WagWag Enterprises
Lisa L Sickles, CPDT
P.O. Box 2379
Englewood, Co 80150
(303) 619-8013
lisa@wagwag.net

Mentors in the Spotlight
A Spotlight on Lisa Sickles, CPDT, APDT, ABC Mentor Trainer
Englewood, Colorado  

A spunky little cockapoo named Liberty was Lisa Sickles’ first training triumph, and her initial dog training inspiration. Lisa spent many days trading tricks for Cheetos with Liberty, until one day he learned how to climb up and slide down a playground-style steel slide. "He was so teachable," Lisa says. "He loved it! He would do it all the time, even on his own. ‘Will work for Cheetos,’ I always said." Little did she know at 11 years old while teaching Liberty to climb up and slide down a playground slide, she would someday have a successful and influential career as a professional dog trainer.

Lisa Sickles is one of ABC’s prized Mentor Trainers, and she is honored to be this month’s "ABC Mentor Trainer in the Spotlight."

Lisa was born in Utah and raised in Colorado Springs. Now she lives in Englewood, Colorado where she trains to this day. Liberty was not her only canine companion; she was raised around dogs her entire life. During her early adult years, she did many different things for a living, but found she still felt unfulfilled. "My husband inspired me because he was always self-employed in a job he loved," Lisa explains. "I thought to myself, there has to be more." She pooled the opinions of her friends and family, and they came to the conclusion that Lisa should be working with dogs.

At the time of this revelation, Lisa was taking one of her dogs through obedience classes at a local pet store. She later became employed as a dog trainer at this pet store and taught dog obedience classes there for about two years before being promoted to Senior Trainer, meaning she mentored other dog trainers. She also taught private lessons. Lisa then decided to branch out and broaden her training spectrum, and began a training program at her local vet clinic where she taught group classes for about a year and half. Lisa then decided she was ready to train on her own.

At first, Lisa was petrified in group classes. "None of my friends would believe this, but I was always the shy person," Lisa giggles. However, the rewarding nature of dog training kept her going. She loved connecting dogs to their owners through positive motivation. "Every time a dog’s owner would say, ‘oh my god, you got him to sit!’ it was so rewarding that I knew I was meant to be doing this."

ABC approached Lisa in 2005 after following a student recommendation and asked her if she’d like to become a Mentor Trainer for the ABC Externship program. She immediately excelled at mentoring students and always received a positive response. Her ABC students have a large amount of respect and admiration after working with her, and her positive, upbeat nature makes learning fun.

Lisa admits that ABC has changed her ways of explaining things to both students and dog owners. "Working with ABC students makes me become a little more aware of how I’m describing how to do something to both them and the clients. It makes me a better trainer," she says. Training potential trainers has taught her to look closely at the way she explains even the simplest training techniques. Once something becomes second nature to someone, they may leave out necessary steps because they feel they are implied. "You have to tell them how to do it, show them how to do it, and then have them do it. It’s all about the different ways that people learn. Some people learn by seeing, some by hearing, some by doing." Lisa is now much more careful about making sure she covers all of these bases.

The ABC Externship has given Lisa valuable training experience, not to mention a good reputation. "When I have an ABC student apprenticing me in class, it makes the clients look at me like, ‘oh, well if she’s helping to teach other people to become trainers, she must really know what she’s talking about!’"

"The ABC staff is great, too," she says. "They’re always available when I need to talk about something, and they’re very supportive."

Lisa’s advice to anyone who aspires to become a dog trainer but is not sure what path to follow is to seriously consider why they’re interested in doing this and how they can benefit dogs and their owners. "I’m impressed by students who, as much as they want to train, are smart enough and caring enough about the dogs and the clients to know they aren’t ready," she explains. Those who truly care about the happiness and well-being of dogs and their people will seek the training and education to do it in the most effective and positive way.

Bill, Lisa’s husband and a professional musician, shares her love of dogs and actually named both of the dogs they have now. Their sheltie mix, Jazzy, was adopted from a rescue at eight weeks old. Jazzy immediately bonded with both of them but was fearful of everything. She’s now seven years old and while she used to be unable to be in a room alone with somebody, she now accompanies Bill to work every day. "Working with her and watching her progress has taught me so much," Lisa says. They also have another dog, Nica, who Lisa lovingly calls a "Picasso dog" (meaning every part of her looks like a different breed). "My dogs are a huge part of my life. They teach me something every day."

Lisa’s goal is "to help people and their dogs have a happy and respectful life together." Her innate ability to pass this philosophy on to her ABC apprentices and her devotion to dogs and positive motivational training are what inspired ABC to name her our "Mentor Trainer in the Spotlight."

Copyright © 2007
WagWag Enterprises
Lisa Sickles, CPDT
P.O. Box 2379 Englewood, Co 80150-2379
(303) 619-8013
lisa@wagwag.net