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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 |
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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 |
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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. Vicki lives in Kitchener with her husband, 2 young children, and her pet dog, Sophie.
(519) 774-1584
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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
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DIANNE NYEBOER, PUPPY PROGRAM MANAGER Dianne has been working and volunteering in the Service Dog industry for the past 12 years. A lifelong animal lover, Dianne has taken many obedience and training classes in addition to being certified in Pet First Aid. She enjoys spoiling her senior dogs: a Labradoodle and a Chocolate Lab who has earned her Intermediate Title in CKC Rally Obedience. Dianne currently works part-time for ADS as the Puppy Program Manager and assists with client services.
(519) 721-3376
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CAROL MATTHEWS, DIRECTOR OF ADVANCED CANINE DEVELOPMENT Carol has been training dogs professionally for over 25 years. Carol experience includes;
(416) 997-3326 |
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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. (519) 282-5026 |
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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. |
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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 |