Lyn Johnson, DVM
Lyn began training dogs in 1983 when she got her first Shetland Sheepdog and took a basic obedience class on a campus parking lot at Texas A&M. Lyn simply wanted a well-behaved dog, but her instructor encouraged Lyn to show her Sheltie in obedience competitions. Lyn has been training and showing dogs ever since.
Teaching the Puppy class is Lyn’s first love. She has also taught Agility, Freestyle, Nose Work, Junior Handling, and Conformation classes. Lyn is a UKC and TDAA Agility judge and a member of multiple local and national dog organizations, as well as many professional behavior organizations.
Lyn earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Texas A&M and later returned to study veterinary behavior for three years with Dr. Bonnie Beaver. Lyn is certified in Low Stress Handling, Canine Rehabilitation, and Veterinary Acupuncture, and does private behavior consultations.
Lyn currently has Shetland Sheepdogs and Pembroke Welsh Corgis and has also had Gordon Setters. She grew up with a Toy Poodle and a Beagle. Lyn and her dogs have trained, competed, and titled in a wide variety of dog sports, including Obedience, Rally, Conformation, Freestyle, Nose Work, Lure Coursing, Herding, and Parkour, as well as dabbling in Tracking and Flyball.
Over the years, Lyn has seen training methods change from negative reinforcement and punishment to using positive rewards and addressing the emotional needs of the dog—giving them choices and developing a deep partnership instead of a leader-follower relationship. Her ultimate goal is to help people form a better relationship with their dogs and help dogs feel more secure and happier within their homes.
Lyn is passionate about behavior and training. “I love watching dogs learn! I love educating people about their dogs! Mostly, I simply love doing things with my dogs!”
Sharon (“Sam”) Mason and Glen Mason
Sam and Glen started training dogs in Ponca City, Oklahoma, in 1971 when they got a Sable Shetland Sheepdog. They served as leaders of the Kay County dog care and training Specialty 4-H Club, and held the first state-wide 4-H dog obedience trial. This trial also included a dog obedience judging contest.
They soon moved to Montana and joined the Yellowstone Valley Kennel Club in Billings, and began training and competing in obedience and conformation. Prior to moving to Bartlesville, Sam and Glen taught dog obedience classes for the public in Ponca City, Oklahoma, with the Autwine Kennels program, and in Billings, Montana, with the YVKC. Glen has judged obedience trials in Montana and Wyoming.
Sam’s affinity for dogs and all animals began with the dogs on her grandfather’s farm when she was growing up. She and Glen have owned Sable, Blue Merle, and Tri-colored Shetland Sheepdogs, a Bearded Collie and an English Labrador Retriever while raising their children; and more recently, two Bernese Mountain Dogs. Over the years they have trained, competed, and won titles in Novice and Open Obedience and Conformation. They currently train and compete with their “Berner,” Lisette, who has earned UKC SPOT, and AKC STAR Puppy, Trick Dog Novice, and Canine Good Citizen certifications.
Sam currently teaches our “Small Dog” Beginning Obedience class, which includes life skills and solutions for challenging behavior. According to Sam, “I’ve never had a dog I couldn’t train.” Sam and Glen often work as a team teaching the Beginning Obedience class. Sam is a certified AKC Canine Good Citizen evaluator. She has a degree as a veterinary technician and is a volunteer teacher at the Tulsa Zoo.
What Sam enjoys most about training dogs is simply “being with them.” “When students take a class, they are going to have fun with their dog!” Glen enjoys being at dog shows, serving as a ring steward at dog shows and obedience trials, and helping Sam with classes, especially graduation exercises.
Sandy Singleton
Sandy has been an OTCB member and instructor for over 30 years. He started training as a student in 1983 when he was given a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy for his birthday that weighed 90 pounds at 6 months of age. “I decided I’d better learn how to train a big dog!” He has taught the Beginning Obedience class more than 50 times over the years and has had more than 600 beginner students. Sandy primarily teaches our “Large Dog” Beginning class because he has a particular appreciation for large dogs and their owners.
Sandy also teaches the Intermediate class for dogs of all sizes. The goal of Intermediate is to help you and your dog develop the skills needed to pass the AKC Canine Good Citizen (“CGC”) test. Sandy is certified to teach STAR Puppy classes and to evaluate CGC, Community Canine, Urban Canine, and AKC Trick Dog tests.
Since 1983, Sandy has always owned one or more Rhodesian Ridgebacks. He has also owned Dachshunds and Basenjis. When Sandy was growing up, his parents owned a Weimaraner, which may have started his love for big dogs.
Sandy has trained. competed, and titled with his Rhodesian Ridgebacks in fun matches, Obedience Trials, Lure Coursing, Rally, Trick, and AKC Conformation, including completing two owner handled Championships. Sandy did Therapy Dog work for 11 years with his first two Rhodesian Ridgebacks and has been a member of Therapy Dog International for over 25 years. Kabaka, Sandy’s current Rhodesian Ridgeback, has earned Rally Novice and four AKC Trick titles, as well as AKC Canine Good Citizen, AKC Community Canine, and AKC Versatility Award.
What Sandy enjoys most about training dogs is “the love of interacting with dogs and seeing them respond to the training. I truly enjoy teaching and participating in classes with all kinds of handlers and dogs. My volunteering with OTCB and my participation in dog shows and trials has always been something I do for fun with my beloved pets. I enjoy helping people develop a better relationship with their pets.”
Wanda Shafer
Wanda’s Journey with training dogs began five years ago when her husband gifted her with a pair of red and black German shepherds. These were her dream dogs and she’s never been the same. She quickly began becoming involved with training clubs in Joplin, Tulsa and Broken Arrow, and going as far as Lawton OK for private training lessons. Starting out, she knew she needed lots of training and education if she wanted to understand her dogs and for them to understand her. She went through the AKC Canine college as well as Leerburg University to understand her breed and dogs of all breeds.
Wanda began competing in Conformation, Rally and learning the sports of Agility and Nosework. Wanda and her dogs have trained, competed and titled in Rally and Canine Good Citizen as well as Advanced Canine Good Citizen. She is also a certified AKC CGC Evaluator and a S.T.A.R puppy evaluator.
Having apprenticed under several great and proven trainers, Wanda has learned the art of connecting with her dog and becoming a team through positive reinforcement. As an instructor for OTCB, she enjoys helping other handler and dog teams connect. For her, it’s so exciting and rewarding when she realizes you understand your dog and your dog understands you! Helping people create the bond that’s so unique to each team is a reward. Her hope is to help handler and dog teams understand each other and enjoy a long life together and possibly watch them compete and title their dogs all the way to the Nationals.
Karen Bailey Cooper
Karen’s first obedience training was with a Bichon Frise that she owned while raising her children. She started seriously training dogs in 2008 when she got her first Miniature American Shepherd, named “Bailey.” When Karen took Bailey to her first training class, the teacher encouraged Karen to continue training Bailey. Karen researched dog sports online and was soon hooked. The two activities Karen loved watching the most on the internet were Rally and Tricks—and now, eleven years later, she mainly teaches those two classes. Karen has also taught obedience classes, Beginner Novice Obedience, and a brief introduction to Agility.
Karen has always liked working with animals. She had a Cocker Spaniel while growing up and showed horses in high school and college. Karen currently has five Miniature American Shepherds at home. “My dogs make me laugh and give me a full life.”
Karen and her dogs have trained, competed, and titled in Agility, Barn Hunt, Lure Coursing Ability, Canine Good Companion, Conformation, Dock Diving, Farm Dog, Herding, Nose Work/Scent Work, Obedience, Puppy Training, Rally, Therapy and Trick Dog. She is certified to evaluate AKC Canine Good Citizen, Trick Dog, and Farm Dog tests. Karen is also a UKC SPOT evaluator. In addition to training with OTCB, she trains with clubs in Tulsa and Broken Arrow, and still belongs to a Houston training club.
What Karen enjoys most about training dogs is the people she meets and the bond with her dogs. “I enjoy teaching and watching my students and their dogs improve and blossom. The important thing to me is that my students have fun while they are learning. If they have fun, they will be encouraged to continue working with their dogs. This improves not only the dog’s life, but the student’s life.”
Cindy Eaton-Eklund
Cindy has lived with at least one poodle in the house since she was 3 years old. In her early 20s, she decided it was time to quit being dragged around by a dog pulling on a leash, and took Cocoa to an obedience training class. Her life changed at that point.
Since the early 1980s, Cindy has owned and trained a wide variety of breeds — Golden Retrievers, Border Collies, German Shepherds, Long-Coat Chihuahuas, a Whippet, a Dachshund, an English Cocker Spaniel, American Cocker Spaniel, and Miniature and Toy Poodles. Together they have competed throughout the country in AKC and UKC obedience, rally, agility, scent work, hunting tests, tracking, freestyle and more. Cindy has also owner-handled many of these dogs to conformation championships.
From handling, she quickly began training others to work with their own dogs. She has taught every level of classes from puppy to advanced obedience and rally, and has been a member of local and national dog training and breed clubs in Kansas City, Des Moines, and now Bartlesville.
What Cindy enjoys most about dog training is the unique bond you develop with your dog, including the amazing ways you learn to communicate with each other. She currently lives with a Border Collie and two Toy Poodles who are thrilled that mom has retired and can concentrate even more attention on them.
Jill Jones
Jill is active in animal rescue and has been training her dogs since 2018. After adopting her smooth border collie Dax as a shy rescue, she began working with a number of withdrawn or under-socialized dogs to get them ready for adoption. She has assisted Washington County SPCA and Skiatook Paws & Claws Animal Rescue (SPACAR) with training difficult placement cases. Through this work, she fostered two long-term dogs Duke and then Mae who needed intensive, months-long work in socialization and basic obedience. Both Duke and Mae were eventually adopted to loving homes and are thriving today.
Jill trains her blue heeler Josey in Obedience, Rally, Agility, Nosework, and Dock Diving. She began volunteering with OTCB in 2021 and apprenticed under Sandy Singleton for obedience training. She continues to volunteer with SPACAR as a grant writer and foster for special cases, as well as numerous young dogs who need basic training for adoption placement. Her current foster Shorty is a long-term cattle dog involved in advanced obedience and socialization training. She is also a track layer and volunteer for Indian Nations Tracking Club.
What Jill enjoys most about dog training is experiencing the bonds formed between owners and their dogs, and seeing the transformation of shy dogs into happy, confident dogs through their success in training. She also loves utilizing her own dog Josey to teach young foster dogs to be confident, and then seeing those dogs placed in adoptive homes and succeeding in their own training classes down the road.
Sandy Van De Verg
Sandy has been training dogs for competition since 1980. She started training as a teenager, “just for fun.” When she and her husband got an Airedale Terrier in the late 1970’s she started training seriously. “Our Airedale Terrier quickly taught me that an untrained dog was not fun to have around the house.” Sandy has taught Rally, Agility, and Puppy classes. She currently teaches one of our Beginning Obedience classes and Reliable Recall. Sandy has taken multiple seminars from experts in the fields of obedience, agility, working with reactive dogs, tracking, how dogs learn, and how to teach dog training classes. She has also owned and trained a Cocker Spaniel, Miniature Dachshund, Airedale Terriers, an Australian Shepherd and Standard Poodles.
Sandy and her husband, Phil, have three Standard Poodles. Currently, in addition to training and teaching with OTCB, she trains with clubs in Tulsa, Broken Arrow and a private agility instructor in Missouri. Sandy and her dogs have trained, competed, and titled in Agility, Obedience, Rally, and Barn Hunt and have trained in tracking. Sandy loves training even more than competition.
What Sandy enjoys most about training dogs is building that special partnership with her dogs. “I enjoy teaching and helping people understand how to work with their dogs, what motivates them, how they learn, and how we can impart that learning to our dogs. Seeing people grow in their relationship with their dogs is so rewarding.”