Our Team
Ana Melara, CPDT-KA
Ana Melara has been working with dogs and their families for over a decade, originally in NYC and for more than 8 years here in Colorado. She is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer and member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. She is a Canine Good Citizen evaluator. She keeps herself current by attending various workshops, seminars and conferences. Her training techniques are founded on praise-based, dog-friendly methods, and a fundamental belief that, as their guardians, we are responsible for their well-being and training and we are obligated to ‘be good leaders to our dogs.’ Whether she is teaching basic obedience, agility, puppy socialization, potty training, or addressing a dog's aggression issues, Ana stresses to all of her human clients the profound importance that their leadership plays in their dog's training. Ana also donates her time and services to various rescue organizations in the area including Colorado Saint Bernard rescue and Colorado Greyhound Adoption.
Ana lives in the Denver Metro Area with her husband, her daughter and three fantastic dogs, Gracie her 11 year-old agility champion whippet/pitbull mix, Argos her 7 year-old German shepherd mix (CGC, Delta Society Pet Partner, Blood Donor, Actor) and Meg her 5½ year-old black lab agility superstar. All of her dogs are Delta Society Pet Partners.
Jennifer Skiba
Jennifer has an extensive history of administrative work under her belt and is excited to put those skills to work as a part of the Training With Grace family. She and her husband Michael, happily married for 18 years, have two “fur children” of their own; Maverick is a 6 year old black standard poodle and Jasper is a 5 year old “parti” standard poodle, both of whom have taken many classes with Ana. Jennifer’s love for dogs and training piqued when Maverick entered her life but really exploded when Jasper entered the picture. The two very different dogs required very different training and it was then that she realized she had a hidden talent which just needed to be nurtured into a full blossom. To that end she has recently received her certificate as a dog obedience trainer. This new certificate and her work life experience make her a perfect fit for Training With Grace.
She believes that the more work she does “behind the scenes” the more time Ana will have to help more dogs and she dreams of the day when more people respect their animal companions and take the time to build a strong relationship with them. Hers is a fundamental belief that all animals are here to teach us a lesson if we will just listen to them.
Travis Otto
Travis is Ana’s husband and right-hand man. He is the behind the scenes man. Travis loads and unloads equipment, runs dogs, returns phone calls, feeds Ana, takes great care of their 4-year-old daughter Rebeca and makes a killer batch of chili. In April Travis took on the new challenge of starting up our new, Dog Jogger service! Ask us about it.