Meet The Team...

Kathy has been a perpetual student in spite of her over 30 years experience. She has taken many courses, and classes and graduated Summa cum laude from Karen Pryor Academy. She also sat as chair for the Canadian Association for Professional Pet Dog Trainers, and sat on the board for Sweet Charity Medical Assistance dogs. Kathy has selected and trained many dogs in service roles for people needing assistance both physical and emotional. Kathy breeds Labrador retrievers and shares her life with her lab, Focus and her wheaten mix, Irie. Kathy was also an RPN for many years working on the maternity ward and also doing home care for the disabled.

She also keeps time in her busy schedule for for husband Steve, and 4 daughters Kacy, Chelsea, Jacki, and Jessie whom have all played an intricate role in the creation, up keep, and continued success of TopDog. 

Megan Schneider
-- Enrichment & Daycare Supervisor & Trainer Apprentice

Megan joined our team with a background in dog care. She has a passion for animal care and hopes to build her life around the field. Megan is valued for her playful nature and genuine love for each and every client dog; "I would go to the ends of the earth for my dogs at daycare". Megan has taken in many rescues which is how she got her mastiff mix Toby and enjoys helping animals of all shapes and sizes. Megan began as a daycare attendant and quickly moved to be the head enrichment tech. Megan loves teaching tricks, finding new enrichment activities and most of all hanging out with your pups.

Jacki Ditchburn-Currie - NFPA 1001
-- Facility Manager & Head Trainer

Jacki was raised a trainer by her mother Kathy starting at a very young age, working with dogs of all breeds and sizes. Jacki then went to college and learned to be a firefighter. She also decided to venture into the business world, opening and running many different restaurants over 10 years. During this time Jacki was always involved in the dog rescue, training and rehabilitation as a passion, and continued to take courses and seminars to further her K9 education. In 2018 Jacki decided to return to the dog world. Using her business background, management skills, disciplined and hardworking nature, and dog knowledge, she, with Kathy, opened TopDog's Mutt-e-Ssori as a premiere enrichment daycare and training facility. Shortly after, she gave birth to her son Kelly!

Jacki also shares her life with her Irish wolfhound Freyja. 

Alley Lee
-- SPAW Specialist & Head Daycare Tech
Enrichment & Training Apprentice

Alley has always had a passion for working with dogs. She started off working in a pet store and gained interest in pet nutrition. She then explored the dog word as a professional groomer where she remained for 4 years. This drove her passion for dog welfare and to learn more about dogs and how they communicate and learn. That's where we came in! Alley joined us in March 2021 and has been learning about dog behaviour, socialization and communication between the Barrie and Orillia location ever since. Alley is apprenticing as an enrichment tech and soon hopes to join the our team of trainers. She is working towards teaching our Tutoring programs where she can further her knowledge and continue to build relationships with our pups and their families. Alley enjoys playing a front line role in shaping the minds of our pack while we get the pleasure of watching them grow. 

Kaylin Garner
-Training and Administrative Supervisor & Enrichment Tech Apprentice

In 2016, Kaylin moved to New Zealand to pursue a career in childcare, after two years she moved back home to Canada and returned to life in the restaurant industry. Kaylin has always been passionate about animals but knew she wanted to be a dog training after rehabilitating her own fear-aggressive lab mix, Hoover. During covid lockdowns, she decided to get her dog training certification. At the same time, Kaylin adopted her German Shepard, Tui who was being rehomed for the 4th time at the age of 15 weeks old. Kaylin is passionate about enrichment, helping with reactivity and scent work. She is hoping to continue to take courses to better her knowledge about all things dog training.