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Read Devene's Blog about Camping With Dogs Devene has been published in Walk about Magazine. See her articles here: Walk
the Dog
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meet the instructors | news | links | testimonials | special events | our graduate brags Devene Godau, CPDT Devene Godau, CPDT has had an obsession with dogs since she was old enough to say, "Can we get another dog?" In high school her mom sent her to work at a boarding kennel, hoping that cleaning up after 40 barking dogs would cause an overload and stop the obsession. Unfortunately, the ploy did not work. She obtained a BA in Journalism form Michigan State University in 1995, and spent several years working in marketing and graphic design. However, when she adopted a problem dog of her own, she began to research ways to modify behavior and found several mentors at Trainers Academy. She first started apprenticing as a volunteer trainer before quitting her marketing job to work full time in the dog world. She apprenticed with several instructors, including Trainers Academy president, Lisa (Laney) Patrona, for three years, working as her Assistant Instructor for two of those years. Devene has earned the title of Certified Pet Dog Trainer (CPDT), through the Certification Council of Pet Dog Trainers. In addition, she has earned certification of Instructor and Behavioral Counselor through the Trainers Academy Behavioral Sciences Program. She is a Professional Member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, She continues her studies by attending professional seminars, which has included seeing speakers such as Jean Donaldson and Brenda Aloff. She teaches Puppy and Intermediate Classes and created the curriculum for Trainers Academy’s Greyhound’s Only Class, and the CGG Proofing Class. In addition, her written work has been published in Walk About Magazine and on national websites such as greyhoundsupport.org, WOOFology.com and ConnectingNeighbors.com. Devene has been active with Greyhound and Galgo rescue for several years. When it became evident that she couldn't fit anymore large dogs in the car when she traveled (because all the dogs come along!) she decided it was time to start working with smaller breed rescues too. Recently she has become a foster home for Midwest Boston Terrier Rescue. She lives in Royal Oak with her husband, Mark, and their two kids. They are owned by Sparky, CGC, a Spanish Greyhound, and Kharma, CGC, a retired racing Greyhound. They also have 4 cats (one of which has been clicker trained). And she’s still asking, "Can we get another dog?" Read what Devene's students say: "Devene seems to genuinely enjoy the dogs and has a fun sense of humor. She is patient with the people." - Karen Kulman with Ripley "We chose to attend Farmington Hills (Trainers Academy location) because Devene was teaching and we had her for puppy class with our (now 2-year-old) Westie, Quinn. She is excellent. We drove 120 miles round trip to attend the program, which is wonderful." - Mary Gaffney with Conor "I jumped at the chance to get
into the Greyhounds-only class. It's
wonderful to see a groups of these dogs working and interacting.
Lucy spooks
easily and Devene spotted this immediately and showed me how to
work with
her."
"I don’t think words can
ever express how grateful I am that Trainer’s Academy, and
especially Devene, came into my life.
My story is lengthy, but very worth reading.
Last December I became a member of
GEM (Greythounds of Eastern Michigan) and made my home
available as a foster home.
Little did I know how much my life was about to change.
I was asked to take a greyhound for a week because his
foster family was taking a vacation.
I then found out, that because of his behavior, his
foster family had no intentions of taking him back after
vacation. Not a
big deal? Maybe
not for your typical foster, but Hardie wasn’t typical, nor
was the life he’d had thus far.
Hardie wasn’t quite 2 when he first came to GEM.
He was placed within 3 months of his arrival and 2
weeks later a brindle female was placed in that same home.
He stayed in that home about 4 ½ years with the last
18 months being miserable for him.
He and the brindle female, for reasons we’ll probably
never know, were banished to a garage with no real human
intervention. Those
18 months changed Hardie, and not in a good way.
He came back to GEM January 26, 2006 and stayed in a
few different foster homes and then was finally placed in my
home as a foster January 5, 2008.
That next day I took him to a Meet & Greet just to
see how he acted around other greyhounds.
I needed to see for myself if he was really as bad as I
had been told he was. Well,
words can’t describe the fear in his eyes and the defensive
behavior he had if another greyhound just made eye contact
with him. All I
can say is “thank God for muzzles” or there would have
been bloodshed. I
immediately wanted to get this boy help.
I began calling everywhere ... and I do mean
EVERYWHERE. I had
trainers tell me that Hardie couldn’t be helped without even
evaluating him. Well
that wasn’t good enough for me.
I’ve worked with other dogs that had issues and I
knew in my heart that I could help Hardie with the right
trainer. Trainer’s
Academy was the first training facility that was recommended
to me. When Lisa
returned my call and I told her Hardie’s story, she
recommended that he attend Devene’s “Greyhounds - ONLY”
class. There was
one beginning in 2 weeks and there was 1 opening left, so I
took it. That
first class Hardie had to be pulled through the door.
Just the sight of other greyhounds made him shake
uncontrollably. We
went through 2 of Devene’s 6 week courses with Hardie.
Devene and her “Greyhounds – ONLY” class has
changed his life. He
has learned to make right choices.
Now when he’s uncomfortable in a situation, he leaves
it instead of lashing out.
Last night I started my volunteer work with Trainer’s
Academy. Two
other GEM’s were going to be in the class so we decided to
car pool. Everyone
was to meet at my house.
When Helen arrived with her greyhound Dollar, we
decided to see how Hardie would react to Dollar through the
fence. He was
excited to see Dollar, even did a half hearted play bow,
jumped in the air, barked, tail wagging, as if to say “come
play with me”. That
is a total “about face” from where he was 4 ½ months ago.
May 10, I decided I didn’t want
Hardie to ever leave my home and I signed the papers to adopt
him. Because of
Trainer’s Academy and Devene, Hardie has gone from being a
scared, defensive greyhound, into a loving, happy, and
sociable greyhound. Thank
you Devene for saving this sweet boy!!"
Sarah Williams
Hardie (Thanks Devene for believing in me - slurp, slurp!!) Greyhound-Only Grads
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