Growing up on Cape Cod, MA, Cassi Bee collected pets of all kinds. Beginning with the tarantulas her dad gave her as a toddler; her menagerie quickly grew to include snakes, mice, rats, guinea pigs, fish, turtles, and of course the family’s cats and dogs. At 7, Cassi got exactly what she wanted for her birthday and started horse back riding lessons! At 10 Cassi was fortunate enough to bring home a dog that was hers and hers alone; a Shiba Inu named Foxy Lady. After a few short hours with her new cat-dog (If you’ve ever known a Shiba, you’ll get that reference. . . they are basically cats that bark!) Cassi’s family quickly realized that this dog was like no other they’ve ever had before. So they enrolled Cassi in their local 4h chapter. This group focused on helping children train and handle dogs in competition while also providing a community for them to nerd out about dog training each week. Cassi continued working with 4H and showing dogs and horses until after high school. After high school, Cassi attended the UMass Amherst Stockbridge School of Agriculture’s Equine Industries program and worked as a stablehand and riding instructor for a few years in New England. Cassi moved to Philadelphia in 2011.
Cassi has worked for and volunteered at several rescue facilities in the Philadelphia area. She has also worked for a doggie daycare, dabbled in petsitting, fostered and rehomed dogs in need, and most recently was employed as a dog trainer at the Zoom Room in Philadelphia. While at the Zoom Room, Cassi gained extensive experience training agility, as well as working with reactive dogs, urban herding, progressive obedience, helping wallflower or nervous dogs come out of their shell, and trick training. Cassi fundamentally believes that you can achieve most dog training goals while remaining force-free; and loves collaborating on training plans with dog owners, enabling them to achieve great results with their dogs in the real world! Cassi is excited to bring her 20 years of collective animal experience to this new role at Philly Unleashed, where she will be teaching group and private obedience lessons; and focusing on building a dog sports program that includes agility, rally, and some other fun sports.
Cassi currently lives in East Kensington with her two dogs; Bugsy, an 8 year old Australian Cattle Dog mix, and Max, a 14 year old Boston Terrier Mix. In her spare time, she loves to teach Bugsy tricks. He currently knows over 100 different party tricks including skateboarding, sorting the recycling bin, retrieving (and putting away!) household items, can identify most of his toys by name, keeps in shape with a canine freestyle dance routine, and is working on learning how to jump rope next! Want to see? Then check out Bugsy’s instagram handle @bugsyxbee, and try not to be jealous that he probably has more followers than you do!
