Gretchen Knittel
Gretchen Knittel has worked with rehabilitating German Shepherds since 1988. In the past five years, her passion has been assisting national & area rescues in their quest to save and rehabilitate dogs housed in the shelter environment.
Her passion to work with dogs stems from her admiration of the wonderful canine qualities of unconditional love, loyalty, forgiveness and truthfulness. Gretchen enjoys the challenge of understanding each dog as an individual, developing a relationship based on trust, and training so that the dog has fun and knows what to expect. She also enjoys helping people to have a better relationship with their dogs.
Gretchen has had the honor of personally training with Sherry Woodard, Best Friends Animal Society’s resident Animal Behaviorist, Ann Allums & Pat Whitacre Certified Pet Dog Trainers for DogTown. All three have appeared regularly on the National Geographic Channel’s hit show “DogTown”. Gretchen was recently invited to an “Invitation only” Workshop at Best Friends Animal Society in Utah to study with Sherry, Ann & Pat to learn how to help behaviorally challenged dogs while keeping everyone safe.
In May 2011, Gretchen attended the week long Instructor Training held at Rondout Valley Animals for Adoption in Accord, NY. She had the honor with 24 other Trainers from US, Canada & Europe to train with Pia Silvani and Sue Sternburg. Pia Silvani is Director of Training and Behavior at St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center in Madision NY. Sue Sternberg is an internationally known author, educator and lecturer who owns Rondout Valley Animas for Adoption Center. The course helped the participants to increase their knowledge, challenge old ideas, analyze the foundations of their teaching programs and infuse their programs with new ideas. Each Trainer was assigned a shelter dog to work through out the week to make them more adoptable. Gretchen is always seeking to obtain knowledge to create successful outcomes with her clients and their canines.
In July 2011, Gretchen will be attending Proactive Teaching with Behavior Analysis with Bob Bailey & Parvene Farhoody. This weekend strives to break through old standards of "good enough" by providing a practical education for professional trainers. Gretchen will learn how to use behavior analysis as an essential component to becoming a “science-based” trainer.
Please call Gretchen at 610-251-9247 or email gretchen.knittel@wagsworthmanor.com to schedule a training session.
