Jaime Knowles

Founding Member, Owner, Co-Creator & Director of Training

Jaime has a love and understanding of all animals, but a special place in her heart has always belonged to dogs, She has been professionally training and handling all breeds and temperaments of dogs since 1998. She attends ongoing seminars and is constantly updating her education to broaden her knowledge as she believes that you never stop learning when working with animals.

Jaime is currently the Senior Trainer and Behaviour Modification Expert for Good Dog Wellness, specializing in anxiety, reactivity and other challenging behaviour cases.

While competing in CKC obedience and conformation Jaime has earned titles on several breeds of dogs. She has trained and handled dogs for television and major motion pictures. Her own dog Atty has obtained her IPO BH title, PSA PDC-SD and PDC title and was a validated patrol and narcotic detection K9.

Jaime is a validated explosive detection K9 handler, validated narcotics detection K9 handler and a validated security patrol K9 handler through the Justice Institute of BC. She has vast experience raising and training both detection and patrol dogs. 

Jaime was a proud member, trainer and handler with Canines 4 Care team at Vancouver General Hospital where a program that trains dogs to detect C. difficile with high accuracy was developed.  The program was awarded the Top Innovation award for 2018 at BC Health Care Awards.

Currently Jaime shares her life with Teddy (all Canadian mutt) Tahsis (GSD) and Riven (Belgian Malinois). Forever loved: Atty, Dozer and Guinness ❤️

Geri Patz

Founding Member, Owner, Co-Creator, Registrar & Director of Curriculum Development

Geri has always believed that being approachable and responsive, while keeping everything organized behind the scenes, is essential to supporting a thriving learning community. Combined with a lifelong love of dogs, this makes her role as Administrator and Registrar at Good Dog Academy a natural fit.

She oversees the day-to-day operations of Good Dog Academy’s learning management system, ensuring the platform runs smoothly for both students and instructors. Maintaining and improving the system requires constant attention, technical problem-solving and a willingness to innovate.

With a BC Instructor Diploma and experience as Director of Curriculum Development, Geri brings both educational expertise and practical insight to her work. She is always happy to help students navigate their learning experience and find solutions when questions arise. 🐾

Cat Barrette

Student Mentor

Cat began her career with animals at a young age. Her first job was Care Attendant in a zoo where her passion for animal behaviour was sparked. Cat spent a good deal of time observing wolves interacting and so began her passion for animal behaviour. She grew up with horses, but always had a special place in her heart.

Cat decided to take her passion and love for dogs to the next level and began her formal education and professionally training dogs. She completed her first certification in Quebec where she grew up. Cat completed her MCP (Cyno-Professional Level 2) in applied ethology and then moved to British Columbia and completed her Professional Pet Dog Trainer Program with Good Dog Academy.

Cat has not only worked with pet dogs but has also raised private security canine puppies and trained security patrol K9s along with their handlers. She has a special spot in her heart for high drive working breeds.

Cat shares her life with Roman, a Labrador Retriever, who is a “failed” explosive detection dog that Cat adopted when he was retired from an explosive detection program. She continues to work hard with Roman who came to her with some reactivity issues and they continue to learn from one another.

Cat is fluent in both English and French.

Mair (Mya) Hedley

Student Mentor

Mair (Mya) has always loved animals, especially dogs. Growing up, there were always dogs in her life and they quickly became her biggest passion. That love eventually led her to start working with dogs as a Dog Walker. Through that work, she began noticing how many dogs struggled with behavioral challenges and she felt a strong desire to help dogs and their families better understand each other.

That curiosity sparked her journey into studying dog psychology and behaviour. While enrolling in Good Dog Academy, Mair started her own training walks company so she could begin applying what she was learning in real-life situations with dogs. After completing Good Dog Academy in February 2024, she shifted her focus to one-on-one training through her business, Good Puppers Training.

Mair specializes in working with dogs who have “big feelings,” including reactivity and other behaviour challenges. Her goal is to help dogs and their guardians build stronger, more trusting relationships through understanding, communication and compassionate training.

To continue deepening her knowledge, Mair became a Certified Family Dog Mediator (FDM) through the Family Dog Mediation L.E.G.S. Applied Ethology course and also completed the Aggression in Dogs course with Michael Shikashio. She is passionate about ongoing education and using welfare science-based, humane approaches to support both dogs and their guardians.

Helping dogs feel safer, more understood, and more successful in their world is what she loves most about the work she does. 🐾