Donna’s formal work with dogs essentially began in the summer of 2002 as a volunteer at the ASPCA in New York City. In addition to volunteering she’d hoped to gain experience so that one day, lifestyle permitting, she’d be prepared to care for a dog of her own. At the time, Donna lived alone and was away from home most of the time, commuting back and forth to Manhattan where she worked as an Education Associate with the International Center of Photography. Come autumn, circumstances hadn’t changed much but for one thing: Donna had met and fallen in love with a three-year-old German Shepherd who’d arrived at the shelter as a humane law enforcement case after legal seizure from a neglectful and physically abusive owner. Donna took the dog home a short time later and named her Sammy. Always having wanted a Weimaraner, Donna would point to Sammy and fondly say, “I just don’t know what happened. She was supposed to be a Weimaraner.” But that’s how love is, unpredictable and on its own schedule. Donna returned to volunteer at the ASPCA a number of years later and was deployed to Kentucky with the Field and Investigation Team to work on one of the largest puppy mill raid cases to date.

Donna was an active volunteer in the dog enrichment program for the Guiding Eyes for the Blind in Yorktown, NY, and worked at Pet Rescue in Harrison NY and The Humane Society of Westchester (HSW) in New Rochelle NY as a volunteer trainer in their ‘train to adopt’ program. In 2013, Donna completed an eighteen-month course of study with the Northeast Regional Dog Trainer’s Academy (NRDTA) run by Bobbie Bhambree, Founder & Director of DogCentric Training & Behavior and HSW’s former head trainer. Currently she volunteers 4-12 hours a week with CPR (Companion Pet Rescue) in Southbury, CT.

At the Humane Society of Westchester, Donna often taught the ‘What Every Shelter Dog Should Know’ (AKA Dog training 101) class as well as the monthly Green Dot, Dog Walking classes for junior, adult and family volunteers. She joined DogCentric Training as an associate from 2015-2017 and now provides private training and puppy socialization and manners classes.

In an ongoing quest to expand her knowledge of training skills and dog behavior, she is a regular attendee of lectures and workshops. She completed Sue Sternberg’s Instructor Training Course (ITC) at the Rondout Valley Animals for Adoption facility in Accord, NY in the summer of 2015 and Suzanne Clothier’s ITC program in 2016