Meet the Dognerd

Kelly has always been both an animal lover, and an artist. It’s through Dognerd Animal Talent that she is able to combine her passions and skills to bring you the very best animals for your production.

With over 20 years of both Media Production and also Animal Training experience, Kelly is familiar with the entire production process, and is uniquely positioned to aid you through your animal production workflow. She is available for pre-production consulting, casting and talent acquisition, and on-set animal wrangling and training.

Kelly is an obedience instructor, and member of the training committee at Suburban Dog Training Club, where she has taught for over fifteen years. She currently teaches the Foundations for Dog Sports class, which helps prepare teams to compete in a multitude of dog sports. Kelly has instructed countless pet dogs in classes such as: Puppy Kindergarten, Beginner Obedience, and Advanced Beginner Obedience. Kelly has also instructed Competition Preparation classes including: Rally Obedience, Competition Obedience, Agility, and Tracking.  

Kelly has competed with her own dogs for over 20 years in the sports of: Agility, Canine Musical Freestyle, Competition Obedience, Dock Diving, Rally Obedience, Schutzhund/IGP, Tracking, and Tricks. She is a professional member of the International Association of Canine Professionals (IACP), and the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors (NADOI), and member of the United States Working Boxer Association (USABOX), and the American Belgian Laekenois Association (ABLA). She is a certified AKC Canine Good Citizen evaluator and AKC Trick Dog judge.  She is always looking to expand her training knowledge, and enjoys furthering her education via workshops, seminars and classes.

Kelly’s own dogs hold titles in multiple venues. She began competitive dog training with her late rescue boxer, Jezebelle who was Nationally ranked in Obedience competition, and earned many titles including: CDX, RAE, FDX, TKN, CGCA. She also earned many titles with her boxer Eddie: High in Trial, IPO1, BH, CD, RE, FD, TKN, CGCA. Kelly currently lives with her rescue Plott hound Huck: TKN, SSB, DDN, CGC, and Belgian Laekenois puppy Tony.

In addition to her experience as a dog trainer (and her time as a veterinary assistant), Kelly has over 20 years of experience in the Television and Media production industry. Kelly holds a BFA in Animation, and began her career in NYC working on animated shows, commercials, and interstitials for Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS Kids, Cartoon Network and more. She then grew into her role as an Art Director and Storyboard Artist at Center City Film and Video in Philadelphia, working on projects for a wide variety of clients and industries. She has extensive experience in both pre and post production, where she regularly handles creative tasks such as project Concepting, Storyboarding, Direction, Design and Animation. She also handles production tasks such as budgeting and project management. Her partial client list includes: Comcast, Disney, History Channel, Nickelodeon, PBS Kids, Sprout, and more.

Click here to see some of Kelly’s Direction and Animation work!

partial client list: