Head Trainer & Agility Instructor
Happy Dogs founder and head trainer, Piper Novick, is an ABCDT Animal Behavior College Certified Trainer. Her “train happy” philosophy has helped owners better understand their dogs for 10+ years!

Piper emphasizes the importance of basic training and manners for every dog. She approaches manners and behavior training with compassion and strives to improve each dog and owners daily life together by helping them better communicate with one another.

In addition to teaching dogs and owners, Piper is a successful agility competitor having trained and titled five of her own dogs. She takes an active role in the community by attending seminars with top trainers to expand on her knowledge, volunteers throughout the year to educate the community about training. She strives to continuously compete in Agility at the top national and international tournaments. Piper helps her students reach a variety of goals; whether they aim to earn championship level titles or to simply have fun with their dogs. Agility is for everyone!

More about Piper…

Outside of dog training and competing, Piper is constantly pushing to better herself through her passion for health and fitness.  As a long time cross-fitter and certified trainer, she understands how to keep learning flexible and fun for any activity. Piper values making a personal connection with her clients and is truly invested in each and every case. This includes investing in herself; Piper challenges herself to always be learning more about dog training, business ownership and sport-specific knowledge to develop her career and improve her clients’ experience. 

Dog Trainer Affiliations:

ABCDT Animal Behavior College Certified Trainer

AKC Canine Good Citizen and Star puppy Evaluator

APDT Professional Member

Member of The Pet Professional Guild

Agility Accomplishments:

Junior European Open AKC/USA Team Member -2017

European Open AKC/USA Team Member – 2016

UKI National Championship Games Finalist – 2015

Junior National Champion AKC - 2013

Masters titles earned on dogs competing in AKC and UKI

Group Class Instructor
Karen Andersen is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer and the owner and principle trainer for 4 on the Floor Dog Training. Karen joins the Happy Dogs team teaching group training classes in Mooresville, NC.

Karen brings years of experience with pets of all kinds. She has worked in Pet Sitting, Boarding, Doggie Daycare and Grooming. But her one true love is training. Karen understands that all dogs need physical exercise, mental stimulation, and communication in order to be healthy happy members of the family.

She is a graduate of Triple Crown Academy for Professional Dog Trainers where she received certification as a Canine Training and Behavior Specialist. Karen is also a certified Pet Saver through Pet Tech, Inc. She is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers as well as the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. Karen is also a certified AKC Canine Good Citizen evaluator.

Karen volunteers for various animal welfare groups including Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care and Control, That Will Do Again Herding Breed Rescue, and Cornelius Animal Shelter. 

In her free time she enjoys hiking with her dogs!

ABCDT Animal Behavior College certified trainer

AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator

APDT Professional Member

Graduate of Triple Crown Academy

CPDT Certified profressional dog trainer 

Kirsten Suson is an Oklahoma native transplanted to North Carolina. Since she was a small child she has been fascinated with all animals. It was not a stretch to find her training the neighbors dogs in the backyard growing up, she played with some backyard Agility and was always working with her family and friends dogs teaching them tricks and better manners.

Since moving to North Carolina in 2016 Kirsten began pursuing training dogs professionally. She learned a lot working as a trainer for a pet- store and pursued some independent training before joining the Happy Dogs team. Kirsten is passionate about bringing peace to a home by helping the humans learn to understand their animals just a little bit better.

Kirsten and her dog Zoey love being outside, whether they are going on a quick day hike or taking a weekend camping trip, the more time they can spend in nature, the happier they are. Zoey is a 4 year old rescue who has been with Kirsten since she was 10 weeks. Kirsten likes to say that she is 4 going on 1 because she still has the energy of a puppy.



Training dogs and their owners for 5+ years
AKC Canine Good Citizen & Star Puppy evaluator 

Lori has been involved in dog training since 2007. She became very passionate about training dogs when she discovered it was possible to train using only positive methods. Her enthusiasm for learning everything she can about reward based training has lead her to take monthly classes from nationally know instructors. She strives to continuously improve her training and teaching. She finds it very rewarding to teach people who love doing things with their dogs.

 She believes dogs were bred to” problem solve” and thrive in an environment of learning new things. Whether training a new trick, a dog sport or hiking in a new location, she believes it enriches both the dog and the owner’s life.

 
Lori moved to North Carolina from California in 2014 with her husband and their two Tibetan Terriers, a Border Collie and their family including two darling grand-dogs.

She has trained and titled with her own dogs in a number of different dog sports including Obedience, Rally Obedience and Agility. Lori and her dogs do therapy dog work and she is a member of two national Therapy Dog Programs. In addition to her love of dog training, Lori enjoys Hiking, boating and competing in dog sports and feels blessed to be part of the reward- based dog training community.



Training Dogs for 10+ years

AKC Canine Good Citizen and Star puppy evaluator 

Masters titles in AKC and CPE Agility 

Titles in AKC Obedience

Titles in AKC Rally

Fenzi dog sports academy online student