Michelle has been training dogs in search and rescue since 2007 in trailing and Human Remains Detection. Michelle has been a NASAR HRD evaluator, NASDN trailing evaluator and instructor She was a member and training officer of Yavapai County Sheriff’s Response Team in Arizona. She is currently training 2 dogs for trailing and 1 dog for human remains detection. Both trailing dogs are young and still in training.  Michelle has deployed on numerous missions (30 +) under the auspices of YCSO, which is one of the busiest search counties in Arizona.  Michelle has served on local standard committees to improve practices and standards in the field. Michelle is a member of NASAR and a SARTECH II.

Michelle has a bachelor’s degree in Education from Prescott College, two graduate degrees from Northern Arizona University in Human Relations and Education Leadership. When Michelle is not working dogs, she works in the field of Education as a Director of Special Services. She adopted a beautiful son with special needs in 2020 which keeps her quite busy as a mom.  She is an AKC – CGC evaluator and a team member of K9 Search and Rescue Team, Inc. Michelle has assisted with national conferences as an instructor, coordination assistant, and evaluator.  Michelle works closely with national instructors that believe in Best Practices to provide advanced training to and with her local teams.