Locally Grown, Community Loved
Training is love in action—it’s how we help our dogs feel safe, confident, and part of the family.
Jennifer Biglan
Co-Founder & Lead Trainer, Training Spot
After graduating from the University of Oregon, Jen discovered her passion for dog training while volunteering at a local shelter. Over the past 20+ years, she has worked extensively with pet parents, rescue organizations, veterinarians, and fellow trainers to improve the lives of dogs and their people.
Jen is one of only a handful of Certified Dog Behavior Consultants in Oregon, a Licensed Family Dog Mediator, and a faculty member at the Karen Pryor Academy. She specializes in helping families and multi-dog households find practical, science-based solutions to everyday challenges and complex behavior issues.
Her specialties include puppies, dogs and kids, resource guarding, leash reactivity, multi-dog conflicts, and advanced training. Jen is known for making training fun, accessible, and effective—no matter where you’re starting from.
Qualifications
- Karen Pryor Academy Faculty
- Certified Dog Behavior Consultant
- Licensed Family Dog Mediator
- Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner
- Dynamic Dog Practitioner
- AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator
Teaching dog owners a better way to communicate with their dogs to help alleviate stressful situations is incredibly rewarding.
Tera Dschaak-James
Co-Founder and Lead Trainer, Training Spot
Born and raised in Eugene, Tera fell in love with force-free training in 2012 when she adopted a reactive and fearful Heeler puppy named Scout, who thrived with this effective style of training. Today, Tera’s passion is educating dog guardians in all of the ways to communicate with their dogs so training is successful and fun! Tera works with all breeds and behaviors, from puppy socialization, teenage puppy behavior, to reactive & fearful dogs.
Tera also brings a holistic approach by offering Canine Acupressure and Massage. These practices can help reduce stress & anxiety, alleviate pain, improve circulation, and enhance the immune system. This can promote both physical & behavioral health and wellbeing for all ages of dogs.
Specialty: Puppies, Teenagers, Behavior, and Acupressure
Qualifications
- Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP)
- Animal Behavior College Graduate (ABC Trainer)
- Certified Puppy Start Right Instructor
- Certified Professional Dog Trainer, Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA)
- Canine Acupressure & Massage Practitioner (Northwest School of Animal Massage)
Positive reinforcement based training kindly fosters curiosity, confidence, and cooperation between people and their puppies.
Ava Schauer believes in sharing her skillset to foster curiosity, confidence, and cooperation between people and dogs in her community. Ava began her dog training journey over 8 years ago when she began mentoring with Training Spot. Since then, she has gained her KPA-CTP certification and completed the Puppy Start Right course for instructors. Ava has a special training interest in puppy behavior, socialization, and helping puppies learn to thrive in a human world.
Qualifications
- Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP)
- Puppy Start Right Instructor
I love to help people improve their relationships through better communication and understanding of their dogs.
Annette is dedicated to helping clients understand their dogs and what might motivate their behavior. Her goal is to make training fun, stress-free, and to find strategies that are easy to implement in daily life. Annette teaches good manners, leash skills, coming when called, calm greetings, relaxation, and has a special interest in helping shy/fearful dogs.
Specialties: Basic manners, leash skills, come, calm greetings, relaxation, and shy/fearful dogs.
Qualifications
- Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP)
- Certified Family Dog Mediator
I love dog training because it’s not just about teaching dogs—it’s about building a bridge of trust, communication, and joy between two species.
Marissa always found friendship and comfort in dogs. After the adoption of her cattle dog, Kibbeth, with an extremely high prey drive and reactivity concerns she knew she needed help. Seeing the impact of positive training for Kibbeth, Marissa pivoted to a dog training career as a Karen Pryor Academy graduate and Certified Training Partner. She is dedicated to helping clients improve connections with their dogs while wading through societal pressures often felt around having a dog with behavior problems.
Qualifications
- Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP)
- Proud Pet Parent of 4 dogs
I love dog training because it helps people connect, understand and love their dogs even more.
Ellis has worked in the veterinary industry for over 10 years. They say the best part of their days have always been giving training advice and helping to ensure patients’ visits are as stress-free as possible. Ellis fell in love with dog training at the age of 12 when they took a childhood dog to group training classes. Thanks to training, they watched her transform from a fearful dog to a happy confident member of the family. Since then, they started learning everything they could about training and animal behavior. They are passionate in the belief that training should aways be fun for the person and the dog!
Qualifications
- Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP)
- Dogsafe Canine First Aid Certified until March 2022
- Proud Pet Parent of 2 dogs
My favorite part of dog training is witnessing that powerful moment when a dog and their owner truly connect and begin to work as a team. From that point on, the possibilities are limitless.
Dogs have always played a central role in Erin’s life, but everything changed when Maeve, her standard poodle, came along. Wanting to build a strong, positive relationship with Maeve, Erin began attending classes at Training Spot as a client. It was there that she and Maeve discovered a shared passion for trick training—a journey that inspired Erin to become a Certified Trick Dog Instructor to better support and connect with her canine partner. In 2024, they took the next step in their training journey and completed KPA-CTP training program.
Qualifications
- Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP)
- Do More With Your Dog Trick Evaluator
- AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator
“Whenever you can, start training young! The best thing you can do for a puppy is get them into a good puppy class.”
Raaka has been training dogs professionally for over six years (and her own pups much longer!). Her journey began with her first dog, who struggled with stranger aggression—an experience that inspired her to study canine behavior and dedicate her career to supporting families facing similar challenges. She now shares life with Nova, her joyful 12-year-old Lab/Boxer/Rottweiler mix, whose favorite pastime is romping in her very own ball pit. When she’s not coaching pups and their people, she enjoys camping under the stars and playing guitar.
Specialties
- Puppy socialization
- Cooperative care for grooming & vet visits
- Confidence-building for fearful or shy dogs
I LOVE helping people see who their dogs are. When we appreciate them as individuals and work to understand their side of the conversation training becomes something more.
Tiffany owns and operates The Working Dog, LLC and brings over 20 years of coaching experience and more than a decade of professional work with dog-handler teams. Her passion lies in helping both pet parents and working dog teams enjoy quality time and meaningful progress with their canine companions.
She holds multiple certifications and is committed to science-based, force-free methods. Tiffany continually pursues continuing education to provide up-to-date support, coaching, and education tailored to each team’s goals. When she’s not helping others reach their training milestones, Tiffany competes in a wide range of dog sports with her Newfoundlands—Gracie, Bowie, and Babs—including tricks, canine fitness, tracking, and draft work.
Qualifications
- Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner
- Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed
- American Kennel Club Temperament, Farm Dog, & Fetch Judge
- AKC Canine Good Citizen, Fitness & Trick Dog Evaluator
- Newfoundland Club of America Ambassador
- Pacific Northwest Newfoundland Club President
- Do More With Your Dog Trick, Fitness & Animal Actor Evaluator
- Volunteer: HOPE animal-assisted crisis response canine team retired
- Volunteer: Project Canine therapy dog team retired
- Volunteer: R.E.A.D. team
- American Society of Canine Trainers -training certificates