Established 2009
Brothers and Sisters in Arms Dog Training, Inc.
Training Service Dogs for Active Duty Military, Veterans
First Responders and their families
Trainers
Deb Cawley - Lead Dog Trainer, Leesville, LA
Deb has been active in dogs and training all her life. She is a certified dog trainer with NADOI (National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors) In 1986 she became interested in competitive Obedience and Herding. She apprenticed under a NADOI instructor. She has worked in obedience, conformation, herding, therapy and service dogs. She started breeding and showing Papillons in 1992. She has served on committees as well as on the Board of the Papillon Club of America. In 2008 she began working also with the Russian Toy. She was President of the Russian Toy Club of America for nine years and worked on getting the Russian Toy accepted into AKC.
Deb has been training both individual and group obedience classes since 1989. She has also worked with local rescues in Louisiana, at one time running foster care and the hot line for the local humane society which covered two parishes (counties), She has also worked rescue with breed clubs.
AKC CGC Evaluator #95895
NADOI Certified Trainer #1134
Certified Mental Health Responder
Amara Heaton, Leesville LA
Amara has been training classes for BASDT since 2018. She is the daughter of Deb and so grew up in the conformation and obedience/training world. She began showing dogs at five years old. She is very knowledgeable of many different breeds. She doesn't remember not training obedience as it has always been a part of her life.
Lola Rhodes, Mansura, LA
Lola has been training classes for BASDT since 2021. She completed our ShadowTrainer course and trained a pug. All ShadowTrainers are required to train a service dog either for themselves or to be placed with a veteran.
Jim Josker, Lake Charles, LA
Jim is our liaison for the Angola Prison Dog Program, PAWS. He works with the prison dogs once they are placed with a veteran handler. The dogs know what to do, it's training the handlers!
Savannah Dobose, Einsteins K9 Dog Training, DeRidder, LA
Savannah is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer and owner of Einstein k9s Dog Training in Deridder. She's been training dogs for 10 years now with an additional 5 years of experience in horses and other animals. In the last 10 years of dog training, she has made it her mission to be as knowledgeable as possible to help as many dogs and their owners as possible. To show this, she has completed several courses, seminars, and certifications to better extend her expertise in canine science and training.
She is also over the Beauregard Parish 4H Dog Club, where she helps teach the new generations all about dogs and how to work with them.
Destiny Bell, Happy Tails of SETX, Orange TX
14 - 17 July 2024 July once again saw us at the Association of Service Dogs for Military Veterans Conference, this year in St. Charles, MO. Continued education and staying up to date with new laws, concerns, and research results are very important to us. This year trainers, Deb, Amara, Destiny, Jake, a new trainer who is in-processing, and Karol, our treasurer, were all able to go.
This was the Association's 7th conference. Deb has been to all but one, Amara and Karol to all but two. Destiny and Jake are new and already looking forward to going next year.
Amara and Jake with Zuko, who thought sleeping through the classes was the most fun, at the Conference.
