Leena Koivuniemi

Leena Koivuniemi is an experienced dog trainer who graduated from Animal Behavior College. She made her externship at Humane Society of Silicon Valley, where she participated with puppy to intermediate dog training classes. Prior to joining the Humane Society Leena was an agility class teacher at Fetch Sam! having taught 3 different agility classes at the center. Leena is a positive reinforcement dog trainer and believes in life long learning as a dog- owner team. Leena has been a dog-lover from a young age. She started her dog training career 15 years ago with her Jack Russell Terrier, Masi, when they were still living in Finland. They started with puppy training, continued to basic and advanced obedience and beginner agility. After moving to California, Leena found a new agility training center for Masi. They trained agility for several years, mostly for fun and to foster their already great connection with each other. When Masi got older, he retired from agility and the pair started trick dog training. During his trick dog years Masi earned novice, intermediate, advanced and expert trick dog titles. Later on they also participated in classes that provided an instinctual outlet for the old terrier to exercise his nose and brains, in this case it was to search for a rat in a quarry. Today Leena is a proud owner of a two year old Aussie mix, Topi. Together Leena and Topi train dog Parkour, Urban Agility involving obstacles found in everyday environments. Leena and Topi are currently participating in Lost Item Recovery and Urban Locating classes and Topi already has a CGC, beginner, intermediate and advanced trick dog titles. In summer 2024 they are planning to start competitions in 'nose work' . Leena is currently finalizing her IDPKA (International Dog Parkour Association) instructor and evaluator certification and aiming to complete the course within this year Leena was born in Finland and moved to California in 2009. She has a masters degree of education and she taught at the Silicon Valley Finnish School teacher for 13 years. Leena lives in the Bay Area with her husband, teenage son and their dog Topi.