Gwendolyn LaPiro
Gwendolyn was born & raised in Oregon and has always had an affinity with animals and the outdoors. Gwen has always been passionate about using Positive Reinforcement (R+), Reward & Decision based training methods since the beginning of her dog training career. Although she started her professional career with dogs, Gwen also grew up training her cats, worked with horses, her pet rats and other species while in college. From working with multiple species, she has developed a strong belief in giving animals as much autonomy, consent and choice as possible.
Gwen has a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science from Oregon State University with a focus on Animal Behavior as well as Animal Reproduction.
She began teaching in 2016 working in the shelter world primarily in reactivity. She continues to work with reactive dogs and is a strong advocate for them in the community. She is passionate about continued education and gaining knowledge from working with other dog trainers both locally and around the US. She is certified through the Council of Certified Professional Dog Trainers and earned her CPDT-KA certificate in 2017 and recertified with them again in 2025. She is also a mentor through the Animal Behavior College.
Besides teaching pet dogs, Gwen has spent time training with an ADI (Assistance Dog International) service dog organization and she continued her education implementing R+ training methods into her own training with service dog teams.
Gwendolyn believes in working with dogs in a holistic approach. This means looking at the dogs’ environment, nutrition, health, enrichment, exercise, routine and more. In addition to dog behavior, Gwen also has education in canine and feline nutrition and veterinary fields. She believes fully in understanding and exploring the heavy influence that animal health and welfare can play into an animal’s behavior and addressing any medical issues that may be contributing to the expressed behaviors.
Gwen shares her home with 5 dogs & 4 cats & her Husband.
Gwen can be reached at the following Contacts:
Phone: 503-616-1148 (text is okay!)
Email: gwen@kaleidoscopedogtraining.com
Teresa Malarkey
Teresa Malarkey is a native Oregonian. She grew up in Portland and now lives in Scappoose with her family of horses, dogs, cats and birds.
In 1993, She began fulfilling her dream to become a professional dog trainer, by completing and passing her national boards to become a board certified Veterinary Technician. To complete her dream, Teresa enrolled in Animal Behavior College's Dog Obedience Training Program and graduated, then followed up with Karen Pryor Academy for Clicker Trainers. She is fully certified to train dogs in all phases of training, including Basic and Advanced Obedience, Problem Area Training, and Owner Dog Mastery. Teresa Studied with Service Dogs Inc in Texas, learning additional training skills to train service dogs.
In 2010 Teresa fulfilled her dream by establishing Work’n Pawz Dog Training LLC in Scappoose Oregon.
In 2010 Teresa was selected to become a Mentor Trainer for Animal Behavior College (ABC) for the greater North Portland and Columbia County area. To date she has mentored more than 15 ABC students with great success, two are currently being mentored and others have gone on to be successful trainers themselves. It is not uncommon to see ABC students in her group classes.
Teresa believes many problem behaviors of dogs doing wrong and continually told being ''NO'' because the dog doesn't know what TO do. 'It is important to show the dogs what to do, what you want and what is expected of the pup. If your dog is chewing on a shoe, pick up the shoes...give them one of their own toys, reward for chewing on their own toy''. Teresa uses positive reinforcement training methods, providing guidelines and structure to the dog’s lives. Letting the dog know what is an appropriate behavior, concentrating on the good not the bad. Thus, the undesirable behavior eventually extinguishes.
Teresa may be reached by phone or text: 503-939-1283
Or by email: worknpawz@gmail.com
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