Congratulations, Sarah, new CPDT-KA!

Sarah earns her dog training certification!

Friday, October 30, 2020

Please join me in enthusiastically congratulating my assistant, Sarah Lescault, on passing her dog training certification test! Sarah is now officially a CPDT-KA (Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed). The test requires in-depth knowledge of instruction skills, learning theory, ethology, equipment and animal husbandry. She worked and studied hard - and put in many hundreds of hours with dogs - to reach this milestone! She now joins me and 20 other CPDT-KAs in the State of Maine. We are all required to continue with our education and earn CEUs in order to maintain our certification.

I could not be more proud or excited for Sarah as she continues her journey of knowledge and commitment to dog training. She is patient, loving, understanding, creative, innovative, dedicated, committed and kind. I have been beyond lucky to have her by my side at PupStart for the last 5.5 years - and to have her as a dear friend, too.

I first started working with Sarah in July of 2009 as a private client. It was clear from the get-go that she had oodles of natural talent. In addition to excellent observational skills and timing, she was a sponge for knowledge and overflowing with enthusiasm. She really “got it.” She could watch me, watch my mechanics, and then replicate them on her own. Wow! She was able to apply the concepts of positive reinforcement to many aspects of training and living with her dog Sadie. Not only that, but Sarah has said many times that fully embracing the philosophy of positive reinforcement training has made a huge difference in her outlook on life and how she interacts with people (as it as for me and many others).

Fast forward to January, 2015, when I asked Sarah to help me temporarily at PupStart, which was not even a year old - a mere puppy itself! Back then, PupStart was just a small side business I operated on Mondays, though it was my dream to eventually run the best puppy day school on the planet. I was in the process of creating a whole new model for puppy day care that prioritized a puppy’s long-term needs, both emotional and physical, above all else. With Sarah, so much was possible! Anyway, “temporary” turned into regular part time and Mondays turned into Monday through Wednesday. Sarah left me a few times to pursue other avenues, but ultimately realized that PupStart and dog training were where her heart was. The rest is history!

The evolution of the PupStart Program in the last 6.5 years has been nothing short of amazing. I could not have done it without Sarah. We have come a very long way and together we continue to improve and evolve.

We are all lucky to have Sarah in our lives - puppies and humans alike! 

Once again, Congratulations, Sarah! We are so very happy for you!

In case you are interested, here are the guiding principles for members and certificants:

https://apdt.com/membercertificant-announcement/?highlight=IAABC