Our Mission
Our goals are to help you and your dog develop a strong relationship, to help you become effective at communicating with your dog, and to help your dog become an eager participant in training and a great member of your family.
Our Philosophy
Animal Alliances believes that changes in behavior are best accomplished using positive, force-free methods. We teach you to teach your dog by rewarding the good behaviors that you want to see, rather than punishing those you don't like. (Don't worry, we can also help you eliminate unwanted behaviors using force-free methods!) The positive training and behavior modification techniques that we use are based on the science of learning and have been proven to be extremely effective — whether teaching your dog a simple behavior like sit or dealing with a serious behavior problem such as reactivity or aggression.
What Sets Us Apart
We keep our group classes small - just 4 to 5 dogs - so that we can give each student lots of individual attention. We are as positive with our human students as we are with our canine students: we believe that everyone learns better when they're having fun! We encourage all family members (and housemates, dog sitters, etc) to attend class with their dog so that everyone is on the same page. We believe dogs and humans of any age can learn new tricks. We encourage questions, and love coming up with creative ways to help your dog become a well-integrated member of your household.
Our students agree: we get all of our business through word of mouth. Come watch one of our classes and see why. Email info@animalalliances.com to set up a time to stop by!
Meet Our Trainers
Caroline Moore
Owner and head trainer Caroline Moore has studied clicker training for 20 years, and has used it successfully on all of the past and current members of her menagerie: two cats, two caique parrots, a standard poodle, a lab/pit mix, a border collie, and a beagle. When she pulls out the clicker, all of her animals flock around hoping it’s their turn to be trained!
Caroline believes training should be fun for the animals and the humans. Her favorite thing is watching animals and humans have “aha moments” during training!
Caroline is a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner. This rigorous, six-month program focuses on the science of behavior, advanced clicker training skills, creating behavior modification plans, and designing innovative solutions to behavior challenges. It assesses the trainer’s behavioral knowledge, training skill, and teaching ability.
In 2019, Caroline took the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers' certification exam. She got a 97% and became a Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Assessed.
She has also received her Level 1 Clicker Trainer Competency Assessment (CAP1) with Meri
Alex Wise
Alex Wise has been a staff trainer at Animal Alliances since 2015, teaching classes in everything from puppy, basic, and intermediate manners to outdoor etiquette, tricks, and nosework. Their special training interests include building strong foundational obedience skills for service and therapy dogs in training, tricks training, and working with deaf dogs.
Alex lives in Northampton with their Portuguese Water Dog puppy, Clipper.
Kristin Neal
Like most people who choose a career with animals, Kristin Neal is a lifetime animal lover. From bringing home kittens, to rescuing injured mice, begging for riding lessons, and walking the neighbor’s dog, she found ways to surround herself with animals from a very early age.
She started going to obedience classes with her own dogs and discovered a love for training. She made a point of seeking out trainers and spending time with them, watching and learning about behavior and positive reinforcement. Kristin is also a certified veterinary technician, and has completed and passed the Fear Free Certificate course. She has worked in medicine, surgery, and animal sheltering. She joined the Animal Alliances team in 2018.
Kristin's passion is not just for dogs, but for improving the quality of life for dogs and their people. She loves sharing knowledge to help people have a better relationship with their dogs, and help their dogs be better companions in our human world.
Eli MacCullagh
Eli MacCullagh first started with dog training as a puppy raiser for a guide dog school. He and his family volunteered for almost 10 years and trained multiple puppies in their foundational skills as potential future service dogs. After a few years teaching children in outdoor and other non-traditional educational settings, Eli decided to return to dog training, this time as a professional. He started apprenticing at Animal Alliances in summer 2023 while completing Sharon Wachsler's Dog Professionals mentorship program. In spring 2024, he started teaching classes at AA. Eli is certified in Pet First Aid and CPR through PetTech and he earned his CPDT-KA in spring 2025.