Featured Student
Our students are the future of dog training and the heart of our school.
That’s why we regularly take a moment to recognize one of our top aspiring trainers here.
Our Featured Student this month is Oksana Keefe of Pembroke, Massachusetts. At the time of this posting, Oksana is finishing up Phase 6 of the Master Class, and she’s doing an incredible job!
Oksana and her beloved student dog, Tommy.
A Word from Oksana
My Favorite Recent Study Topics:
My favorite topics so far have been how dogs think and learn through classical and operant conditioning, learning to read their facial expressions and body language and understanding how our bodies, mimics and voice affect them in our day-to-day interactions and during training.
My Favorite Recent Hands-On Activity:
The hands-on activities are probably my favorite part of this course. I enjoyed and learnt so much from each one of them. But my favorite so far has been Phase 6, which also happened to be the most challenging for me personally. I had to write a plan for teaching 4 behaviors using the CATCH TEACHN method, rehearse, record myself on camera and eventually present it to my Mentor Trainer “live” as a part of my Master Course, for evaluation and feedback. As difficult and nerve-wracking as it was, accomplishing it made me realize how much I’ve learnt so far thanks to this program, it pointed out my strongest and weakest suits, thus showing me what to focus on to improve my skills.
Oksana practicing group sits at work at a doggy daycare.
How My Studies Have Changed the Way I See Dogs:
I am a proud mama of a wonderful fur baby, Tommy, and I have the best job in the world – I work at the doggy daycare center 🙂 So it gives me endless opportunities to observe dogs every single day. I thought I was pretty good at reading pups before starting this course. But now when I’ve learnt so much more about dogs, where they come from, their way of thinking and expressing their feelings, it has made me a much better handler and professional. Understanding them better makes me able to provide them with so much more, to help ensure their safety, happiness and well-being and build a strong bond between us.
What I’m Most Excited About:
Tommy learning new tricks to stay mentally stimulated while recovering from surgery.
My experience with this program has been nothing but amazing. I love how well structured, easy-to-follow and informative this program is. My Program Director, Adam, has been amazingly friendly, knowledgeable, supportive and helpful. CATCH paired me with the most fantastic Mentor Trainer, Michaela, who not only let me attend as many classes as I wanted, but had me participate and assist her during her group classes, private sessions and even on the agility course, encouraging and inspiring me throughout this whole process. CATCH has it all and I am forever grateful to them for the chance to start making positive changes in the lives of people and their four-legged friends 🙂
Way to go, Oksana, we’re so proud of you!
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