About us
Casey grew up with animals and has worked professionally as a groomer, trainer, adoption counselor, and daycare manager since 2001.
In 2003 Casey graduated cum laude from Becker College with an Associate’s Degree in Veterinary Technology. She passed the Veterinary Technician National Exam in 2003 and is a Certified Veterinary Technician. In 2010 Casey returned to school to finish a Bachelor’s Degree. She graduated summa cum laude from Fitchburg State University in 2013 earning a B.S. in Psychological Science with a concentration in Cognitive Science, and a minor in Art. Eventually she wishes to pursue graduate degrees in Applied Animal Behavior Analysis.
During the first year Casey was attending classes with Fly she began to develop an interest in dog training. She found the use of the clicker and positive reinforcement fascinating and wanted to learn more. In the Spring of 2004 she was approached by the Senior Trainer at the former Gemini Dog Training about becoming an Assistant Trainer in their program. A few months later she began working full time in Gemini's Dog Daycare. She remained there for 2.5 years developing her observation skills and mechanics while learning everything she could about behavior and training. Her pursuit of knowledge was aided by having some of the top trainers in the area as her mentors, along with access to some of the top seminars on behavior and training.
In 2007 Casey began working as a Supervisor at The Bark-O-Lounge Dog Daycare. In 2012 she was promoted to Manager. When the owners decided to close the business in 2014 Casey realized that she was being given the chance to make her dreams of having a full service animal behavior center come true. In the coming years Casey has plans to expand and shape Canine Existence into a training center that will offer classes to different species of animals, as well as host trials and educational seminars for both the public and professionals.
Fly (ARCHEX BonniDune’s Wanna Fly Dawn RA CD-C RL1X4 RL2X4 RL3X2 RLVX25-AOE CGC HIC) is the dog that sparked Casey’s passion for training and behavior. In their almost 12 years together they participated in obedience, agility, rally, tracking, and conformation classes. Casey also handled Fly in the conformation (breed) ring and they earned 47 titles together including multiple Rally Championships, a Novice Obedience title (CD-C), a Canine Good Citizen (CGC) and Fly’s Herding Instinct Certificate (HIC). Fly remains the highest titled Veteran Border Collie in WCRL Rally Obedience and second highest Veteran titled dog overall. In her last 3 years of competition she was nationally ranked in multiple categories including Veteran Champion: 5th place 2012, 2nd place 2013, and 1st place 2014. She was ranked the #10 dog overall in the Level 3 Division for the 2013 rankings, and #9 dog in the Champion Extraordinaire division in 2014. Sadly, Fly was lost to Hemangiosarcoma on February 22, 2015.
Casey is currently competing in AKC Rally and Obedience, CDSP Obedience, and C-WAGS Rally and Obedience with her Border Collie Valor. Valor was Nationally ranked in WCRL and CDSP during her first year of competition. She also qualified for and attended AKC Rally Nationals as well as C-WAGS Nationals. They are currently working on their Novice obedience titles.
