Meet Dawn Falk, a self-proclaimed dog-loving dog-a-holic and owner of Cloud Nine Training School for Dogs. Dawn has been living with, raising, training, showing, breeding, rescuing and rehabbing dogs for more 40 years, and she has spent much of that time helping other people learn how to do the same. Currently Dawn shares her home and life with a Black Lab, Border Collies, an English Toy Spaniel, some Toy Fox Terriers, a Mini American Shepherd, a handful of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and her very tolerant husband, Mark. Dawn has trained all her dogs to be excellent and well-mannered companions/household pets, and many have also earned titles in obedience, Rally-O, agility, scent work, and trick dog. A couple of Dawn's dogs have become certified and working Search and Rescue dogs and some also have served as Therapy Dogs. On her way to creating Cloud Nine, Dawn spent a dozen years raising and training service and hearing dogs and also studying graduate-level operant condition with Bob and Marian Bailey using chickens as training models. Dawn's goal with Cloud Nine has always been to offer force-free, science-based, motivational training to help people bond with and enjoy a well-mannered dog. It's all about the connection.

My first dog, Gidget, helped me find Cloud 9 and fall in love with agility. My second dog, Gracie, got me to really educate myself on dog behavior and training. I not only have learned a lot, but I have discovered that what I have learned can help other people with their dogs. Both my dogs are mixed breeds. Gidget is most likely a Sheltie/Papillon mix and Gracie is a Border Collie/Australian Cattle Dog mix. They are both mostly white with black spots. We adopted Gidget as an eight-week old puppy from Safe Hands Animal Rescue and Gracie as a seven-month old adolescent from Border Collie Rescue of MN. I have trained both dogs in obedience and agility and have earned various titles with them. We mostly do AKC agility, where the girls run in the Master classes, but Gracie also has a couple of CPE titles and I have shown her at a USDAA trial. Gidget has her AKC and CDSP Companion Dog obedience titles, and Gracie has her CD in CDSP and a couple rally titles in WCRL. We have also dabbled in nose work and lure coursing. When we brought Gracie home I quickly discovered that she had some issues – the biggest being her reactivity to other dogs, but there were others as well. I wasn’t prepared for this. I sent Dawn and Gracie’s foster mom many emails asking for help. With their advice and lots of Cloud 9 classes, Gracie started to improve and become a pretty good family pet. That’s when I asked Dawn how I could work towards becoming a trainer so I could be in a position to help other owners with dogs like Gracie. I started apprenticing at Cloud 9, and I read everything I could get my hands on regarding dog training and behavior. When I applied what I learned to everyday life with Gracie, she started to improve even more and I’m both glad and proud to report that living with her became easier. Before long, Gracie was able to be around other dogs and start competing at trials. There will always be work to do with Gracie that involves management and planning ahead, but I will forever be grateful for the dog training path on which she started me. I attended the University of Minnesota where I earned my BS in biology and a minor in general management. After college I was a veterinary assistant for six years, where I gained experience working with all sorts of dogs and cats. I enjoyed making the scary experience of visiting the vet as pleasant as possible, and I learned how to better understand the pets and to help put them at ease. My husband and I welcomed triplets to our family in April 2015. They are a joy and keep us busy! I can’t wait to share all I am learning about raising kids in a family with dogs. So far Gidget and Gracie do very well with them! My dog training blog: http://myagilityjourney.blogspot.com/

By 1990, I started training for St. Paul Dog Training Club. I taught Beginning Obedience for 12 years at St. Paul and also at Animal Inn, during which time I titled other dogs, including my first Obedience Trial Champion. In 1996, I started training Agility. Also in 1996, I applied for and was certified as an AKC Obedience Trial Judge. In 2003, I competed in the AKC’s National Obedience Championship and national Agility Championship in Long Beach California on the same weekend. Only about 15 teams have participated in both simultaneously in the history of the sport. I’ve been a part of three Obedience Trial Champion, Master Agility Champion (OTCH MACH) teams and I’m working on my fourth. Since I began teaching in 1990, I’ve taught all levels of Obedience, Rally and Excellent/Master levels of agility. I conduct seminars on Obedience competition handling and judging and have judged all over North America and the Bahamas. When not training, running, or judging dogs, I am a Residential Realtor with Edina Realty, a father of two, a grandfather of seven, and a husband of one. I also write novels, (three so far), and create stained glass pieces.

Candace joined Cloud Nine in 2018 when we moved to our current location in Maple Grove. Candy's main breed is the German Shepherd Dog, but she also has a Bernese Mountain Dog and a little mix breed guy named Thor. Candy’s first love is the breed ring where she excels at all things conformation handling, having shown Swissies, Berners, and GSDs for the most part and having earned multiple breed championships, grand championships, multiple group placements, best in futurity, and she was a national breed finalist. At Cloud Nine, Candy teaches the conformation handling classes, obedience classes, Puppy Agility Games, and our CGC Prep and Eval class. She is also an AKC Trick Dog and CGC evaluator. At home in Chisago, also the home of Black Cove Kennels and board/train services, Candy enjoys bonfires, boating, and tending to her chickens with husband, Mike.