Jennen has been involved in training her own dogs and an assistant in other classes for many years. When our new Green Meadows location opened, she decided to take over as the head training and lead classes on her own. She was recently named the "Best Trainer in Missouri - 2023" and one of the "Top 5 Trainers in the United States" through Sniffspot.
Jennen is certified through the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers. She is a member of the Pet Professional Guild, Association of Professional Dog Trainers, and International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. She is Fear Free Certified, an approved AKC evaluator, and a Dog Bite Prevention Educator through the Doggone Safe Program. She has completed courses in Empowerment and Handling Skills which includes safety and handling, canine communication, recognizing fear/stress/anxiety and defensive handling. She also is dog/cat CPR/first aid certified. She is currently enrolled at the Grisha Stewart Academy working towards her CBATI-KA designation. She is really excited to bring these training methods into the program. She hopes to be finished this fall.
In May 2021, Jennen graduated with a Masters degree in Public Health through the University of Missouri choosing to go with the veterinary path. Her goal is to work with the community through workshops and low cost training to help keep dogs in homes and out of shelters, saving more animals in the long run. She has created a few programs that work with both kids and adults to help them learn how to read their body language and the situation to reduce the chance of dog bites.
She has loved starting the training program here at Lizzi & Rocco’s. It has been very fun and educational for both her and the students in her class. She looks forward to continuing to work with dogs and train them to be the best pets they can be.
Meet Your Four-Legged Instructors
Margot Herbst - CGC, NA, NAJ, TKN
Head Influencer Entertainment Manager Master of Sass
Margot is an approximately 11 year old bully breed mix. She was rescued from the Central Missouri Human Society in September 2012. Margot and Jennen's relationship started a little rocky. While Jennen was helping with a training program there, she met Margot who was a WILD one. With lots of energy, Jennen even thought "good luck to adopts her". Jennen agreed to foster at that time due to her time running out at the shelter. Well here we are 10 years later and they are the best of pals.
Our manners program is named after Margot because like Jennen says "if Margot can be trained, any dog can be trained." After Margot came home with Jennen, it became obvious that this girl just had a lot of energy and needed an outlet as well as a job which Jennen started working with her on immediately.
After going through basic training, Jennen and Margot started training in agility which has been absolutely amazing. A lot of Sundays, you will find them at different trials working to get Margot another title.
While she is older, you would barely know it. If you come into our Green Meadows location, you will usually either find her sleeping on her crate by the window or walking on the ledge of the short wall trying to make sure she does not miss out on anything. She does have a big bark which she uses sometimes to say hi to people who stop by the window but it is just that, a big bark. If she came out, the biggest concern would be that she would hit you too hard with her tail. She always loves saying hello and getting attention.
Mac Herbst
Head of Security Safety Inspector
Mac is the new kid on the block (though new kid is going to stop describing him soon). He was fostered by Jennen starting spring of 2021. Well since she is a sucker for the bully breeds, he ended up never leaving. He was rescued from the streets of Kansas City so unfortunately we do not know much of his back store. They estimate that he is about 3 years old.
When you look at Mac you will see that unfortunately his ears are gone. A very short crop that makes them look like they are pretty much missing. Jennen does not know the situation revolving this. This does not seem to bother him any. He does act like they don't allow him to hear though sometimes....
Mac was a very nervous dog who came to Jennen scared of everything. She could not brush her hair in the same room with him for a few months because he was scared of anything with a handle. She has been working hard with him on socialization and in the last 2 months, he has begun to come out of his shell! He is warming up more to those people that he knows and taking more chances with people he doesn't. Those who have known him since he was adopted, cannot believe the difference! He can still be nervous about loud noises as well as sudden movements and approaches from people may startle him. Jennen is hoping to continue to work with him in 2023. You will probably be seeing him assisting more these days since it has all finally clicked!
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