become a Therapy Dog. In her role as a class assistant, she loves to celebrate with the owners as they build stronger bonds with their dogs and achieve their goals.

In addition to the two pups, Alyssa is married with a 1.5 year old mini-trainer in the making. She also has a couple of cats running around who do a great job of keeping the dogs in line.

Lori is a retired Kindergarten teacher, Mom of 10 and Grandmother of one. She has been training and showing dogs for 40 years. Now that she and her husband are retired, they are enjoying traveling to as many dog events as they want! They participate in a variety of dog performance sports including conformation, obedience, rally, scentwork,  trick dog, farm dog, agility, drafting and  dock diving. Lori is an AKC certified Canine Good Citizen Evaluator and USD #259 Professional Therapy Dog Evaluator. She and her husband also enjoy volunteering with their own Therapy Dogs at local schools and libraries. 

Kensington (Kensi) is a class assistant at FDTC. She loves animals and has two furry boys at home: a very patient golden retriever, Oakley, and a sweet golden doodle, Indigo. In addition, she purchased an 8-year-old thoroughbred, Ollie, when she was 18 years old. She does jumping with him and hopes to compete more in the future. She is working on her dog training certification while training Indigo in hopes he will become a therapy dog in the future. Kensington met Kelly when she asked to observe a class to understand how dog training worked and learn more about it. She quickly fell in love with the work and decided she wanted to do more.  

Kensington Herndon

Class Assistant

Janae is a new class assistant & a helper in puppy day school. She has been a veterinary technician for the past 7 years & currently is working at Urgent Pet Care learning more in-depth emergency skills to better her experience for veterinary school. Janae started out as a client here with us at FDTC, 3 years ago with her sweet shadow dog, Kova. She loved the environment so much that she wanted to learn more about training so that she could better understand behaviors & broaden her love for dogs.

Janae Tillman

Class Assistant & Puppy Day School Assistant

My name is Lydia Gilmore I am a puppy day school assistant where we train the puppies basic manners. I am also a class assistant and hep out with the Friday night classes. I love working with the dogs and learning more about how their minds work. I have learned a lot from the other experienced staff at FDTC

Lydia Gilmore

Class Assistant & Puppy Day School Assistant