Our Mission
We aim to provide the public with a comprehensive directory of pet-related businesses that have pledged to adhere to force free, humane training and handling methods with the animals they work with. We will provide education to the public and pet industry professionals on the benefits and application of force free methods.
Meet the board
The Alberta Force Free Alliance is run by a team of people committed to improving the lives of pets and their people through force free handling and training methods. Board members volunteer their time at events around the province and are dedicated to bringing force-free methods to all corners of Alberta
| Dogs have always been a central part of Chasity’s life and propelled her into the rescue and training world. During her work in rescue, she met an outstanding behaviour consultant and started a two-year apprenticeship program. She quickly became hooked on the science of cognitive learning theory and impressed with how quickly her dogs learned using it. Chasity offers behaviour and training services to Edmonton and area through Redefining Rover. |
 | Melissa started her training career using the popular aversive techniques she saw being used around her. Now, she considers the mistakes she made to be a learning experience, and uses them as motivation to continue her education in animal behaviour. She is very passionate about the force free movement and getting the best education possible in the field. Melissa helps dogs in central Alberta through her training business Method Matters and is the founder and president of Through Your Pets Eyes Rescue. |
| Ashton began working with dogs in 2008, learning and working in all things dog while completing her BSc in Companion and Performance Animal Science. Working in many different environments taught her the value in science based and force free training methods. Ashton holds her CPDT-KA and is committed to helping dogs and humans learn to become a strong team built on mutual admiration and trust. Ashton owns and operates Pup Culture Canine Coaching. |
 | Annette’s journey with dog training began when she rescued her dog, Bear. Bear suffered from anxiety, trauma and fear due to his past and it took a lot of work to help him start to heal but his progress really inspired Annette. She saw first-hand how effective and rewarding force-free dog training could be and decided to do a hard pivot in her career and become a professional dog trainer. Annette is a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner and also holds her BA in Sociology from the University of British Columbia. She is the founder of Up Up Dog Training in Calgary and is committed to empowering dogs and their guardians so they can live a freedom-filled life based on trust and understanding. |
| Jaymie fell in love with dog training when she worked at PetSmart nearly 10 years ago. Being one who loves all animals and their behavour, she was the go to person to ask for behaviour concerns and decided to presue a career in training and got a certificate from ICS college. She did a mentorship with a local trainer who has over like 25 yrs experience. When the mentorship was completed she started her own busienss Paws On Training. She continues to take courses, webinars and semiars to continue to learn and grow in her passion. |
| Katharina Zinggl Board Member | Growing up in the competitive equestrian world of Austria, it’s no surprise Kate found her love in dog sports once she got her Sheltie Finn in 2018. Having a sensitive dog, she focused on positive reinforcement training from the get-go and also prioritized immersing herself in the force-free dog sport community when moving to Canada in 2019. Today, Kate is a CARO Rally judge, promoting force-free dog training and fostering a welcoming trial environment at every opportunity she can get – no matter if rally, agility or obedience. |
| Nicole Sapalovski Board Member | Nicole has been involved in animal activism since 2015 advocating for various species of nonhuman animals and began volunteering with dogs back in 2015 in South Korea when she was teaching English. She has spent some time at shelters with dogs there as well as in Mexico and the US. In 2018, Nicole spent 6 months working at Animal Aid Unlimited in India where they treat and provide a shelter for dogs who call the street their homes along with other nonhuman animals in need of care. She spent 2 years working at a shelter just outside of Toronto and worked daily with various dogs who landed in the shelter at no fault of their own. This was an incredibly eye-opening experience. She learned so much about body language, behaviour and was exposed to the dark side of "training" with aversive methods being used. That was the catalyst that led her into reading, researching and participating in webinars about dog behaviour, ethical training methods and truly understanding the science and above all, that compassion and respect should always guide our interactions with these beings. Nicole hopes to pursue her dog training certification with the Karen Pryor Academy some day! She currently volunteers in Canine Care at the Toronto Humane Society! |
 | Fern Aarsen Board Member | Fern has always been around dogs and rescues, in 2020 she got her first COVID puppy and life changed as she knew it. From doing her puppy classes and working in a force fee daycare she has been an advocate for force free from the beginning as she saw first hand how helpful it has been. Fern has become a Virtual Assistant so that she could work from home and give her dog the best life possible. Fern loves learning about dog training and loves to be fully immersed in the dog world, from flyball to disc Fern just lives in Annie's (her dog) world. |
| From our Founder My name is Carol Neil. I am a trainer, behaviour consultant, founder, and past President of the Alberta Force Free Alliance. I have been endeavoring to increase my education in the science of animal learning and behaviour since 2011, by doing workshops and classes with amazing people such as Dr. Sophia Yin, Dr. Karen Overall, Dr. Susan Friedman, Grisha Stewart, Michael Shikashio, and many more. It was not always this way. I initially became involved in the world of dog training in 2009 after being passionately inspired by watching Cesar Millan on his National Geographic sponsored TV show, The Dog Whisperer. I diligently watched every episode of his television show repeatedly, read all of his books, did his online courses, attended his live appearances, and was saving money to go down to California to receive a certification through him. At that time, I fully believed in his approach, I thought it was incredible. I used his methods with my own dogs and was seeing fast and quick compliance. I quit my job of almost 30 years in the corporate world, printed up business cards, and started taking on clients, teaching what I had learned from Cesar… “Be the Alpha…the Pack Leader”. It was easy enough to do. There is no regulation in the professional world of dog training and no requirements whatsoever to have any credentialed education in the science of canine learning and behaviour. Shortly thereafter, I began working as a trainer at my local Humane Society and soon moved into a role as a behaviour specialist. Still passionate and believing I knew everything there was to know about canine behaviour, I felt unstoppable. While there, I adopted my dog, Cash. Cash was a big powerful bully breed. He was stunningly beautiful, was the sweetest boy with my husband and myself, but had some relatively minor behavioural issues…over-arousal in play at daycare and being pushy with other dogs as well as showing some signs of nervousness and reactivity towards unfamiliar to him people. Looking to my beloved Cesar for advice, I followed his recommendations of pinning and alpha rolling him for his undesired behaviours, as well as poking, back kicking, leash popping, and finally, following the advice in one of his books, using a shock collar on him in the dog daycare I worked at when he didn’t listen and was being pushy with other dogs. It wasn’t too long before he suddenly turned on an old harmless chocolate lab and attacked him. It took two of us almost five minutes to get Cash to let go of the poor dog. The damage was substantial enough that he almost ripped the dog’s ear off. Needless to say, I was devastated. What was I doing wrong? Maybe I wasn’t being enough of a Pack Leader! Now, Cash started attacking one of my other dogs at home and the attacks were increasing in regularity and intensity. It was at this time that I was introduced to a gentleman who had his Master’s in Ethology and had worked with dogs for 35 years. This was the starting point of my true education in canine behaviour. Learning the science of how dogs think and learn, turned my world upside down. I started to understand how my use of old school punishment and dominance-based methods had tipped Cash’s responses into aggression. Now, not only was I starting to work on helping Cash learn different responses, I was working to undo the emotional and psychological damage I had done with the use of the shock collar and confrontational correction-based methods. I worked very hard with Cash for the next year and a half. We saw improvement little by little. He had gone from attacking my sweet dog, Luke, up to seven times a day, down to once every couple of months. That said, in those couple of final incidents, we had grandkids visiting that made things scary and dangerous. He was not safe to rehome. I did the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Sobbing, I stood with him and comforted him as the Humane Society euthanized him. I still wonder to this day, what he would have been like had I not used the old school methods with him that, unbeknownst to me at the time, science had been recommending against the use of for many years now. I shared Cash’s story whenever I presented the Alliances’ half-day Why Force Free seminar around the province. To this day, I have never been able to tell the finale of his story without breaking down. It is because of Cash, whose image is in our logo, that I formed and started the Alberta Force Free Alliance in 2016. A society that provides dog owners in Alberta with a directory of force-free and humane dog-related businesses, as well as having a mission to provide inexpensive and easily accessible education in scientifically researched and backed approaches to working with dogs. I started the Alberta Force Free Alliance to bring about positive change in the world of dog training and to help other owners and their dogs avoid going down the same tragic road as I did with my boy, Cash. |
