VICKY SPADONI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Vicky has devoted her career to advocating and helping charitable organizations thrive! She has held both long term fundraising and executive leadership positions with charities such as; The Ontario Lung Association, MitoCanada Foundation, The Children's Safety Village of Brant, Operation Lift and now Autism Dog Services.

Vicky resides with her husband Rick and son Adam in Brantford, ON and her step daughter Meagan lives in Hamilton, ON. Vicky and her husband rescue dogs and give them a life of love and respect.

Contact Vicky with your fundraising ideas, she would love to hear from you!

(519) 722-2685

ALLISON SAVARD, DIRECTOR, CLIENT SERVICES

Allison has volunteered and worked in the autism service dog industry for the past 20 years.  Allison began her career running a foster puppy program and went on to complete an apprenticeship tranining program through the first organization in the world to train and pair service dogs with children living with autism.  

Allison joined the ADS team in 2009 to continue her work with children, families and service dogs. Allison currently works part-time for ADS and is responsible for supporting client families; including those interested in obtaining more information about acquiring a service dog, supporting and instructing families on the wait list and families who currently have service dogs. Allison also provides one on one training and support to puppy raisers. 

(519) 504-7658

 VICKI ZETTLER, PUPPY RAISER COORDINATOR

Vicki has been working in the service dog industry since 2012.  In that time she has trained, placed and certified over 100 service dogs across Canada.  She loves seeing the impact these specially trained dogs can have on their forever families.  She is excited to continue her journey with Autism Dog Services.

JANINE BRUBACHER, VOLUNTEER MANAGER

Janine has been involved in the Service Dog industry since 2006 and joined the ADS team in 2013.  She has experience in many areas of ADS including the puppy program, client services, advanced training and client follow-up support.  Janine works part-time for ADS and manages the volunteer program. 

(519) 722-6563

DIANNE NYEBOER, PUPPY PROGRAM MANAGER 

CAROL MATTHEWS, DIRECTOR OF ADVANCED CANINE DEVELOPMENT

Carol has been training dogs professionally for over 25 years.  Carol experience includes;

• Performed behaviour assessments and behaviour modification training for dogs with fear and aggression issues
• Instructor all levels of obedience, agility and fly ball
• Trained and handled narcotic, explosive, land mine and arson detection dogs
• Instructor for Police K9 detection teams
• Instructor patrol dog K9 teams for prisons, security companies and police
• Head Trainer National Service Dogs responsible for training, placing and providing follow up for 60 autism teams, 30 PTSD teams, and 20 Canine assisted intervention teams.  Responsible for assessing and assigning all dogs that came through advanced training.

(416) 997-3326

KATE KLASSEN, HOME SUPPORT TRAINER

Kate joined ADS as a trainer, but before this Kate had volunteered as a puppy raiser. I suppose 'puppy' raiser wouldn't be the greatest description of the job as the youngest dog she helped raise was 6 months when she got him.  She enjoys a challenge with the dogs she works with.

The most rewarding thing to her is to help dogs overcome their biggest challenges.
This passion of working with challenging behaviours started as early as 9 when she got her second family dog, a very challenging shih tzu with an aggression problem. The dog didn't stop her passion for working with dogs as a hobby. She advanced my career and graduated from the Veterinary Technician program at Saint Clair College with honours and rewards.
Kate works as a Registered Veterinary Technician and working with animals is the great achievement. She has her own sweet husky mix with his own world of behavioural issues. Working with these dogs to help them become service dogs has become a very worthy and fulfilling part of her life. Kate is excited to see where this journey takes her next!

(519) 282-5026

Julia Hartless, Advanced Trainer

Julia has been involved in training dogs since she was 12 years old, after the introduction to her very own Labrador Retriever. Since then, she has assisted with obedience, trick training, and hunt/retriever training; eventually coming to ADS to work with service dogs. 

Julia has volunteered and worked with Autism Dog Services since 2016. During her time with ADS, she has raised 9 puppies and dogs, puppy-sat dozens of puppies in training, managed the ADS Instagram and Twitter feeds, been an event coordinator, and conducted in-home assessments across Ontario to approve families onto our Waitlist. She has recently been in the position of Finishing Raiser, where she would take older ADS dogs to introduce advanced skills and see them reach their full potential before being sent into Advanced Training.

 Now, Julia works part-time as an Advanced Trainer, and is excited to see what more she can accomplish alongside the amazing team at Autism Dog Services.

Autism Dog Services is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of voluntary community members.

Board Members - 2021

Mike Craig, Chair

Nikki Craig, Vice-Chair

Eric Stephenson - Treasurer

Jordan Pelkmans - Secretary

Eileen Cowan - Director