About Me

I am Jenna Summers, a CCPDT dog trainer who has helped many families with many different breeds of dogs. I am great at reading dog behavior and I am creative at finding solutions to a wide variety of problems.

I have completed a Rally Excellent (RE) on one dog and I hope to show more in the future.

My dog, Princess, is a 17-year-old Toy Poodle. I joke that Princess is going to be the first dog to live forever because I can’t imagine life without her.

My training goals focus on building a solid, trusting relationship between people and their dogs; teaching dogs to be happy, well mannered members of the family; and laying the groundwork for performance competitions. I tailor my training to the needs of the individual dog and family.

Competitive Obedience and Rally Lessons

If you are looking for advanced competitive obedience or rally lessons, my mom, Karen Summers is teaching competitive lessons using the same methods that I use. She is an extremely talented competitive dog trainer who won the 2025 Rally National Championship with her dog Tara, has earned two OTCHs (Obedience Championships), six RACHs (Rally Championships), as well as a host of other titles on many different dogs. Go to About Karen to see more details about her many accomplishments!

My Training Philosophy

I am a motivational reward-based trainer. Some would call me a positive reinforcement trainer, force-free trainer, or fear-free trainer. No matter what you call me, I do not compel dogs to work out of fear. I consider myself an expert in the field of reinforcement-based training and love to help others learn to motivate their dogs to want to work with you.

I have a minor in psychology. Taking psychology classes helped me to really understand why different dog training methods work and I became very interested in using the most up-to-date, research backed, effective methods for dog training. I wanted to not only get good results on the surface but help dogs to become mentally stable, happy, confident dogs who are able to work as a team with their people instead of being in a constant battle of wills with their owners.

In short, I do not use positive punishments (things like leash pops or shock collars) because, while they can give quick results, they reduce your dog’s desire to work with you, hurt your dog’s relationship with you, and can cause a host of problems in the long run.

Instead, I am a reward-based trainer who heavily uses markers and shaping to teach new behaviors. Using my method, dogs are conditioned to love to work with their person and I always set dogs up for success. I always look at the underlying cause for a dog’s behavior and address the cause instead of just trying to fix the behavior.

Puppy Training

I have extensive experience training young puppies to have incredible focus and self-control. I have taught many puppies to heel off-leash with focus and do long down stays all before they were 10-weeks old.