About
Meet the Team
FACILTIY
Our main training room is 8000sf with 30ft ceiling height, high efficiency energy saving lighting, tru-blue anti-static mats. We have competition grade equipment for agility and obedience. Separate crating room. two bathrooms, honor system hospitality.
Andrea Batista
Andrea Batista is a co-owner of Canine Sports & Activity Center and owner of VIP Canine, LLC. (link to VIP Canine). Andrea attended Penn Fosters College and Animal Behavior College, earning her certification in dog training from both institutions. She is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) trainer and a member of the APDT (Association of Professional Dog Trainers). She graduated as a groomer from the Nash Academy of Animal Arts in 2007.
Since 2005, Andrea has had the opportunity to work with different breeds, ages, and temperament of dogs with a variety of behavioral problems such as house soiling, destructive behavior, reactivity, separation anxiety, etc.
She continues to attend professional development and educational seminars along with reading current up-to-date literature.
She spends her spare time working with her dog Spartacus (Cane Corso) in agility, rally obedience, nosework, and tricks training.
Nicole Levien
Nicole Levien is co-owner of Canine Sports & Activity Center. After falling in love with dog training and the sport of agility in 2009, she dreamed of creating the kind of training space she wanted to train in. The dream was realized in 2020 with partner Andrea Batista.
Nicole is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA), a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA-CTP) and a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT).
She enjoys teaching students and learning about behavioral training.
“What I love about dog training is that you can never learn everything, but you are always learning something. What I love about teaching is that moment when a student realizes that they can communicate with their dog, that they can understand one another.”
Nicole has earned titles on her dogs in agility and rally obedience (multiple venues). Currently working with her Australian shepherd, Caymus (CH. Te Amo’s Best Day Ever!) and has plans for another pup to join the team soon.
Sherry Tirgrath
Sherry Tirgrath earned her BS in Animal Science from Rutgers University with a minor degree in Psychology. She has been working with dogs, horses and wildlife since her childhood years. Her mother and sister are both dog trainers, as well, and have had a lot of influence on her knowledge and passion in the field of dog sports.
Sherry began training and competing in Obedience and Rally as a teenager in 2010. Since then, she has earned multiple titles in Obedience with her own dogs, as well as Master’s titles in Rally. She has also dabbled in Agility, Tracking, Herding and Conformation with her collies. Sherry has been fascinated by the field of Animal Behavior for many years and continues to educate herself both in and out of the ring.
Tinna Brown
Tinna Brown's devotion towards animals stems from her love of horses where she trained and showed in Barrel Racing, Pole Bending, Hunter/Jumper and Dressage. She focuses on common sense dog training methods tailored and specialized for the goals set by each and every individual and "dog family member" team. Tinna's dogs have all had several television and advertising appearances including Good Morning America, Fox Channel 5 News, Animal Planet, CBS This Morning, The Purina Incredible Dog Challenge (Gold Medals), and are well-trained beloved family members and therapy dogs.
Tinna is a UKI judge and much of her knowledge stems from working with Linda Mecklenburg, Susan Garrett, Lisa Frick, Tereza Kralova, Iwona Golab, Anna Eifert, Jenny Damm, Anna Hinze and many other well-known dog behavior and agility trainers.
Tinna has earned several ADCH's and MACH's with her own dogs and has also put several championships on other dogs she has trained and handled. Tinna and her dogs have represented the United States of America many times including the 2013 AKC/USA World Team (Bronze Medal), the 2012 and 2014 AKC European Open World Teams, and the 2016 and 2017 AyC FCI World Teams (Silver Medal). She has her Masters in Business Administration (Summa Cum Laude), written several articles for Clean Run Magazine and is heavily involved with Canine Epilepsy and Early Takeoff Syndrome research.