THE BRIGHTON
TEAM
Our Trainers
Heather Blakeman, CPDT-KA
Heather joined the Brighton Animal Clinic team in 2012. She started out training and showing dogs in the 4-H Club and has more than 17 years experience training and showing dogs professionally in AKC conformation, as well as her own dogs in showmanship, agility, rally, obedience, and barn hunt. Heather has earned over 30 titles on her own dogs and helped to pilot over 50 dogs to championship titles professionally.
Her love of animals and the sciences led her to Lexington where she graduated in 2013 with a B.S. in Animal Sciences from the University of Kentucky. Heather is passionate about animal behavior science and loves helping owners strengthen the bond of trust and understanding through force free, science-based, positive reinforcement training. Heather received her Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Assessed accreditation from the independent certification council, CCPDT, in 2017, is a Fear Free Certified Professional, a Professional Member of the APDT, and is a Certified AKC CGC Evaluator.
Heather and her husband, Austin are owned and loved by their Australian Shepherds, Ember and Strider.
Anne McCain
Anne joined the Brighton Animal Clinic team as a Technician in November 2011. Her love of animals developed at a very early age, and she began training dogs in 4-H Club when she was 12. She started training dogs for obedience competition in 1998 and has had several dogs, including Labs, Border Collies, German Shepherds, Viszlas and Jack Russells that have earned AKC Obedience titles.
Anne became a Certified Evaluator for the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen Program in 2006 and is a Fear Free Certified Professional. She truly enjoys working with clients and their pets, helping them to develop a good relationship and discovering all the fun activities they can do together.
Anne is available for CGC certification testing, by appointment, year round.
Alysa Schooler, CVA
Alysa began as an assistant instructor in 2019 and is now one of our Puppy Socialization Class instructors. As a certified veterinary assistant, Alysa is passionate about providing resources to our pet parents to facilitate behavioral well-being in our patients. She also enjoys the enrichment aspect of training. Her senior chihuahua Ginger still jumps at the chance to learn new tricks and Alysa loves using agility training as an outlet for her "wild man" Cobi, a speedy miniature poodle rescue.
Claire Blalock
Claire joined our team of trainers in 2019 as an assistant instructor in our popular Puppy Socialization and Agility classes. Claire is also one of our valued groomers at Brighton. She has many years experience raising & training litters of puppies and fostering adult dogs for rescues like Camp Jean and Lexington Pit Crew. Claire enjoys running her own senior dog, Duke in agility with the goal of providing him a fun avenue for fitness and enrichment. She also enjoys providing puppies and first time grooming pets with a positive experience in grooming.