Our Story
Annie Bailey
Annie Bailey is a certified dog trainer through the International Association of Canine Professionals. She has been working with and training animals her entire life. She attended the University of New Hampshire where she achieved a B.S. in Zoology in 2006. Following graduation, Annie turned her focus to marine mammal training at Miami Seaquarium on Key Biscayne, Florida. Later that following year the military relocated them to Northern California. Annie shifted her focus to dog training and has never looked back. Specializing in behavior solutions and private training, Annie has been working with dogs and their owners for 17 years now with incredible success.
Annie and her family moved to Trenton, Illinois in December 2018 after living in Aviano, Italy for the past four years. During her time there, Annie ran the pet dog training program on the Air Force Base and started up the first non-profit animal rescue to assist military families with adopting and rehoming their pets. Her personal dog, Emma, is a 12 year old yellow Lab, a CGC certified therapy dog and a well-seasoned training assistant. Her newest member of the family, Rue, is a 4 year old Pitbull/Husky rescue.
Our Story
Maggie Mueller
From client and dog enthusiast to professional dog trainer, Maggie joined the BLK9 Team in 2020. Maggie has become a member of the IACP (International Association of Canine Professionals), an AKC, CGC (Canine Good Citizen) evaluator and is working on earning titles throughout the organization to advance her skills and professional background. She attends seminars on a yearly basis to learn from the most skilled, versatile dog trainers out there and is a continuous learner, always researching and practicing new techniques on her own dogs. Maggie is currently working towards the SR1 Test in the dog sport of GRC.
Maggie's goal as a trainer is to support the owner with improving communication with their dog to encourage a long and fulfilled life in their forever home.
In 2019, Maggie drove 3 hours to rescue her first dog, Moses. He had been bounced through
many shelters and had the scars to prove it. Moses was a mess. He was dog reactive, leash
reactive, and lacked all impulse control. It took hours every day working him mentally and
physically to get him to normal levels of sanity. He had zero direction or purpose, but Maggie
could see his potential. She reached out to Annie at Best Life K9 Training to sign up for her first
group class.
Moses was a high drive Shepherd with no job. Maggie worked hard to regulate his drive and made it her goal to find him daily purpose, while practicing/testing his neutrality. She worked on increasing handler awareness as well as toy drive, and helped him to fully embrace who he was as a dog. From conquering his massive crate anxiety from the ground up to being off leash at an advanced agility course, they have made huge strides.
Her journey learning and problem-solving Moses' behavioral challenges has shown her a passion she didn’t even know existed; learning and applying the art of behavior modification and training using many different perspectives, tools, and techniques.
