Mary-Jo is a 30+ year resident of Hudson and a graduate of St. Anselm College, where she majored in Biology.  Since college, she has had a successful career in retail management while maintaining her kennel where she raises and trains her favorite breed of dog, the Pug. 

Mary-Jo has been training dogs professionally since 2002 and has earned Level I Certification through the Certification Council for Pet Dog Trainers (CCPDT), the first national certification program for dog trainers. The CCPDT tests a trainer’s knowledge in five areas including instructional skills, animal husbandry, ethology, learning theory and equipment.  All certified trainers must earn continuing education credits to maintain their designation, “CPDT”.

MJ and Alainna with their dogs Sept. '02

Together with her daughter Alainna, Mary-Jo is striving to offer a unique boarding and day care program, as well as a fabulous basic training system to her clients.  Their day care offers great outdoor activities including group play, swimming and games of fetch and agility. Boarding clients are included in all outdoor activities along with day care dogs. Their training program offers sensitivity to the dog’s personality and temperament, and is coupled with effective training tools that will help foster a positive bond between the owner and their dog.

Mary-Jo is proud to be certified through AKC as a Canine Good Citizen evaluator and trains all breeds of dogs for obedience. For more on the AKC CGC program, click: Canine Good Citizen

Mary-Jo supports Pug Rescue of New England, and Canine Guardians for Life by fostering dogs who are in need of care, training and new "forever" homes. For more on her foster dogs, please see rescue.

Currently, Mary-Jo organizes the Southern NH Pug Meetup, a social group for Pug owners in the Greater Nashua Area, as well as the Southern NH K-9 Good Citizen Meetup, which is open to all dogs who are working on their AKC CGC evaluation.