About Us

About

Melinda Moss has been a lifelong trainer for both equines and canines. Her history of training Thoroughbred racehorses, as well as competing Hunter Jumpers and Eventers has given her valuable training knowledge and perception of animal behavior which she now incorporates into canine behavioral training.  She has owned and trained many dogs throughout her lifetime including Rottweilers, Jack Russell Terriers, Cocker Spaniels, and mixed breeds. She currently owns/breeds and competes Australian Shepherds.   Her love of the Australian Shepherd grew from her first unregistered Aussie in 1996 with which she trained and competed obedience and agility. Thanks to her first Aussie “Hershey” her love of the breed has flourished to where she now breeds, trains and competes a very fast competitive working agility line of Aussies. You may have seen her running 5 or more Aussies in multiple agility classes at the same time often along the Northeast trial circuit. She is known for a fluid running style with many verbal cues, and large distances with her dogs. Melinda works with all types of dogs and handler teams, she is a dog trainer first and foremost with a keen eye for interpreting dog behavior. She helps handlers solve agility related problems on the course by training the issues off the course. Melinda believes that to have a successful connection on the agility course it starts with a great training relationship in the dog’s daily life. M Squared dogs and Melinda’s students have a strong agility foundation.  M Squared techniques create drive, focus and distance through shaping exercises, positive reinforcement and games. With these techniques, Melinda creates a love of agility for both dog and handler. Melinda is a graduate of Susan Garrett’s Handling 360 and Agility Nation. With the skills of Handling 360 she has earned an AKC AGCH (Agility Grand Championship) with her homebred Aussie Sparkle, as well as multiple MACH & IACH titles on several dogs, qualifying, running with placements in Finals of the US Open, AKC Nationals, USASA Nationals, AKC Westminster Master Agility Championship. In addition 10 M Squared Aussies, either bred or owned by Melinda have been consistently ranked in the top 10 of USASA (AKC Australian Shepherds) agility since 2020.  Her dog Sparkle most recently placed 8th out of over 100, 16” Dogs in the Finals of the UKI US Open 2024 competing against the best teams across the USA and 5 different countries. Sparkle was also the 2022 & 2023 AKC Northeast Regional Champion.

Melinda is a huge fan of anything Susan Garrett and is an alumni and or member of 5 of the Dogs That programs and has been a guest trainer featured in Susan Garrett’s online program Agility Nation. Melinda loves to share her knowledge to help teams grow whether it is through agility or anyone who just wants to have a great relationship with their dog. As a certified AKC Evaluator she is approved for CGC (all levels including STAR Puppy) and Trick Testing. She is available for private lessons, group classes and workshops.

Melinda is known for teaching strong foundational skills which give her dogs & students amazing success in the agility ring. She uses  patience and persistence  while instilling confidence and competence in both dogs and handlers,  helping each team achieve their most effective agility running style tailored to their  individual to needs.  She truly enjoys the successes of her students, always encouraging them to do their best, and try something new. Classes are always fun, engaging, supportive and inventing new ways to train or teach a new skill. Whether you have an experienced agility dog or need to start a new puppy, MSquared’s training program has something for everyone. Many of Melinda’s students start out with “just a puppy class” but they have so much fun training their dog and come to realize how brilliant their dog is that they end up in our agility classes and eventually competing!

Melinda was also employed as a Veterinary Technician for over 20 years and is capable of emergency veterinary first aide and is highly experienced in equine and canine mating, foaling/whelping and neonatal care for both equine and canines. 

Training Techniques

Melinda brings her love, patience and enthusiasm for training to all the dogs she works with.  Her lifelong training background gives her the advantage of innate ability to read and predict a dog’s body language and behavior. She believes that all animals are individuals, have different personalities and learn at different paces, therefore she will quickly adjust training techniques to suite any dog’s personality.  MSquared’s training philosophy is about keeping your dog motivated, excited and interested in learning, not about a cookie cutter leading behaviors approach.

Melinda has developed MSquared’s training program to teach dogs and owners of any age/breed and/or level through FUN GAMES that anyone can play making dog training fun for both dog and handler.  Training games are taught with operant conditioning and science based training incorporating the methodology of H360 & Recallers Training.   Each training game and/or exercise is built in layers that builds upon itself from week to week to give the dog a clear and confident understanding of each desired behavior. Science has shown that when dogs are given a “choice” in their conditioning training their confidence in the desired behavior increases to which real world results are achieved for a lifetime. “Its your choice” is a critical core of our foundation games which ultimately will give the dog a confident understanding of even complex behavior chains. The games we play are incorporated into our daily life with our dogs. If you have an issue of naughty dog behavior - we have a game for that!

At MSquared we "Live in the land of "DO" vs. "Don't". It is SO much easier and kinder to teach a dog to DO a desired behavior rather than "DON"T" do a negative behavior. With our game based operant conditioning training program dogs learn through layers of training with rock solid results for real life situations. Let MSquared show you what your dog can DO! Manners, to trick training to agility classes available- group and private lessons. What can your dog do?

We teach YOU how to prevent & cure behavior issues before it becomes a problem

With our choice based positive reinforcement training your dog will gain a clear understanding of how to be a good canine citizen with results to last a lifetime.

Our energetic, fun and challenging classes are unlike typical boring obedience training.  We train through games, body awareness exercises and trick training incorporated into every class!  A truly unique training experience suitable for even first time dog owners!

Our group training classes are purposely kept small in order to give individualized attention to each student. If a dog/handler are struggling to learn a particular lesson we will take our time to be sure there is a clear understanding before the student leaves that class. Melinda is always available to her students for questions and input even after class has ended. **In Home private lessons are also available on a limited basis.

Facilities - Closer than you think!!

MSquared’s home base is located in Union Bridge, Carroll County, on the boarder of Frederick County Maryland. Currently group classes are held at the Home base in Union Bridge, Maryland and seasonally at Hearts Home Agility Field in Westminster, Maryland.

Boarding

MSquared also offers short term boarding with an optional training board package.   All dogs are treated like members of our family and incorporated in to the household pack.  All dogs live in the home not outside in a kennel, though we do have a separate “doggie play room” for our guests.  Guests will experience daily hikes on the neighboring farm fields and woods, swimming and free play time with the pack or individually as required.   Owners of Guests are provided with daily updates with photos of their pets during their stay with us.    Please contact us for Rates for overnight boarding, discounts are available for multiple dogs in the same family. **Boarding is dependent upon Mel’s schedule, please contact us for availability.

Doggie Day Camp offered various times throughout the year, check back for details.