Meet Your Instructor

Cindi is a proud scientist at heart, embracing her geek status with enthusiasm. With a background in biology, psychology, and physical therapy, she earned a Master’s degree in Education and TESOL certification.

As a trainer, Cindi applies her diverse expertise to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) to the dogs in her care, fostering better communication between pets and their owners. Her approach helps dogs interpret human actions, enabling pet owners to become more empathetic, understanding, and confident in “dog speak.”

Cindi’s scientific foundation and teaching skills underpin her compassionate, fear-free dog training methods. She emphasizes the needs of the dog and helps people build strong relationships through clear communication and positive reinforcement, all while ensuring the process is fun.

Cindi joined The Dog Alliance in 2020, training her Golden Retriever, Ranger, to become a Bow Wow Therapy dog. Drawing from her experience as a Physical Therapist, she understands the profound impact therapy dogs can have. Through volunteering with Ranger, she continues to see the tail-wagging encouragement and non-judgmental listening that help struggling students. She’s now added Franklin, another Golden Retriever, to her therapy dog team, watching them protect the hearts of children who find school challenging.

Recognizing the potential in every dog, Cindi expanded her volunteering to become a puppy raiser for a service dog in training. Two years of dedicated, specific training opened the door to her becoming a full-time dog trainer. She believes her journey has led her to make a positive, significant impact on the lives of others—whether pet owners or military veterans.

Volunteering fueled Cindi’s passion for dog training and deepened her interest in dog behavior. A lifelong learner, she continues her education through the latest accredited articles, books, and conferences. She’s taken nearly every training class offered at The Dog Alliance and loves them all!

Now an instructor, Cindi teaches with a ‘fun-first’ philosophy for both people and dogs. She helps pet owners develop special bonds with their dogs, whether they’re training as pets, therapy dogs, or in fitness.

Cindy lives for adventure, whether it's traveling or competing in agility competitions with her boxer Franklin. As the Train Your Own Service Dog Program Manager, Cindy helps people select and train their own dogs so that they can become certified service dogs. She enjoys teaching everything from manners classes to agility and service dog task training. Cindy has been a Certified Professional Dog Trainer since 2018.

Debi Krakar founded the Dog Alliance in 2006 with a vision of improving the lives of families in her community based on our powerful bond with dogs.  She is the driving force behind creating the therapeutic programs of The Dog Alliance.   She has fostered over 1,000 dogs in her home and, for the past five years, always has at least one service dog in training with her 24/7. She has whelped 12 litters and is eagerly anticipating expanding the breeding program at the Dog Alliance to allow us to provide service dogs for more disabled Texans.  

Through the Texas Workforce Commission, she was credentialed for job coaching, director, job placement, supported employment, and autism specialist as part of the Dog Alliance's programs to help individuals with disabilities obtain jobs working with dogs.  

In 2012, Debi led the effort to purchase land and build the Dog Alliance's current facility.  With the support of professional builders on a team, Debi led the effort to build the first building and complete the site work in 2013.  Since the Dog Alliance quickly outgrew its space, Debi led the effort again to build a second building in 2016.  Debi will forever be grateful to the professional builders who worked with her and our community for being so generous.  

Debi led the effort for the Dog Alliance's service dog program to become a full member of Assistance Dogs International in 2021.  The project began before the first service dog was placed in 2014.   Debi is a member of the International Working Dog Breeders Association.  

She has a BS in Math and Computer Science from the University of Illinois and a MAS Degree in Accounting/Information Systems from the University of Illinois. Debi has a long history of working with non-profit organizations. After the birth of her four children, Debi developed Mothers of Preschool Children, an organization sponsored by several local churches to support mothers. She also spent 10 years immersed in the PTA, holding board positions, which included room mom, president, vice president, secretary, and events coordinator. She spent 3 years volunteering for the Austin German Shepherd Dog Rescue. Debi has over 10 years of experience in large-scale project management, primarily in nonprofit and governmental entities through various consulting firms.

Erin started showing dogs in 2016 with her first show prospect, Spy. After finishing his championship, she started showing dogs for friends and fellow dog people. With every new dog and each new breed, she gained more ring experience and handling technique. These skills have allowed her to successfully pilot seven dogs to their championships from start to finish and point countless others. As an Amateur Owner Handler, she and her dogs have several Best of Breed wins, Owner-Handled Group Placements and Owner-Handled Reserve Best in Show.

Hannah had a bit of a unique path into dog training. While she was getting her Ph.D, she started fostering for several herding dog rescues and fell in love with training them before they went to their forever homes.  She learned so much about dog behavior and training from her foster dogs and loved the science behind the training. She started teaching at a local dog training facility in North Carolina in 2017, and when she moved to Texas, she decided to try dog training full time and has never looked back!  She shares her life with 6 wonderful dogs (2 Aussies, 2 Border Collies, 1 Mixed breed, 1 Princess).  

Her style for teaching agility is one of wholly understanding both the dog and handler team and working with each team to help them achieve their goals by balancing dog training, handling, natural movement tendencies and skill building.

Ms. Thompson's involvement with the organization began in 2014 when she was the Executive Director of the Tony Stewart Foundation, a supporter of Dog Alliance programs.  Joni joined the Dog Alliance as the Community Outreach Director in 2019.  With 35 years of fundraising and senior management experience, Ms. Thompson has a proven track record of effectively managing projects and relationships, establishing lasting partnerships, and growing organizational visibility.  Her expertise is in project planning and execution and engaging the public through social media.  

Joni has promoted the goals of the University of Notre Dame, the Indianapolis Zoo, the Indiana University School of Law, and the Tony Stewart Foundation.