About Melissa

Phone: (617) 863 0796  |  Email Melissa | The Book 

Melissa is an author of Considerations for the City Dog and is currently working on a new book about stumbling into the dog training profession.

While she grew up in rural Maine in an accidental dog sledding family, she's been professionally active training dogs in a bustling urban environment, which inspired the book. She earned her Bachelors of Science degree in psychology at Lake Erie College just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. This degree has served her well in her dog training career!

Melissa believes that all dogs should have a job, especially if they live in an urban environment. She's most interested in the differences (and similarities) between city dogs and country dogs as well as how the medical and training worlds intersect when it comes to our pups. She spends her time researching different aspects of life with dogs, and addresses controversial topics head-on from every perspective (like the Rocco Case in Somerville and The Truman Fire). She also has a way of finding the humor in almost everything.  She aims to put everything in one place for her students, which is why she wrote Considerations for the City Dog

Melissa earned her training certification in 2008 through the CCPDT association and has attended 72+ additional hours of training to better serve her students. She loves living outside of Boston, Massachusetts with her family (pets and people alike!)

Melissa is currently the co-Training Director for New England Dog Training Club in Belmont (the oldest AKC obedience club in the country) and teaches disc-dog classes at Everydog Training Center in Danvers, MA. She handles behavior cases and works in tandem with the veterinarians in the area to help dogs emotional, physical and behavioral health. She blogs for NPR's Car Talk (FIDO blog) and presents around the area on the ethical acquisition of pets.

She manages the MuttStuff Blog which features local resources, events, and training tips (like loose leash walking information), but is more active on Facebook/MuttStuff.


She is available for private training, interviews, or articles pertaining to life with dogs. She has been featured on NECN's "The Secret Life of Animals", Fox 25 Morning News, The Somerville Journal, and Dogtime  She has also given presentations in schools aimed at preventing dog bites in children.  If you are interested in classes, private training options, sports for dogs, introducing baby-to-dog, dog bite prevention presentations for your school, or anything else related to living with dogs, use the "Contact Me" form on the right side of the page.