Liz Langham, BS, MS

Owner, Head Trainer

Liz Langham, BS, MS, is a member of The Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT.com). She is the owner of Tree Frog Farm Dog Training and Agility, a business located in North Yarmouth, Maine. She successfully helps people understand their dogs behaviors through guidance, training, and even some moral support. Liz has been training dogs since 1994.

Education: 

• AS in Animal Agriculture Technology (The University of Maine)
• BS in Sustainable Agriculture with an animal science concentration
• MS in Horticulture, minor is qualitative sociology (Oregon State University)
• Master Gardener Certification


• Demonstrations:
• LLBean Dog Days of Autumn: four years
• North Yarmouth Fun Day: six years
• Pet Rock in the Park: three years
• Thompson Point Ice Arena
• Tender Touch Adoption Appreciation: two years
• Brunswick Dog Park: five one-hour presentations on canine body language and dog park etiquette. Recall workshop. How to play with your dog.


• School Presentations:
• Waynflete School 2nd and 3rd grades: 2007 and 2017
• Freeport Middle School: 2014
• Lewiston Continuing Education
• Cumberland Recreation Department: Canine Body Language


• Seminar:
• Sponsored by The Portland Veterinary Specialists continuing education series
  Canine Body Language: Assessing aggression in a veterinary setting


• Media:
• Maine Calling: Panel discussion with Dr. Katie Hazzard of Falmouth Veterinary Hospital, and Lisa Smith of The Waterville Humane Society
• Maine Today: two times with The Coastal Humane Society
• Radio Interview
  
  Magazine Interview:
• Down East Magazine: August 2016
  
  Handling dogs for Photo and Video:
• FetchDog: Five years
• Macomber Studio: For Brookstone
• Dennis Welch: For IDEXX
• Ralph Lauren/Polo: Three day shoot. Summer 2016
• Keurig: One day shoot. Fall 2016


• External Behavior Consultations:
• ASPCA Deployment as Behavior Lead: Two depoyments
• ARL: Evaluate and develop a behavior plan for South Korean dogs: Ongoing since May 28, 2016
• ARL: Evaluator as needed
• CHS: SAFER Evaluator, 1.5 years
• CHS: Evaluator as needed
• Tall Tails Beagle Rescue: Evaluator as needed
• Waterville Humane Society: Evaluator as needed
• Certified SAFER Evaluator: two years
• Evaluator as needed  refers to calling me in to evaluate the more questionable dogs.




 
•  
• In addition, Liz has attended numerous dog related seminars:

  Dog Behavior: Dr. Nicholas Dodman, Brenda Aloff, Leslie Nelson, Kelly Snyder and Jesus Rosales-Ruiz, Chris Bach, and Sarah Kalnajs.

  Agility: Stuart Mah and Pattie Hatfield, Nancy Gyes, Laurie Baker, Cindy Ratner, Anne Andrle, Elicia Calhoun, Mary Ellen Barry, and Susan Garrett

Other Instructors

Cindy Ratner

Cindy Ratner is one of our agility instructors. She has had dogs since birth and has been training and competing with her dogs since the 1980's. Her training emphasizes relationship, communication, and foundation. She is known for being very clear and motivational with her instruction and for holding classes that are relaxed, yet challenging. Her goal is to provide flexible instruction so as to meet the needs of the hobbyist as well as those of the serious competitor. 

Cindy has lived with and/or trained dogs from every group, including mix-breeds and rescues. Her dogs have competed in and hold numerous titles in agility and obedience, have dabbled in herding and conformation, have modeled for print ads, and television commercials and have done therapy work. Her dogs have had several national and regional top ten rankings in multiple sports. Her Shetland Sheepdog, Shane, has not only earned the coveted ADCh or Agility Dog Champion title, but was on the podium at the 2005 USDAA National Championships placing 3rd in the Veteran's Grand Prix at the age of 13. She currently competes in agility with her two Border Collies, Page & BAM!, and is training her first terrier, Jonesy. 

Cindy was bitten (pun intended) by the training bug while spending childhood summers hanging around her aunt's obedience school. She has been an instructor since the late 1980's when she taught both pet and competition obedience for Vacationland Obedience Training Club. She has conducted therapy groups for special-needs individuals with dog phobias and designed a self-awareness program for at-risk teens using dog behavior, training, and husbandry as a model. She currently teaches agility classes and seminars and offers private instruction in agility, pet obedience, and does behavioral consultations. 

Cindy lives in Cape Elizabeth with her husband, Jim, her son, Eli (when he is not away at college) and her daughter, Delaney, who is also an accomplished agility competitor. They share their home with 4 dogs and one very tolerant kitty, Mabel. 


Living with Children
Living with children and dogs requires specific management tools. Our children need to know how to properly interact with dogs and how to avoid inappropriate engagement. The caretaker in the family needs to understand why a puppy plays the way it does, why the running child makes the puppy more riled up, and why it is so much fun for a puppy to steal a beloved stuffed animal.