Carrie DeFeo

Carrie is an instructor for the Maddie's® Lifesaving Academy. Before teaching the Austin No Kill Model to students, she began volunteering for APA! in 2011, joined the staff in 2012 as a Dog Matchmaker, and then moved on to the Dog Behavior Team in 2013. Her biggest role on the behavior team has been building the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Ready program as well as developing APA!'s TOP Dog. The CGC Ready Program has cut the length of stay in half for our large, blocky headed type dogs. The Total Obedience Program (TOP) is focused on training volunteers to work with behavior dogs in the shelter to help increase their potential for success in an adoptive home. Carrie's focus in the Academy is to teach other shelters how to develop and maintain a Volunteer Dog Handling Program with a focus in volunteer retention, quality outings for every dog, every day and developing programs like the Canine Good Citizen Ready Program in other shelters.