About Us

Maddisen Phelan

Owner/Founder, head trainer and groomer

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Maddisen's Credentials at a Glance

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• KPA-CTP: Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner

• CTDI: Certified Trick Dog Instructor

• Canadian Kennel Club member

• Certificate in Animal Care, Sheridan College

• Trish Loehr & Michael Shikashio Aggression in Dogs and Defensive Handling workshop

• Ontario Dog Groomers Association member

• President's Choice SuperDogs cast member

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Training Philosophy

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"We'll train you, and your best friend too!"

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Wizard of Paws uses only the most up-to-date science-based, positive methods to help individuals and families raise and train well-rounded pets. We teach dogs to love doing what our clients want them to do, so that they can feel good about their training results and how they were achieved. As a teacher, Maddisen is known for her patience and ability to make training easy and fun. Maddisen is determined when problem-solving and strives to get to the root of each problem.

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How Wizard of Paws Got It's Name

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Maddisen's interest in training began when she taught herself how to train her family's Miniature Schnauzer, Chester. She often found herself making jumps and obstacles out of objects found in the garage to teach agility in her backyard. A few years later, Maddisen learned of a dog training facility just down the road from her home. Her parents told her it was too late to start training an older dog, that he was over-weight and he wouldn't be able to do it, and to add to it, Chester was reactive towards other dogs, but Maddisen was determined, and she had her parents sign her up for obedience and agility lessons, which led to competing. Wizard Of Paws' mascot is Chester, after he gave Maddisen the inspiration and confidence to pursue her dream of working with dogs.

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Years later, she acquired a Border Collie, Rev, and began teaching him various tricks and behaviours through watching youtube videos, knowing over 300 today (one of which earned them a viral video). She began titling him in trick training and not long after that, he earned the title of "Trick Dog Champion" at just 4 months old. Since then, Rev has earned many Rally-Obedience titles and awards, became one of the top 3 finalists in World's Most Amazing Dog, has his own facebook page of nearly 40k followers, and has been in numerous commercials and media appearances.

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What Maddisen Does Now

Maddisen began assisting puppy training classes at Campaign Dog Academy and has worked with various shelter animals, from grooming the animals, to creating enrichment, and implementing behaviour modification plans using positive reinforcement. Maddisen has successfully completed the Karen Pryor Academy, one of the most widely recognized and arduous programs for dog trainers. Maddisen's central focus is helping dogs and their people enjoy each other to the fullest. She makes training simple, and teaches her clients how to train their dogs by incorporating simple training skills which aid in forming a stress-free environment for the family. She excels at finding fun, creative, and flexible ways to help her clients reach their training goals. Maddisen makes herself readily available to clients throughout the training process via email or phone. Maddisen is committed to quality over quantity when it comes to her work.

She enjoys learning about new behaviour and is continually seeking out new opportunities while staying up-to-date on the latest scientific understanding of canine behavior and training techniques by watching online seminars, reading books, and participating in continuing education seminars and workshops by leaders in the field.

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She a member of the President's Choice SuperDogs and spends her weekends traveling  Ontario performing at various venues with her two dogs, Rev and Fidget, while educating the public about positive reinforcement training. She is most well known for her trick training and musical freestyle dance performances. Maddisen has made many media appearances and been on the set of many commercials, films and print ads working as a wrangler and trainer for various animal species. In addition to her two dogs, Maddisen shares her home with two cats, Momo and Turbo.

Meet Our Staff

Meet Marica,

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Marica is one of our groomers and has been a groomer for over a year, but has been working with dogs for over 5 years. She attended Fluffy Paws grooming school in Richmond Hill. She has always been passionate about working with animals and grew up with fun and energetic dogs in her family home. Marica has three dogs, an Australian Shepherd, a Lab and a Shih-poo. Grooming is her passion and she can’t wait to meet and groom your furry little friend. Small to large, she loves them all! If you would like your pup to be groomed by Marica, you can request Marica upon booking.

Meet Christina,

Christina is our Assistant Groomer. Her interest in animals started at a young age and her real desire to pursue the animal care field started when she first volunteered with an animal shelter when she was in high school. This led to her pursuing and graduating from the Animal Care program at Sheridan College. She is a committed individual with a passion for grooming. Christina has 2 rescued Yorkshire Terriers named Duke and Cooper, a cat that she rescued from a tractor trailer lot named Diesel, and a leopard gecko named Pinky. Christina is perfecting her grooming skills and looks forward to grooming your fur-babies.

Meet Emma,
 

Emma is passionate about canine learning and behaviour. She is one of our private training instructors. She has an MSc in Animal Behaviour and Welfare from the University Guelph, and is a student at Jean Donaldson’s prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers. As an instructor of agility and obedience classes, Emma has helped dogs of all breeds learn to work as a team with their people. While learning the practical side of dog training by apprenticing under experienced mentors, Emma also earned a BSc in psychology from the University of Toronto, where she focused on studying canine cognition. She has a smooth collie named Tristan who goes with her almost everywhere, and together they have competed in rally obedience and agility. Emma is always eager to share her knowledge of science-based training with you.

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Meet Chloe,

Chloe is a total animal lover and dog training nerd. She is our "Camp Paws" camp counsellor. She is currently a student in the Academy for Dog Trainer’s rigorous 2 year program run by Jean Donaldson. Before this she completed Karen Pryor Academy's Comprehensive dog training course and is dog First Aid Certified. She is constantly learning more by reading books, attending conferences, and taking courses. If she isn’t training dogs you’ll probably find her hiking, rock climbing, or painting with her Blue Heeler, Yoko. To learn more follow her on Instagram @chloeandpups.