Mission Statement We believe the bond between a person and a dog is a special bond that has value and should be treated at all times with respect. We are dedicated to providing only the highest-quality services, products and information that enhance all facets of that bond in a positive manner. We are committed to creativity, leadership and excellence in everything we are and everything we do. We will constantly strive to improve our personal knowledge, skills and abilities so that we can be the best instructors possible. We will seek professional certifications and skill recognition in our field. We will engage our clients in a friendly, ethical and moral manner at all times and respect the uniqueness of each and every relationship. We will always respect and value the bonds we have with each other, our own families and our own pets. We recognize our corporate responsibility to the community to aid other efforts to protect and preserve the bond between people and animals. Dawn Antoniak-Mitchell M.P.A. J.D. CPDT-KSA CBCC-KA Dawn is a life-long dog lover and has been training dogs for nearly 25 years, since she was a 4-Her. During that time, she has successfully trained several breeds of dogs, including Cocker Spaniels, Dalmatians, Curly-Coated Retrievers, Jack Russell Terriers, and a Border Collie in multiple venues to class wins and titles, including conformation, obedience, tracking, rally obedience, agility, go-to-ground, and open terrier trial competitions. She has taken dogs of several breed to multiple high-in-trial obedience trial wins, national rankings in obedience and agility, and also trained the first Non-Sporting breed and first Dalmatian to earn a VCD title at any level, the first Curly-Coated Retriever to earn an AKC rally title as well as the first to earn all three rally obedience titles, and the first Parson (Jack) Russell Terrier to earn a rally obedience title. Her dogs have also done extensive modeling work for Hallmark, appearing on several dozen different Hallmark greeting cards and promotional materials. Her Jack Russell Terrier Lizzie B. was her long-time Delta Society Pet Partner and a Reading Education Assistance Dog. Together they worked with pediatric oncology patients, children with reading disabilities, children survivors of domestic abuse, and economically-disadvantaged children. Her current therapy dog Glitch helps children at the Phoenix Day School improve their reading skills by being a patient, non-judgmental listener. Dawn has taught group classes for over fifteen years in a variety of settings and enjoys helping dog owners understand, appreciate, and communicate more effectively with their dogs.In addition to being a CCPDT Certified Professional Dog Trainer and a Certified Behavior Consultant - Canine, Dawn is also an AKC and APDT Rally Obedience judge, an AKC and CDSP Obedience judge, a TDAA agility judge, an IWPA weight pull judge, an AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator, and a training seminar junkie. She is a professional member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and is certified in Pet First Aid. She has been interviewed on television and Dogcast Radio and has been published in a variety of magazines, including the Dalmatian Quarterly, the AKC Gazette, and Pet Enthusiast. Recently her training tips have been selected for inclusion in Top Tips from Top Trainers, published by TFH, and her first training book, Terrier-centric Dog Training, is available from Dogwise Publishing, and book stores world-wide. Her non-canine passions are knitting, bellydancing, hiking, architectural history and photography. She has won several photo competitions and has a photo featured in the 2008 Jack Russell Terrier calendar produced by JRT Rescue. Dawn is an attorney licensed in both Nevada and Nebraska; she currently focuses her limited private legal practice on small business organizations and pet estate planning. She is currently owned by three Jack Russell Terriers, a Border Collie, and a Dalmatian. Dawn's combination of knowledge, skills and experiences brings a unique perspective to dog training that focuses on the need for real-life skills for both pets and their owners. She enjoys helping owners find ways to incorporate their pets safely and enjoyably into everyday activities and is passionate about helping disabled dog owners train their own service dogs. (Pictured with Dawn is Ember.) Stephanie Tornquist M.S. CPDT-KA Stephanie comes to us with experience in a wide range of training venues. She has lent her talents to training in the shelter environment as well as teaching group and private sessions for pet dog owners across the metro area on topics that range from basic obedience to modifying problem behaviors. Stephanie graduated with honors from the Animal Behavior College as a certified dog trainer in 2007. She is a prefessional member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) and is also a member of the the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). An avid volunteer, she donates her time and expertise to help select, train, and handle service dogs. She also serves as a mentor for future dog trainers through the Animal Behavior College and volunteers for various local rescue orgtanizations. Her other credits include a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology, as well as an M.S. in Criminal Justice with an emphasis in both Public Administration and Counseling. Stephanie is currently pursuing an M.S. Degree in counseling focusing on animal-assisted therapy. Along with teaching group and private training at BonaFide, Stephanie heads up our PAWSitive Outcomes training program at the Nebraska Youth Correctional Facility. She volunteers her time, instructing basic manners classes where inmates work to train rescue dogs and prepare them for their forever homes. (Pictured with Stephanie from left to right: Kaia, Duke & Angel. Photo courtesy of Dancing Dog Photography.) Cheryl Wilson CPDT-KA Cheryl has been training dogs for the past six years and is a Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Evaluator. Her passion is working on solving behavioral issues so owners can keep their dog as a happy well-adjusted member of the family. She loves working with very shy and also reactive dogs and feels success when they can confidently take walks with their owners and are part of a well-balanced family. She enjoys continually studying behavioral science and attending workshops geared towards the rehabilitaion of fearful and reactive dogs. Cheryl is proud to have founded Nebraska Dachshund Rescue and served as the organization's President. She has also served as Vice President of Golden Retriever Rescue in Nebraska (GRRIN). Currently, she serves on the board of the Omaha Dog Park. Cheryl has three dogs: Zack (Golden Retriever), Eli (rescued Dachshund), and Sammy (rescued Dachshund). She also usually has a couple of difficult foster cases she's working with to rehabilitate and prepare them for adoption! Cheryl's Golden, Zack, was finally able to receive his CGC certification after much difficulty in previous attempts, due to his fearfulness of sudden sounds. Zack was so calm during his test that he actually tried to go take a nap in the middle of it! Zack, Eli and Sammy are great sports about working with reactive and shy dogs as long as they get good treats. Beyond Cheryl's four-legged family, she has three grown children and two cute grandsons (Kaeden and Jaxson). Professionally, she previously trained humans in leadership skills and customer service. She recently made the plunge into working with BonaFide full time and is enjoying furthering her education in the field of canine behavior and training. (Pictured with Cheryl from left to right: Zack, Sammy & Eli. Photo courtesy of Dancing Dog Photography.) Dianne Krantz Dianne comes to us with over 20 years of dog training experience. She has taught obedience and showmanship classes for 4-H and has judged at the county and state levels in both venues. Dianne has also instructed obedience and agility classes for various clubs and organizations in the Omaha area. She has attended many seminars and conferences by nationally-accredited individuals on the subjects of dog behavior, obedience, rally and agility and continues to attend seminars to learn new techniques. Dianne's accomplishments include UD in obedience, MX and MXJ in agility, RA in Rally, HSAs in herding, FM in flyball, and finished breed Championships on dogs for the Herding group, Hound group and Terrier group in AKC. She has also owned registered therapy dogs and volunteered in the community with them. During the day, Dianne is the Purchasing Coordinator for a national pharmaceutical and medical supply distributor in the Omaha area. Prior to that, she worked for about 15 years in the pet industry in different aspects of selling and purchasing pet supplies. Dianne is currently the National Agility Chairman for the American Shetland Sheepdog Association and Vice President of the local Sheltie club, Midlands Shetland Sheepdog Club. She also serves as an evaluator for the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) program. Her goal is for dogs to be well-mannered and owners to have a special bond with their dogs and enjoy doing things together as a team. (Pictured with Dianne from left to right: Devon, Tammy & Rain. Photo courtesy of Deyo's Photography.) Rose Strasser, Ph.D. Rose Strasser got involved in dog training about 10 years ago when her first foster dog from a shelter, a basenji mix (Chi Chi) that was in 6 different homes by the time she was 6 months, came to live with Rose and her husband. After Chi Chi basically flunked her first obedience class and Rose was told she would never be a "normal dog", Rose found agility. Agility was the perfect outlet for Chi Chi's energy. Rose had so much fun that she started training her Japanese Chin (Tia) in agility and obedience. Chi Chi now has over 20 agility titles in NADAC, UKC, and she is close to finishing her CPE Agility Trial Championship (C-ATCH). Tia was the first Japanese Chin to earn a Master Agility Title (MX) and the second to earn a Master Excellent Jumpers w/Weaves title (MXJ) in the breed's history. She has over 30 agility titles and was the top Japanese Chin in AKC agility, as recognized by the breed club, from 2001-2005 and has been invited to the AKC National Agility Championship Invitational every year since 2005. This last year at age 13, Tia finished her CPE Specialist Agility Trial Championship (CS-ATCH). Tia also completed in AKC obedience and Rally Obedience. She finished her AKC Rally Excellent title (RE) and was the top obedience Japanese Chin in 2006. Rose has also been involved with dog rescue for 10 years, has trained her Shepherd mix, Buddha, in agility and is currently training her Japanese Chin rescue, Satori, in agility and obedience. Although competing in agility is fun for everyone in Rose's pack, her primary interest is in building a bond with her dogs and giving them the skills they need to be confident, well-behaved companions. With her rescue dogs, Rose finds agility and obedience training to be a wonderful way to give a shy dog confidence and an active dog an outlet. She has a special affection for those breeds that are considered "difficult" to train or rescue dogs that come with "issues" from their previous life experiences. She uses positive techniques based on learning principles for training. Professionally, Rose has a Ph.D. in Psychology with an emphasis in animal learning and behavior. She finds that she is able to use principles from each of her passions to inform the other. (Pictured with Rose from left to right: Tia & Chi Chi. Photo courtesy of Deyo's Photography.) Karen Stevens Karen has been training dogs for over 17 years. When she acquired her first Golden Retriever puppy, she vowed that it would be a well-behaved dog. Karen started her puppy in a puppy kindergarten class and has been dog training ever since. She has trained and competed successfully at the highest levels of obedience, agility and rally, earning over 25 titles and recognitions with her dogs, including the prestigious “Dog World Award” for consistently high scores in obedience competition. She has training and showing experience in multiple dog organizations, including AKC, UKC, CDSP, and APDT. In 2009, Karen and her dog Reagan were the second highest scoring CDSP Novice obedience team in the nation. In spite of her success training and showing her dogs, Karen considers one of her biggest canine-related successes to be assisting one of her Goldens, Dalton (U-CDX Argo's Doolin-Dalton UD, AXP, AJP, RE, NA, CGC, DWA ) live with cancer. Through early detection, nutrition, holistic care and alternative therapy, he was a two-time cancer survivor, and lived until the golden age of 14. Karen is passionate about the Golden Retriever breed and is a member of the Golden Retriever Club Association (GRCA). She is also an active volunteer for Golden Retriever Rescue in Nebraska (GRRIN), serving as a home evaluator and co-chairing several fund raising events. As a former elementary school teacher and now a parent, Karen has noticed the strong similarity between teaching children and training dogs. They both need boundaries, consistency, praise and a lot of love. There is truth to the saying, “Dogs are children in fur coats!” When Karen is not “going to the dogs”, she is busy assisting with the Stevens’ family-owned business, substitute teaching, volunteering at her daughter’s school, and being a “Mom Taxi” for their “tween” daughter. Cindy Mendonca M.S. L.V.T. Cindy became an advocate of early puppy training and socialization when she took her first Bearded Collie to a puppy kindergarten class, while stationed with the US Air Force in England in 1991. Frightened by Baillie’s veterinarian’s concerns about disease and exposure before vaccinations, she carried the puppy around the village from 6 to 12 weeks of age, so Bai could meet as many people and have as many new experiences as possible. Baillie proved to be a fabulous therapy dog until she retired when she was 13 years old. Cindy has continued the tradition of socializing her Bearded Collies ever since and encourages others to follow suit, although she stopped carrying the puppies around town long ago! Besides obedience and therapy work with Baillie, Cindy’s first formal training activity with her Beardies was sheep herding. As a novice to the field, she trained and handled Faith, who was the first Beardie female to earn the AKC Herding Championship. Rorie and Jolie have both earned advanced herding titles and each has herding championship points. Kylie has titles at Test levels. Along the way, Cindy became an AKC Herding Judge. She and her dogs have competed in Conformation and Rally Obedience, earning titles in those venues as well. She also enjoyed agility and dance training, but while the mind and heart were willing to continue, the knees were not. After retiring from the Air Force, Cindy returned to school to earn a degree in Veterinary Technology. Licensed as a veterinary technician since 2002, her special interest areas include helping owners with early training, preventive health advice, reproduction, and quality of life questions. (Pictured with Cindy from left to right: Jolie, Rorie, and Kylie (Photo Courtesy of Kevin Devine Photography)

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