Western Oregon
Our Western and Central Oregon branch serves Portland, Vancouver, Tigard, Hillsboro, Salem, Gresham, Sandy, Eugene, and surrounding areas.
Kayse Fletcher
Atlas-CT
A Bit About Kayse
Kayse Fletcher has always been an animal lover but she didn't know the impact her love for them would have on her life until her family rescued their first dog Buttercup. Buttercup came into Kayse's life as any other family pet would, but soon Buttercup's role changed.
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In 1998 Kayse's father began having seizures and Buttercup became his closest companion. Though Buttercup naturally offered the emotional support Kayse's father needed, she was not officially trained as a service dog. In 2007 Kayse began working with a nonprofit service dog organization, with the goal of someday training a seizure response dog for her father. Over the course of her training career, her love of dogs has grown to a passion for the change she has seen in a person's life after experiencing a meaningful bond with a dog.
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Kayse is dedicated to methods of positive reinforcement and increased self-worth when working with dogs. She believes that giving consistent and clear expectations encourages a desire to please. She uses her years of experience to teach the importance of overall wellness and balanced health along with the training objectives set with her clients.
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Kayse has worked with a wide variety of mixed breeds and purebreds. She understands the behavioral differences among breeds and personality differences based on the individual dog; Kayse uses this understanding to tailor her training programs for utmost success. Due to her experience, Kayse is a supporter of breed equality.
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Residing in the canine friendly city of Portland, Kayse lives with her 2 rescued mixed breeds and a pit bull.
Crystal Lange
CK - SSDTI, AKC CGC Evaluator
A Bit About Crystal
Crystal's love of animals started from early childhood. She always had some type of critter she was playing with or rescuing. It was her first dog, a Labrador, that got her interested in animal training and service dog breeds. When feeling conflicted about career paths of working with animals or pursuing physical therapy, she observed a guide dog team working across her college campus. In that moment she saw an opportunity to combine her two passions of training animals and helping people, and knew which path she wanted to take.
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Crystal completed an extensive college program in Exotic Animal Training & Management at Moorpark College's Teaching Zoo, working with a variety of exotic animals including a hyena, baboon, camel, raccoon, and macaws. After graduating college she worked for 11 years at Guide Dogs for the Blind training service dogs and their handlers across the country. She went on to start her own business, Party Animals NW, doing interactive, educational, live animal shows at parties, schools, and events. She also taught a variety of dog training classes and private lessons.
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Over the years, Crystal has competed with her dogs in Nose Work & Barn Hunt. She has also taken classes doing Agility, Flyball, Rally, and tricks. Her Shiba Inu, Sake, knows over 50 different behaviors, is an ambassador with the animal shows, and is a certified Therapy Dog. Crystal and her animals have also done several commercials and print advertisements.
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When not working, her and her husband like to get out with the dogs and explore nature by hiking, kayaking, snowshoeing, or going to the coast.
Cody Salaz
A Bit About Cody
Cody has had a deep love of animals her entire life. Growing up on a farm, she found great enjoyment in training her family’s alpacas and farm dogs and spent her free time clicker training them for shows. Knowing she wanted to work with animals while also making a positive impact on the world around her, she decided to go on to obtain her bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology. Afterwards, she gained a wide array of experience in the animal field, including working at a wildlife sanctuary, training wolves and foxes for a BBC film production, teaching outdoor wilderness education to youth, and training basic obedience skills to a variety of dogs at a dog daycare.
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Cody realized her true passion for working with service dogs when she began working at a guide dog organization. She has trained guide dogs for over 4 years and is a qualified Guide Dog Mobility Instructor. Cody takes great joy in teaching people of all ages and strives to create a supportive and fun working environment for both people their dogs. She is passionate and dedicated to training dogs using positive reinforcement methods and enjoys finding creative solutions to meet each individual’s needs.
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Cody loves spending her free time adventuring in the outdoors with her Greater Swiss Mountain Dog named Hunter. Much of her free time is spent hiking, skiing, climbing, paddle boarding, or playing her ukulele.
