Chris Hamer, M.S.,CDBC, has worked with dogs and their families to develop better relationships for roughly thirty years. After getting her Master’s degree in Animal Behavior from Western Washington University in 1985, Chris began professionally training gun dogs and was one of the first women to actively train gun dogs, including hunting retrievers, pointers, and flushers. She competed in AKC and NARHA hunt tests and is a qualified judge for all levels of the hunt test program. From 1983-1997, Chris owned and operated Wyndhaven Kennels in Northwest Washington State where she would oversee the training of over 50 dogs each day. She is the creator of DogSense Seminars; a two-day intensive training designed to turn dog owners into their dog’s teacher.


Currently, Chris gives private and in-home training. She is a member of the American Pet Dog Trainer Association (APDT), a certified member and member of the board of directors of the International Association of Dog Behavior Counselors (IAABC) and the chairperson for the IAABC Education Collaborative.

Chris coauthored, Parenting with Pets, the Magic of Raising Children with Animals (2007) and is a contributing author of Dog Tales for the Soul. She is a regular contributor for the nationally syndicated radio broadcast, Pet Tales and writes a bimonthly column on dog behavior for the Skagit Valley Herald. Chris lives in Mount Vernon Washington with two teenage boys, twelve laying hens, three dogs, two geese, a cat, a duck, two horses, and her husband of twenty-five years.