DENISE HERMAN
Denise Herman is the founder and head trainer for Empire of the Dog.
Denise is a Valedictorian Graduate of the San Francisco Academy for Dog Trainers, under the direction of renowned author and dog expert, Jean Donaldson (The Culture Clash and Dogs are from Neptune). She was a staff trainer at the SF SPCA and instructed for Petco, California and Andrea Arden in Manhattan. In 2004 Denise authored a series of CLICKER TRAINING KITS for the Nylabone® company, and is the resident pet expert at DOGPUBLIC.COM and also writes for thenest.com

JESSICA LEONARD
Empire of the Dog is proud to have guest trainer Jessica Leonard on our roster. Jessica graduated from the SF SPCA's Academy for dog trainers, with honors in 1999 and worked as a full time dog trainer and behavior counselor at the San Francisco SPCA for many years following her graduation. Jessica specialized in small dogs and founded the first small dog classes at the SF SPCA.
In 2005 Jessica founded "SMALL DOG'S BIG DAY", the bay area's first formal small dogs only daycare and training facility. If you would like to schedule a lesson directly with Jessica, you can email her HERE.

Melisa Arbitman
Melissa Arbitman graduated from the SF SPCA's Academy for Pet Dog Trainers with honors in 2009. For the past 8 years she has worked with dog rescue organizations and walked dogs in New York City. In 2007 she completed an internship at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, the largest no-kill sanctuary in the country. She has volunteers with the organization World Vets, which provides veterinary care and spay/neuter surgery to animals all over the world in need, going to Panama and Romania to assist on these missions.

Jo Anne Basinger

Jennifer Bitkower

VIEW New York Daily News article about classes Denise teaches

Denise has written for the award winning Bark Magazine and epinions.com online. She has appeared on NY1, WNBC New York and ANIMAL PLANET. Last March, Denise and Empire of the Dog were profiled in DOGFANCY magazine's "A day in the Life" series. Denise stays active in dog rescue and works with several rescue and adoption groups incluiding Waggy Tail Rescue, Dog Habitat.org, Red Hook Dog Rescueand Animal Haven Shelter. We are also proud to work with the Mayor's Alliance for Animals to provide discounts for dog's adopted from our city's shelters. In the year 2000 Denise pioneered NYC's first small dog classes and playgroups through Andrea Arden Dog Training in 2000.

More on Denise's education.
See what our clients have to say about us at citysearch.com and Yelp.com. Visit our FACEBOOK GROUP for dog trivia and dog related updates

Click here to See Denise's trained dog in action! 1.2MB