Head Instructor: Kim Collins

Background:Kim has been training dogs for over 25 years. She owns and operates Pawsitive Steps Canine Sports Centre in Prince George, BC, a training facility dedicated solely to the promotion of positive, non-aggressive training techniques for pet and performance dogs. Kim’s teaching background comes from spending 20 years as a dance teacher and choreographer. She now devotes herself full time to helping people and their dogs develop positive relationships through education, training and canine sports. 

Kim competes in AAC, UKI  and USDAA Agility. Kim has had an impressive agility career over the last 20 years, winning both the USDAA National Agility Championship and three Canadian National Agility Championships along with 14  Regional Agility Championships with five different dogs to date. She has been an AAC Masters level judge since 2000. Kim has also competed in CKC Obedience and CARO Rally Obedience earning multiple titles with multiple dogs. Kim shares her life with her husband Rob and their dogs ranging in age from 1 to 13 years old. Currently the household is six border collies and one sheltie.

Continuing Education: Kim continues to contribute her knowledge back to the agility community she loves by traveling and teaching seminars all over Canada. She also hosts an annual Agility Camp for Puppies and Novice dogs right through to Masters level dogs. To ensure that her seminar content is always the most up to date training methods, she regularly attends seminars and workshops presented by many of the top agility handlers and trainers in the sport.

International Experience: International Experience: Kim was a member of the Agility Association of Canada’s 2004 Canadian World Team with two of her dogs, Bryn and Feyd, and traveled to Valencia, Spain to compete. Kim was the Captain and Coach for the CKC Agility Team Canada 2010 and 2011. Kim was also the Coach for the 2011 WAO Agility World Team. Kim and her border collie Fenway qualified for a spot on the 2017 Canadian EO Team as well as the 2018 and 2019 Canadian WAO teams.

Kim’s book “From the Ground Up” an agility foundation training manual, came out in July of 2006 and can be ordered through Dogwise. Kim has written articles on the sport of agility for both Clean Run and DogSport magazines.

For more information on her Online classes please email kim@pawsitivesteps.ca

Donna Holmgren -  Instructor

Donna has been involved with dog training in Prince George for the past 13 years.
She became involved with canine sports when she started working with her very
high drive and busy mixed breed dog Warjac. competing in Agility, qualifying for the AAC Nationals and also added Rally O to his list of sports. Donna also competed in agility with her Border Collie, Rayn attending AAC Regionals and Nationals regularly. Both dogs have earned their AAC ATChC titles. She has added another mixed breed Quest to her pack and a Border Collie Puppy Brighten as well. Both dogs are currently training in agility.

Donna has been teaching at Pawsitive Steps for the last 13 years, teaching obedience and agility classes using operant conditioning. Donna has attended many seminars and clinics over the years, focusing on positive training methods for dogs and people. Donna believes that dogs and their humans should develop healthy relationships through positive interaction and most of all have fun learning and working together. Donna’s upbeat personality and sense of humor make her classes fun for everyone!

Barb Wright - Instructor

Barb and her oldest dog, Pepper, then four years old were in the very first Basic Manners class here at Pawsitive Steps in 2004. They originally planned to come for one set of classes to help Barb and Pepper develop a better relationship and hopefully deal with Pepper’s separation anxiety issues. Barb and Pepper had such a good time learning using positive training methods that they continued their training at Pawsitive Steps. Pepper overcame her separation anxiety and became a lovely sport dog, competing in Rally O and Agility and was a happy and well adjusted family pet.

In 2005, Barb added her first Sheltie, Sabra, to her household and started working with her as a twelve- week old pup. Sabra enjoyed her Agility, Rally O and Obedience career at Pawsitive Steps and is now leisurely retired. In December of 2007 a second Sheltie, Josie, joined the clan.   Phinn, another sheltie joined the family in 2012  .They all enjoy learning and growing as a team.  They all enjoy the challenge of new ideas and putting them into practice. Barb particularly enjoys the training process, getting the best from her dogs, the challenges of their individual differences and the positive support they all receive from the instructors, staff, and other trainers. She trains and competes with her dogs in agility, standard obedience, rally obedience and nosework. Barb continued her canine education by taking the instructor program and attending camps and seminars.  She is a CARO Rally obedience judge ( novice through versatility) , CARO working group judge and a C-Wags scent judge.

Barb truly enjoys working with dog/handler teams just starting out and working to get the best from each team. She offers positive reinforcement to the students in her classes.

Sheri Grantham - Instructor

In 2006 Sheri got her first puppy Reggie – a golden retriever and started taking classes at Pawsitive Steps. She quickly got interested and involved in Canine sports and started taking basic obedience, rally and agility classes.
Reggie became a certified therapy dog through St. John’s Ambulance when he was just 2 years of age. He works at the Cancer Lodge in Prince George with her mom – Joyce as well as being one of the few dogs in Prince George that is certified to work with kids. Sheri and Reggie work in one of the local schools with children weekly. He has also participated in many regional agility events and even placing 5th place podium when he was 10 years old. He also achieved his Agility Trial Champion of Canada Title.

In 2008 Sheri got a ½ sibling to Reggie – a golden retriever named Josie. Josie proved to be quite challenging with many issues ranging from fear of everything, shut down, and separation anxiety. Believing that Josie would never participate in canine sports due to her fear issues – Sheri kept training her in an effort to build her confidence and give her better life skills. When Josie turned 4 she actually had enough confidence that she was able to compete in agility. Josie is still competing in Agility and is just a few short runs short of her Agility Trial Champion of Canada Title.

In 2012 Sheri added a third dog to her family – a border collie named Ted. Ted turned out to be a high drive and busy border collie. Ted became a certified therapy dog through St. John’s Ambulance when he was 18 months of age. He also works at the Cancer lodge in Prince George and enjoys dressing up for the patients on a regular basis. He is well on his way to becoming a successful agility dog.

Sheri is very interested in the science behind dog training and continues to attend seminars with international presenters regularly. Sheri’s upbeat personality and genuine interest in the “why’s" behind dog training makes her a fun and informative trainer

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Katherine Rockwell - Instructor

Katherine began training Rally Obedience and agility at Pawsitive Steps with her first two dogs, Baxter and Casper in 2006. Both dogs achieved titles in Rally, with Baxter earning his Versatility MCL title shortly before his retirement. In 2011, Amber was added to the family. She scored a perfect 200 in her very first Rally trial, and has gone on to earn Advanced and Team titles as well has being one of the first dogs in Canada to achieve a Rally Brace title paired with her friend Phinn. In 2015 Victor came to live with Katherine and Amber and he has titled in Rally as well.
The latest addition, in 2016, was Spice, currently in Rally training.

In addition to Rally Obedience, Amber, Victor and Spice train and compete in agility, dock diving and nosework. All of them have earned a number of titles, most recently with Spice earning not only her Master Dock title, but also an invitation to the National Dock Diving championship in Orlando, Florida.
Katherine and her dogs love learning and training in a fun and positive way, free of any aversive techniques. Amber, Victor and Spice are first and foremost valued family members and best friends