Board Members & Instructors

  • Raymond Jackson

    PRESIDENT/INSTRUCTOR

  • Dana Cooley

    VICE PRESIDENT/INSTRUCTOR

    34 years law enforcement retiring as Chief of Police. 9 years Bloodhound handler/owner.

  • Diana Cooley

    TREASURER

  • Officer Clay Rushford (retired Orange MA. PD) & K-9 Matte

    INSTRUCTOR

    34 years handling 5 patrol dogs.. Co-author of an article for Fire Chief magazine on searching for the missing person. Certified NASAR search manager. Attended seminars on advanced scent work, suspect tactics, tactical woodland tracking, advanced and tactical tracking, and Homeland Security training. K-9 Ajo (3rd partner) received an award from the Police Hall of Fame for the tracking and capture of two burglary suspects.

  • Chief Bill Chapman, Phillipston MA PD

    INSTRUCTOR

  • Sgt. Melissa Reinholt-Brown (retired NJ State Park Police)

    INSTRUCTOR

    25 years in law enforcement with the New Jersey State Park Police and retired as the Sergeant in charge of the K9 Unit.  She handled two Bloodhounds during her career.  She is a Police Specialty Dog Trainer, instructing for the Northeast Houndsmen, Cape May Sheriff Department in New Jersey, as well as the National Police Bloodhound Association. 

    After moving to Maine upon retirement, she assisted the Maine State Police in restarting their Bloodhound program after a 40+ year hiatus.  She worked with their two teams, teaching them basic scent theory and training them in the field.  

    She is now a Supervisory Instructor with the NPBA, and continues to train Patrol Dog teams as well as Bloodhound teams across the country.

  • Officer Mitch Serlin (retired Westchester County Dept of Public Safety, NY)

    INSTRUCTOR

    Retired New York K9 Officer of 20 years, and U.S. Army 101st Airborne veteran. Immediately following his retirement from the police department, he founded the Hope for Heroes Foundation.

  • Officer Matt Notaro (retired Westchester County Dept. of Public Safety, NY)

    INSTRUCTOR

    Matt Notaro served as a City of Poughkeepsie Police officer prior to becoming a Westchester County Police K9 officer and trainer. Matt retired in 2015 after twenty-three years of service to the community. In addition, Matt is a Canine Instructor training first responder Handlers and their canines for service through the Northeast Houndsman organization.

  • Officer Laura Gordon (retired Erving MA PD)

    INSTRUCTOR

    33 years in law enforcement , including 14 years as a k-9 handler. She is Co-Founder of the Comfort Dog Program for law enforcement agencies nationwide, helping bring crisis response and community support together.

    Her former partners K-9 Clarence and K-9 Rosie, received the 2013 Top Dog Award from the NYC Animal Medical Center. They appeared twice at the White House, and K-9 Clarence is memorialized in a mural at the U.S. Capital.

    In 2022, Laura teamed up with her partner, Ziva, a trained bloodhound. Certified in man-trailing and scent discrimination, the pair has assisted in locating missing individuals and provided critical guidance to police departments during investigations.