Bio – Anna Serratore

Anna Serratore – Dog Trainer and Puppy Class Instructor

Anna Serratore used to watch the Lion King every single night as a child. By the time she was 4 years-old, she knew it was her destiny to work with animals.

Perhaps its her parents who set up Anna’s passion for animals. Initially the family home included a German Shepherd Rottweiler mix and Doberman; the pair was named Lady and Tramp. The two dogs were soon joined by a Ball Python, several fish who inhabited the family’s salt water tank and a Pygmy octopus. Its no wonder Anna’s early dreams were to be the next Steve Irwin.

In 2009 they rescued a German Shepherd named Jade who was found running wild in Missouri.
Jade was practically a feral animal, never having lived in a house by the time she was adopted at 8 months. She had never been around people and were confounded by things like the stairs. Anna put in a ton of work taming and training this precocious dog she described as a Sassy Sour Patch kid.

In 2010 Anna was enrolled in the Zoo Academy. Her science curriculum was geared towards animals anatomy as well as Shadow with the animal keepers. Anna was able to shadow in every area except the code red animals (lions, tigers and bears oh my!). Anna described the Zoo as her second home.

Anna’s love for dogs was kicked into high gear (Did you know Anna races Dragsters? More on that later) when she was a volunteer at Hearts United for Animals. Anna loved her hands on job; walking, feeding and exercising the dogs.

The following year, Anna landed an internship at the Zoo in the Red Barn Park, the most interactive part of the zoo. Anna did a lot of handling and training with the animals, laying the foundation that she has built on to this day.

After college, Anna got a job at a local day care facility and was the only one on staff who wanted to work with fearful dogs. And it was there that a little dog named Luna ignited Anna’s passion to work with scared and fearful dogs.

The little dog Luna was so fearful, she wouldn’t eat and tried to bite anyone if they tried to touch her. After some dedicated work, Anna was able to earn the dog’s trust when all other humans had given up on her.

Anna uses a soothing touch to help this fearful pup in her puppy class

Anna has a degree in Biology yet continues her search for knowledge, immersing herself in additional dog training and behavior classes. This passion and dedication for animals is one of the reasons Dog Gone Problems felt so fortunate to be able to hire Anna.

Anna started out as a puppy class instructor and still teaches classes, but now also conducts in home dog training for puppies and adult dogs. Anna is currently taking online courses to become a specialist in Behavior Adjustment Training (BAT), but don’t this this is a one trick pony, Anna’s skillsets are as diverse as they are impressive.

“I like to call her ‘the fastest woman in Omaha’,” said DGP founder David Codr. “One day when I was introducing Anna to start a puppy class, I found out she races dragsters; you know, the cars with big rear wheels and a parachute to stop. But racing is a hobby to Anna where helping and training dogs is her destiny.

Anna teaching Rottweiler Diesel to sit still despite the distraction

Anna’s clients love the personal connection she makes with them and their dogs. A perfect example of this is Captain, a German Shepherd who took our puppy classes. Captain is a bit of a miracle dog; born with a Megaesophagus and was going to be put down until his guardian Debra saved him.

When Anna learned about a DGP puppy Class Graduate who was rescued but now too high energy for his guardians to walk (pulling her down and breaking her back), Anna sprang into action; training and walking the dog so well that the guardians asked her to walk him on nearly a daily basis!

Don’t worry, you don’t have to hire Anna to walk your dog or puppy every day to get her help you. You can book a training session with her using this link, or sign up for one of her puppy classes (At our West Center Location) here.