Loretta (Lori) Swanson, M.A., M.F.A. – Certified Professional Dog Trainer

At the age of 12, Loretta trained her first dog to an obedience title. For 35 or so years after that she trained dogs (and horses) on a part-time basis. In 2010, she dedicated her life to the care, training, and handling of dogs full-time, continuing her more than 25 year career as a college professor part-time.

Addicted to research in all aspects of her life, Loretta sought out and absorbed every scientific article she could find about dog training and behavior. This led to her earning her first training certification, as a clicker trainer from the Karen Pryor Academy (KPA), quickly followed by her certification as a nose work instructor from the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW) and most recently certification as a trick dog instructor from Do More With Your Dog (DMWYD) where she was named Trainer of the Year in 2020. She is also a Tester/Observer for Alliance of Therapy Dogs and an AKC Canine Good Citizen evaluator. 

Her students are winning prizes, lots of prizes, at all kinds of trials. She has over 30 students currently trialing at all levels of nose work in many organizations like NACSW, UKC, C-WAGS, CPE, and AKC in the U.S. plus she coaches a couple of teams in Europe. Another 15 or so competing in rally obedience and still others are earning Trick Dog titles. Her own dog competes in them all, too, plus drafting.

Staying current in the fast changing world of dog training is very important to Loretta and she does it by devoting several weeks a year to continuing education. She attends in-person working seminars and online webinars with a wide variety of national and international dog trainers.