- Mon-Fri: 6:30 a.m – 7 p.m. Sat: 9 a.m – 4 p.m (Sunday/Holidays – Closed)
- uts@utsdog.com
- (719) 268-0789
Trainer
I was born and raised in Colorado Springs, CO and I have worked with dogs all my life and I can honestly say I have loved every minute of it!
I have professionally trained dogs for over 22 years and I am committed to providing superior training and care for you and your dog. Working with you to find the most effective training options and solutions is my #1 priority and what I work for at every level at Under the Sun.
Dog training and care is my passion. I am constantly expanding my training education by learning and adapting my approach based on experience and the most up to date industry guidelines and literature in addition to attending and presenting at International training seminars.
When I am not training and working with my clients and their dogs, I am spending time with my family handling and competing at National levels with our dogs.
Awards and Recognitions:
Trainer
Dogs have always been a part of my life, my parents raised Bullmastiffs and quickly my family became involved in the sport of AKC purebred dogs.
During my high school and college years I worked at grooming facilities, boarding facilities, and various veterinarian clinics gaining hands-on experience.
In 2000 I traveled to Colorado to evaluate a Bullmastiff litter and met Colton. Now happily married for 15 years and three children later the rest is history!
Together our family raises Old English Sheepdogs under the Bugaboo prefix along with my in laws Douglas and Michealanne.
Our passion for dogs will ensure you that we will love your dog like family!
Trainer
I am excited about this opportunity to work with a variety of people and dog breeds. It is exciting to see the progress each team makes and the success each team has in whatever they choose to do in performance areas. I will be working with teams in the rally, obedience, scent work, and therapy areas of performance. I am a very positive based trainer and believe in having fun with your dog and the dog having fun.
Obedience is the basic foundation for all events in dogs sports. So it is important to continue training for the life of your dog. It will make the bond between the team stronger each day. I have attained a UD on a golden and am presently working toward a UD on a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.
I am an AKC Rally judge, approved for all levels. I started out in rally at the first rally trial at 12:01 am on January 1st, 2005 in Rapid City, South Dakota. I competed with two golden retrievers and earned the rally novice RN title. I was hooked on the fun and excitement of rally and started my journey to become a judge. I enjoy teaching and judging rally. I love to see people progress and earn titles. It’s also fun to just see people work their dogs if they aren’t into competing. I am presently working 4 Chesapeake Bay Retrievers in rally at the novice, intermediate, excellent, and master levels. We are working Carley on her RACH title. I have numerous titles through RAE and Master level. I have been attended the Rally National competition for the past 4 years with 3 different dogs.
Scent work is another one of my performance sports. I started with NACSW in 2006 and continued to become a CNWI with NACSW. I am required to do continuing education each year to keep my CNWI (Certified nose work instructor) certification. I became an AKC scent work judge in 2017. Both organizations are fun to be part of and trial. You don’t need to trial to enjoy scent work, it is a team building sport that is fun to see how you and your dog communicate and work together.
Therapy work is an extremely satisfying job for each team. You help people in a variety of areas. You can go to libraries, hospitals, retirement homes, airports, and etc. I have been doing therapy work since 1996 with my golden retrievers. I became an evaluator for TDI, inc. in 1997 until 2019. I then became associated with ATD in Wyoming and became an evaluator in 2019.
I enjoy working with new teams that want to do therapy work in their community and let other people enjoy their animals. It is very rewarding to evaluate new teams and start them on their therapy dog journey. Any dog can do therapy work with the correct temperament and training. It is a team training, as the handler and dog need training to be successful as a therapy team.
I am really looking forward to working with any client that wants to enjoy their dog and have fun. The bottom line of dog ownership is enjoying your time with your best friend and they enjoy being part of your life.
Trainer
My Agility journey began in 2011 when I was 10 years old. My first shows and training experiences were through the Colorado 4-H Dog Project here in El Paso County. It didn’t take long at all for me to fall in love with dog training and I realized early on that I had a preference for companion events, particularly Agility.
Competing in agility for over 10 years, I have had the opportunity to handle and work with a variety of breeds and temperaments from Shiba Inus and Basenjis to Border Collies and Dutch Shepherds. I have attended Junior Invitationals in Orlando Florida with two of my dogs in 2018 and 2019, competed overseas in the Junior European Open with one dog in 2019, and became and AKC National Finalist with one dog in 2022.
My priority as an agility coach is to set you and your dog up for success. My #1 goal is to make sure that your team is having fun and making progress. Each session will be uniquely tailored to make sure you and your dog accomplish your goals.
When I am not working with clients I can be found running 4-H Dog Events with my family, competing with my two Border Collies, and working towards my business degree.
Accomplishments:
AKC/USA Junior World Team member
Placement at the AKC Junior Invitational
AKC National Finalist
Invited to the AKC Premier Cup
Trainer
I will be teaching Conformation Classes here at Under the Sun!
I started showing my Bernese Mountain Dogs in 1986 and had my first litter in 1988. Since then my dogs have won the BMDCA National Specialty four times and have had many Best in Show dogs as well as having finished many champions.
I am an AKC Conformation Judge and I have been teaching Conformation classes for over 15 years. I enjoy helping people learn how to present their dogs. Whether you are a seasoned exhibitor or brand new to showing I strive to help you improve your handling skills.
I also have been doing the Volhard Temperament Test and conformation evaluations on litters of puppies for many years and can provide this service at Under the Sun.
Trainer
Katherine has been an all-around competitor in dog sports since 2002. She competes in agility, obedience, rally, herding, Scentwork, Barnhunt, FastCAT, CAT, conformation and occasionally dock diving. Before moving to Colorado, Katherine instructed agility, rally, and obedience for many years at dog clubs in Melbourne and Saint Petersburg, Florida focused on competition-level performance. Her passion is developing working relationships between dog and handler by crafting individual training techniques for each team. She is familiar with many breeds from dachshunds and westies to Airedales and Aussies. Katherine currently competes with her Belgian Tervuren Cruise and has two puppies in training: Strafe (Belgian Tervuren) and Sweep (Sheltie).
Katherine is proud of the titles she and her dogs have earned as well as the many High in Trials, High Combined and High Triples awarded. Her Tervuren and Shelties have been ranked in the Top Ten by UKC, AKC and Bad Dog Agility in multiple performance or speed events. Two of her Tervuren (Cruise and Kwest) earned High Combined Rally and High in Trial and Reserve High in Trial Herding at ABTC National Specialties and her Sheltie Juice earned the Versatility Champion award by the ASSA at the age of three.
Cruise has been ranked in the Top Ten Rally Tervuren for the past 3 years, coming in second the last two years. During his Rally Championship campaign, of his current 48 triple q’s, he has earned over 25 High Triple and 30 High Combined awards. In 2024, Cruise and Katherine competed in the AKC Rally National Competition (RNC) and the inaugural AKC Rally Championship Invitational (RACH-I). Cruise ranked #26 at the RNC in the Champion class of 120 dogs and #13 at the RACH-I amongst the 139 entered RACH teams. He was also awarded top Tervuren at the RACH-I. Their goal for 2025 is to earn their RACH3, RM6 and RAE6.
Some of her and her dogs accomplishments are:
Kwest: CATCH RATCH UCA UCD UAGI URO3 Bijou Luisant Joie De Vivre CDX PCDX BN GO RAE2 HSBd HSDs HIAds HSAdMsM MX MXJ MJP MXF MFP T2B CAA BCAT SWE SHDN CZ8B TKP HRD1-S HTAD1-S DDCN
Juice: RATCH VTGCH Jenesis Blackberry Winter RA, BN, HSAs,OA, OAJ, OF, BCAT, SWA, SHDN, TKN, CZ8, JHD
Cruise: RATCH CH Bijouluisant Starrcreek Blkcat Highvelocitymissile CDX PCDX BN RM RAE HIAd HSAdMsM MX MXJ MXF T2B CAA FCAT ACT1 SWA SEE SHDA DJ CGCA TKP CZ8S HRD1S
Strafe: CH UCH NatCH Beartooth’s Hellcat Rapid Fire CD RE SWN DCAT CA PT TDN JHD
Sweep: IntCH Summerlove & Sandale’s Rhapsody in Brew BN RA BCAT CA SWN OA NAJ PT FTN TDN CGC JHD RATO
Trainer
Hi, I’m Amber! Since before I could walk, I’ve had these beautiful four-legged creatures in my life, I simply could not imagine a world without them. My first dog Dice, a Dalmatian. She was the reason I spent every day of my childhood outside and loved every second of it. Now I explore Colorado with my GSD Olympia!
My professional experience with dogs all started at a veterinarian office, I witnessed many dogs that faced challenges and owners that were unaware of how to actually help them. From there I worked at a few different doggie day cares and yet again I would see the same kind of dogs and their owners that needed help. At that point I decided I needed to learn how I could truly be a part of the solution. I threw myself into books, videos, podcasts. I wanted to absorb all the knowledge I could find. However, it wasn’t until I actually started training and working with these pups that I began to truly learn how to help.
A door to a new world opened, a world where dogs were understood by their humans and humans understood their dogs. Now I’ve been training dogs professionally for about 3 years, and it has given me a greater purpose that I had only ever dreamed of. It’s an honor to care for, play with, and love all your fur babies.
Trainer
I am very excited about the opportunity to work with you and your dog.
In 2013 I adopted my Rottweiler, Odin, he has since passed but is who started my dog training journey. Almost 2 years after I adopted him he started to show signs of fear aggression and reactivity. II could not take him for walks without him lunging viciously at people and dogs. It was severe and I was at a loss. Many hours of research led me to a really good balanced dog trainer who trained police dogs in Illinois. He saw a talent in me that I didn’t know I had. I worked under him as an apprentice for 2 years learning as much as I could from him as well as other trainers. I fell in love with the process and the positive behavior changes I saw in Odin. I put in the time and gained the education I needed to turn my dog Odin around into a calm, confident and well behaved dog. Odin is the reason I became a dog trainer and discovered my passion.
From 2017 to 2020 I worked for Sunrise Dog Training under Colton Johnson, from 2020 to 2024 I moved to the mountains and took a break from training only to find that I really missed working with people and their dogs.
I am super excited to be working at Under the Sun Dog Training alongside other really good trainers. I have many years of experience working with all types of breeds, sizes and ages from puppy classes to advanced obedience classes. My priority as an obedience trainer is to set you and your dog up for success, whether it be through classes, or one on one sessions. I absolutely love watching a dog and owner’s relationship evolve into a place of confidence, trust and respect. The bond between a dog and owner is one of the best things in the world when developed through obedience and fun activities. I am constantly looking to gain more education and experience by attending seminars, learning new techniques as well as working with dogs one on one, doing private lessons, and teaching classes of all levels.
Happy Training!!!
Daycare/Trainer
Trainer
Trainer
Our team consists of experienced, caring professionals who understand canine behavior inside and out.
Every dog is unique, and we tailor our programs to fit their specific needs and personality.
We create a welcoming space where both dogs and owners feel comfortable and confident in their journey.
Monday-Friday: 6:30 a.m – 7:00 p.m.
Saturday: 9:00 a.m – 4:00 p.m
Sunday/Holidays – Closed
6540 Vincent Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
Phone: 719-268-0789
Email: uts@utsdog.com
