Behavior Team of Sacramento, CA

Elizabeth Friedl, Fear Free Certified, Certified Professional Pet Sitter

Professional Dog Trainer and Behavioral Pet Sitter

Elizabeth is a force-free dog trainer and pet sitter based in Sacramento, California. She specializes in empowered leash skills (for both ends of the leash), reactivity and over-excitement, enrichment, and at-home management. She helps clients see their dogs as whole and sentient beings, addressing not only behavior but also the environment, enrichment, and nutrition.

As a professional dog trainer, she uses empowering leash skills to help clients build better relationships with their dogs and give them more agency and autonomy.  She believes the learner is the leader and training should be individualized, compassionate, humane, and scientifically supported.

As a professional pet sitter, she provides services for animals with behavioral and medical needs, including separation anxiety day care and animals with reactivity, fear, and anxiety. Her care allows her clients to enjoy time away from home and know their pets are with a sitter who truly understands their unique needs.

Specialties:

• Empowered leash skills
• BAT (Behavior Adjustment Training)
• Reactivity
• Enrichment
• At-home management

Erika Liljefelt, CTBC, CSAP-BC, ADDP

Professional Dog Trainer and Behavior Consultant

Erika offers remote services globally and in-person services in the San Jose, CA, area. She is a force-free, multi-certified dog professional who takes a holistic approach when working with dogs and their guardians. She believes that all dogs and their people deserve to be treated with kindness, compassion, and empathy, and she takes a bottom-up approach to look deeper at why a dog might be behaving in a particular way.

She specializes in canine pain assessments to look for those subtle signs of pain that are often missed but that may cause or exacerbate such behavioral issues as separation anxiety, reactivity, aggression, resource guarding, and so much more.

Erika is available to give webinars and online classes on separation anxiety in dogs and the pain–behavior connection in dogs.

She is a proud member of the Pet Professional Guild, Project tRade, and the Shock-Free Coalition.

Specialties:

• Canine pain assessments
• Separation anxiety

Contact details:

Relax, Rover

🌐 https://www.relaxrover.com

📧 [email protected]

Kavita Gaglani

Certified Dog Behavior Consultant, High-Drive Dog Specialist, Certified Canine Nutritionist

I run The Driven Dog, specializing in behavior and training for high-drive and working-breed dogs. I focus on behavior change and tailored training plans that help owners better understand their dog, improve impulse control, and create calmer, less chaotic and more balanced lives together.

Alongside training and behavior work, I also offer canine nutrition support, recognizing the important role diet plays in behavior, well-being, and overall performance. My work is centered on long-term success and the overall health and well-being for both dogs and their people.

Specialties:

• Nutrition
• High-drive dogs

Contact details:

The Driven Dog

🌐 http://www.the-driven-dog.com

📧 [email protected]

Daniel Quagliozzi

Certified Feline Behavior and Training Specialist

Daniel “DQ” Quagliozzi is the Certified Feline Behavior and Training Specialist behind Go Cat Go—San Francisco’s leading in-home and remote resource for modern cat behavior advice and guidance. He has over two decades of experience working for the San Francisco SPCA and San Francisco Animal Care and Control as a specialist in cat behavior, intake and adoption, plus 15 years working privately with cat guardians in their homes and online. DQ is certified in feline behavior, training, health and nutrition through The Animal Behavior Institute.

Specialties:

• Resolving cat-to-cat or cat-to-dog conflict
• Litter box avoidance
• Spraying/marking
• In-home behavior assessments and lifestyle counseling for humans

Contact details:

Go Cat Go!

🌐 https://gocatgosf.com

📧 [email protected]

Lindsay Dellas, CTBC, CPDT-KA, FFCP

Professional Dog Trainer and Behavior Consultant

Since 2017, Lindsay Dellas has been a dedicated force-free and fear-free dog trainer and behavior consultant. A graduate of the Dog Training Internship Academy, Lindsay takes a holistic approach that gets to the root of behavioral issues to create lasting, effective change.

Lindsay specializes in working with reactive and aggressive dogs, and dogs showing various signs of anxiety and fearfulness. She also has a passion for helping senior dogs live their best lives. Her thoughtful methodology focuses on opening clear lines of communication between dogs and their guardians, ensuring both ends of the leash can thrive together.

As a lifelong learner who holds extensive continuing education credits, Lindsay believes that collaboration with other dog professionals is critical to achieving the best outcomes. Her compassionate, science-based approach has helped countless families transform challenging behaviors into confident, happy relationships.

Specialties:

• Reactivity
• Aggression, including dogs with bite histories
• Anxiety and fearfulness
• Senior dog care

Contact details:

Good Dog Happy Dog

🌐 https://gooddoghappy.dog/

📧 [email protected]

M. Cecilia Sternzon, CPDT-KA

Dog Trainer and Behavior Consultant

With over 20 years of professional experience in dog training, Cecilia stays on top of the latest scientific discoveries in learning and behavior with consistent continuing education.

Cecilia started training her own dogs at the age of 12. But it was years later that she joined the profession of dog training. In 1992, she joined a dog sports club and began teaching pet dog training classes to support the club. Working part time in dog training, she earned her CPDT (Certified Professional Dog Trainer) in 2003.

In 2004 she launched her full-time business, Canine Higher Learning, offering dog training and behavior consulting. Through her business, she also now manages the group dog training programs at the Humane Society Silicon Valley in Milpitas, California.

Cecilia employs only the most modern, science-based, dog-friendly (and people-friendly) training methods. In her personal life, she also trains cats, horses, rabbits, chickens, and more.

Cecilia has been a member of the Pet Professional Guild since 2018 and a member of the Association for Professional Dog Trainers since 2003.

Melissa-Lynn Stamm, BA, CPDT-KA, UW-AAB

Animal Behavior Consultant and Trainer

Melissa-Lynn Stamm is an animal behavior consultant and trainer specializing in complex canine behavior. For the past 10 years, she has dedicated herself to improving the welfare of pets and their owners through education and compassionate training. A highlight of her work has been rehabilitating dogs with extreme behavioral challenges, helping restore quality of life for both the animal and their family.

Melissa-Lynn is passionate about continuing her education and collaborating with like-minded professionals in the field. She also specializes in service dog training, with experience working alongside individuals requiring PTSD support, diabetes alert dogs, and hearing dogs. She strongly believes in educating the public about service dog work to help create safer, more supportive environments for both handlers and their animals.

Specialties:

• Aggression
• Anxiety
• Animal assisted activities (CGC and service dogs)

Contact details:

📧 [email protected]

Jennifer Davidson

Professional Dog Trainer

Jennifer Davidson is a humane, reward-based dog trainer with over 15 years of experience helping dogs and their people build stronger relationships through positive-reinforcement training. Her love of dog training began at eight years old with her very first dog, and she began seriously pursuing training and behavior work in her late teens.

Jennifer specializes in puppies, adolescent dogs, real-world manners, and reactivity cases, with a strong focus on confidence building, enrichment, engagement, and practical life skills. She believes training should support both the emotional well-being of the dog and the goals of the owner, while creating lasting teamwork between them.

Jennifer is a member of the Pet Professional Guild and the Association of Professional Dog Trainers. She is also a graduate of Susan G. Friedman’s Living and Learning with Animals program and continues to pursue ongoing education in canine behavior and training.

• Puppies
• Adolescence
• Reactivity

• Real-world manners

Contact details:

Paws-A-Tive Dog Training

🌐 https://www.smpawsativedogtraining.com

📧 [email protected]