Stefanie Rainer

Stefanie Rainer is an accomplished and proven dog agility handler, teacher, and judge for the American Kennel Club and UK Agility International. With nearly 20 years of experience in dog agility, Stefanie has been competing and achieving new goals since she was seven-years-old. Stefanie has earned numerous titles on multiple breeds including a Papillon, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and four Border Collies. Stefanie actively competes in AKC, USDAA, and UKI events with her dogs. Each of Stefanie’s dogs has taken her across the country competing in multiple regional and national events earning her countless top placements and medals. Most notably, Stefanie and her rescue Border Collie, Spree, were 3-time AKC/USA European Open large dog team members representing their country at the games in 2012-2014.

Stefanie’s passion for dog training began at a young age. Her love was sparked by her mother, an in-home dog trainer for 16 years specializing in pet manners and behavior modification. Stefanie had the privilege to learn from both her mother and through the mentorship of world-renowned dog trainer, Diane Bauman. From Diane she learned not only about the sport of dog agility, but also the different disciplines of herding, tracking, and competition obedience. With countless hours of hands on experience, Stefanie was able to gain invaluable knowledge about the different learning styles of different breeds of dogs and humans.

The world of dog agility is fast paced and constantly changing pushing handler and dog teams to get better, faster, and more skilled. Stefanie strives to remain on the forefront of the latest techniques which is why she frequently attends seminars to stay up to date on the newest trends. Stefanie first met Janita Leinonen and Jaakko Suoknuuti in 2013 when she had the opportunity to learn from them about the cutting-edge development of their system the OneMind Dogs methodology. This system already aligned perfectly with a lot of Stefanie’s own beliefs that agility and training should be viewed through the dog’s eyes. Stefanie wished to continue to learn from the OneMind Dog team, so in 2014 she traveled to Finland with her Border Collie, Nike, where they continued their education and in 2016 Stefanie was named a OneMind Dog assistant coach and she is proud to be a part of the team. 

Stefanie has since developed her own style of teaching. She doesn’t believe in any one system, but in working with each individual team because not all dogs and people learn the same way. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and love of the game with her students to help both human and canine athlete reach their full potential.