Our Trainer
Just like humans, every dog is an individual. We meet with you and your dog. We assess your dog to determine their temperament, willingness to learn, and any other behavioral issues the dog may be experiencing.
Meet Alicia Potenza
Alicia is one of A Dog’s World Unleashed amazing dog trainers. Since the age of 18 she has been working with dogs, and at 20 she went to Highland Canine School for Dog trainers. There, she completed the 6 month Master Dog Trainer program.
During her time at Highland Canine, Alicia’s course focused on behavior modification, on and off leash training, trick training, service dog training, bite work/decoy training, police K9 training, detection, search and rescue, trailing and more. Alicia was then chosen to stay an additional 6 months to participate in their internship program. She continued her work with the areas listed above, but took a more focused approach towards the “working dog” side of dog training.
Throughout the 5 years of training dogs Alicia has put multiple single purpose and dual-purpose police K9 teams on the street. She has trained multiple service dogs that are still actively helping their handlers. One of her proudest accomplishments includes training a narcolepsy service dog for a client. The dog was taught to actively wake the owner up in the morning with a specific alarm. The dog was able to wake the handler if any sleep attacks occurred by pulling on a bracelet on her arm to shake her awake. The dog now lives with their handler as a full-time service dog.
Currently, she has helped many dogs and clients on the South Shore with behavior modification training at A Dog’s World Unleashed. She leads the Canine Good Citizen classes here as well. Alicia participates in the bite sport PSA (Protection Sports Association) with her Dutch Shepherd, Karma and her Malinois, Hazzard.
Certifications:
• Master Dog Trainer
• Associate Member of the International Association of Canine Professionals
• American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen Evaluator
• Pet CPR and First Aid
Johnny
Johnny is a 7 year old Australian cattle dog that has taught Alicia more about dog training than anyone else. Alicia rescued Johnny before he was going to be put down. He had defensive aggression issues and learned a lot of bad habits in his foster home. She brought him with her on her journey through training school, and they learned side by side. He is her heart and soul. Johnny is trained in bed bugs detection, loves an adventure, is a cuddle bug, and so much more. Alicia says Johnny is her better half that she is forever grateful for.
Karma
Karma is a 5 year old Dutch Shepherd/Belgian Malinois. Fun fact about Karma: she is from the Netherlands! She was imported to Arkansas, so she has a passport. Alicia met Karma at a previous job where Karma was living in a kennel. She was under a year old when Alicia met her and was deemed “kennel crazy”. What Karma really needed was to be living a working dog lifestyle, which Alicia gave her. Alicia taught Karma narcotics detection and gave her a better foundation of obedience. Later, Karma and Alicia started doing PSA together, a sport that focuses on competition obedience, and protection. Karma currently has her Protection Dog Certificate, and they are training for the next level!
Hazzard
Hazzard is a 1 and a half year old Belgian Malinois. He certainly lives up to his name! Alicia always wanted a dog to compete in PSA with and wanted to raise them from puppyhood. Well, Johnny and Karma happened, but she still wanted a puppy- enter Hazzard. Before Hazzard’s litter was announced Alicia watched a dog compete at PSA Nationals and thought, “a puppy from that dog would be so great...”, and she got him!
Hazzard was born on Alicia’s late grandmothers’ birthday in February, so it was fate. Hazzard is currently training for PSA and later will start narcotics detection. He is the Malinois that Alicia always wanted and waited for, she cannot wait to see how far he goes!
