Board of Directors

Tracy Atkins, CDT, CDTA, PDTI, has been training other people’s dogs since 1989 when she volunteered for a local animal shelter.

Tracy honed her craft in professional dog training with Guide Dogs of Texas, GDT starting in 1990. There she offered her skills as a Puppy Walker, Puppy Walker Supervisor, Dallas/Fort Worth Volunteer Coordinator and Guide Dog Puppy Evaluator until 1994. She continued to serve as a lecturer and Combined Federal Campaign Fund Raising speaker for Guide Dogs of Texas until 2001.

She was honored to be a guest lecturer for the Psychology Department of the prestigious Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA, instructing students of both human and animal behavior the practical application of operant conditioning.

Her vast list of clients includes professional athletes, entertainment producers, children's television creators, prominent business people, veterinarians, retired couples, veterans, public servants, stay-at-home parents and everyone in-between. Tracy is respected by her clients due to her ability to identify and explain behavioral and developmental issues. Her focused, fun, clear manner makes it easy to follow her program to achieve rapid results.

For thirty years Tracy has helped her clients by applying a wholistic approach to problem solving. Using eclectic techniques, knowledge, and experience, she is able to direct appropriate and complementary training regimes for each individual dog and owner. Tracy seeks to teach each owner the joy of a well-trained, well-mannered best friend.

Tracy and her family reside outside of Houston, Texas. Her three best dog friends are three best dog friends are Redie, Willing and Mabel (a working Therapy Dog).

Tracy joined the IACP in 2000, attending many annual conferences. In 2015, she was awarded an Ambassadorship for IACP. She looks forward to continuing her involvement in the IACP as a Board Member.

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After a 36-year career in federal law enforcement, Rick pursued his passion: dog training. Rick has been a professional member of the IACP since 2012 and has served on the Board of Directors, since September 2018. He is currently the Vice President and serves as Director Oversight of the Service Dog Committee and previously helped to create and start the Legislative Committee.

Rick is a Volhard Dog Nutrition Affiliate, performs pro-bono work for local Cape Cod rescues, Volunteer for the Dennis Police Department, Volunteer for Friends of Cape Wildlife and was appointed by the Town of Brewster Select Board as a member of the Brewster Dog Park Development Committee and is currently an Officer of the nonprofit, Friends of Brewster Dog Park who run the dog park.

In his spare time, Rick enjoys leisurely back road rides on his Harley Davidson, honing his firearms skills at a local range, and most importantly, exploring Cape Cod beaches and nature trails with his Belgian Malinois’, Tia and Ace.

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Christine Hixson, IACP-CDT-CDTA-PDTI, AKC-Evaluator, K9-Noseworks ®, ABC-Mentor, ATF-NORT Evaluator, and 2002 graduate of Barry University with a bachelor’s degree in business leadership, has been an active canine professional for 25 years.  Christine’s journey with dogs began as a child fostering strays in her neighborhood and was not easily swayed regardless of a few bites encountered along the way.  Her desire to work with dogs in her law enforcement career came true upon completion of a DHS-FPS Explosives Canine Handler’s course at Auburn University in 2004.  Her thirst for knowledge and self-improvement propelled her to aggressively seek as many advanced training opportunities as possible with other government and state, and law enforcement K9 train-the-trainer programs covering a vast array of different methods, techniques, tools, equipment, and national certifications.

During her law enforcement canine career, she was a liaison lead trainer for the early inception of the non-law enforcement Miami TSA explosives canine program.  Christine was a coordinator for the South Florida Joint-Agency Working K9 Group comprised of federal, county, and city police explosives canine handers weekly training.   Christine also served as DHS-FPS Regional K9 Coordinator requiring extensive mediation between K9 handlers in the field and management personnel unfamiliar with working dogs, the importance of rigorous recurring dog training schedule to maintain the K9 team’s proficiency, quarterly procurement for K9 teams health care contracts, food, specialized tools-equipment-supplies, track each handlers required continued education training, and scheduled regional K9 team annual certifications. 

Christine joined IACP in June 2008, completed her CDT in 2009, was an IACP Director 2010, IACP Ethics Liaison as needed, and volunteer on Education and Certification since 2011.   Christine retired in September 2019, after 33 years of government service and has since then rededicated those hours back to IACP Education and Certification since 2020 as Chairperson.  

Christine and her husband enjoy sampling new foods, comedy shows, and traveling with their two dogs, Tom, a black Labrador (retired K9); and Sarah, a Malinois. 

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John Imler walked away from a successful position at a Fortune 500 company and turned a lifelong passion of working with animals into a career.

Laura is a certified dog trainer (IACP-CDT) and previously served the IACP as the Chair of the Therapy Dog Committee before stepping into her role as the Director Oversight for the Therapy Dog Committee.

Since the age of 18, my life revolved around the legal system as a legal secretary, then paralegal. My strength in  that field was research and interpreting the law as it applied to specific cases. I worked full-time while working  towards my Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice at Florida International University. My hobby throughout  all of those years was helping family, friends and neighbors train their dogs through proper communication,  boundaries and structure. 

In 2017, at the age of 50, I gave up my long-standing career as a paralegal to pursue my passion of training  dogs. After doing extensive research, the obvious choice for me was to contact CATCH Canine Trainers  Academy and become a professional dog trainer through their program. During my studies, I had the privilege  of doing my externship with the amazing trainers at Applause Your Paws here in Miami, FL and, upon  graduation, was hired by my CATCH mentor, Dee Hoult, as one of her private lesson trainers. 

As a professional trainer for Applause Your Paws, I primarily work with clients and their dogs through private  lessons specializing in puppy training and socialization, basic obedience and behavior modification of issues like  separation anxiety, reactivity to humans, dogs or other animals, fear, etc. I also teach group classes for all  levels. In addition, I have professionally trained service dogs for individuals with mobility and psychiatric  disabilities. 

To continue to expand my knowledge and further my education, I have attended workshops, seminars and  certifications such as Victoria Warfel’s NePoPo Service Dog School, Lauren Turner’s NePoPo Theory  Workshop, Victoria Stilwell’s Dog Behavior Conference, Michael Shikashio’s Aggression in Dogs Master  Course. 

I have volunteered in animal shelters, helping staff and potential adopters better understand canine body  language and behavior. 

I am an associate member of the IACP (International Association of Canine Professionals) and currently sit as  Chairperson of their Legislative Committee. I obtained my CPDT-KA through the Certification Counsel for  Professional Dog Trainers in October, 2020 and became an AKC CGC Evaluator in 2021. 

I currently share my home in Miami Beach, Florida with my husband and light mobility service dog, Pepper, my 8-year old Schnauzer. 

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Tori is a proud alumna of the University of Cincinnati where she graduated with honors and a BBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship as well as a Certificate in Deaf Studies. Upon graduation from UC, Tori attended National K-9 Learning Center's Master Course in Columbus, Ohio and graduated as a Certified Professional Trainer (CPT) with all 12 offered endorsements. Education is one of Tori's passions, so she prioritizes traveling to conferences, workshops, and seminars across the country. 

With a love for changing relationships between owners and dogs, Tori owns and operates Pawlished Dog Training, LLC in Mentor, Kentucky, just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. Pawlished primarily focuses on pet dog training ranging from puppy classes to leash reactivity and everything in between. Tori's dream has always been to start a non-profit that donates service dogs to individuals in need. She is well on her way to co-creating this second venture and making her 20 year old dream come true. 

Tori became a member of the International Association for Canine Professionals (IACP) in December of 2014. She served as a Legislative Watchdog before joining the Legislative Committee in 2019.

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​I was born in Nightingale Grove, Jamaica, in 1977. My father and my grandfather were farmers. I spent my early years around dogs, cats, cows, goats, and other common farm animals. I was taught to respect all living things, but I always had a special relationship with dogs.

When we came to America, we were not able to own a dog. So I spent a lot of time in my neighbors’ yards playing with their dogs. As a child, stray dogs regularly followed me home until my mother put an end to that. (It was the eighties; it was pretty common to see stray dogs in my neighborhood.)

As I grew older and was still unable to get a dog, other things, like music, captured my attention. So, in 1996 I attended Berklee College of Music, where I studied jazz composition and performance. During that time, I started a private study of the Tao or the way things are. (The Chinese philosophy of Taoism.) These studies, along with the great environment that I was lucky enough to grow up in, tremendously influenced how I see the world and how I see and understand dogs.

In 2008 my wife Nil and I formally started Argos Pet Care Specialists. At that point, Nil and I started our life with dogs. We had dogs around us from early in the morning to nighttime almost every day. We enjoyed it, and we learned from our experiences. I started to watch dogs closely, to study them. I started to learn about different training methods. I read everything about dogs that I could. I read about dog body language and behavior, and I would see the body language and behavior of the dogs around me. I started to naturally teach the dogs not to pull on the leash when I walked them, not to jump up on me, and I taught them tricks. My love and understanding of dogs continue to grow.

Shortly after, I was lucky enough to be able to attend the National K-9 School for Dog Trainers in Columbus, Ohio, where I was able to learn from Bob Jervis (30 yrs. of dog training, and a lot of years training trainers, at the time) and Chris Altier (10 yrs. of dog training, and 10 years of training trainers, at the time.) I took the “Master Trainer” course and learned a lot. My focus was and is on communication, puppy development, and behavior modification. However, the course went far beyond that. At the end of the course, I was designated a Certified Professional Trainer with the following endorsements: Basic Obedience, Advanced Obedience, Behavior Modification, Utility, Breed Identification, Puppy Development, Tracking, Scent Detection, Retrieval, Personal Protection, Police K9. I also became a member of two worldwide Trainer Associations: the National K9 Dog Trainers Association and the International Association of Canine Professionals.

I am the owner and president of Argos Dog Training for the entire time that the company has been providing training services. We have never changed our company name. Our reputation is well known, and our successes are well documented.

I have been a member of the IACP for 10 contiguous years. During that time I have attended many conferences and seminars. I have learned a lot from the members of this organization and I intend to pay that forward by helping where it is felt that I can be most effective.