Meet our trainers
Brittany Vincent, CPDT-KA
Assistant Director / Lead Trainer
Brittany's passion in life has always been working with and training animals. Growing up she helped train and care for horses, and moved on to managing horse barns in her 20's. Once she moved to Alabama in 2018, her focus switched from training horses to training dogs. She adopted her first dog, Maui, from Metro Animal Shelter and later picked up another addition to the family, a corgi/aussie mix Loki, a few months after. She worked on training her 2 personal dogs on her own, then started working as a professional trainer once she acquired her third dog, Luffy (corgi/aussie) in 2021. Brittany now helps run the training department for BARK University at Hot Diggity Doggie Camp.
Brittany is very passionate about helping pet parents and their dogs have a better relationship and communication style. Nothing's better than working with your dog and starting to understand how they're feeling and why they're choosing to do certain things! She spends her free time training agility with her dogs and hiking around trails in the Tuscaloosa area.
Brittany Vincent is currently a Certified AKC Evaluator, AKC FIT Dog Level 1 Instructor, Professional Member of APDT (The Association for Professional Dog Training), and a Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Assesed (CPDT-KA).
Virginia Cain, PhD
Lead Trainer / Head of Canine Life Skills Classes
Virginia grew up with Great Danes and Mastiffs. She has a lifelong passion for dogs and teaching, which intertwined when she found herself in need of a little extra help. Several years ago, Virginia got Sunny, a silver standard poodle, and trained him to be her service dog. Virginia and Sunny enjoy dog sports including tricks, nosework, rally, dog parkour, and fastCAT. They also love taking Saturday afternoon naps together after Canine Life Skills classes. The two can be found teaching at The University of Alabama, where Virginia earned her doctorate in American history, and Sunny earned his honorary doctorate in being a Very Good Boy.
Virginia loves helping dogs and their guardians live together in harmony. She enjoys training dogs in obedience, manners, and good decision making. With dog guardians, her focus is teaching people how to clearly communicate with dogs. Virginia’s goal is to create confident dog and owner partnerships built on trust and understanding, not human micromanagement of canine behavior. Even when working through difficult issues, Virginia reminds all of her clients to enjoy the process and celebrate all improvements, big and small.
Virginia is currently a Certified AKC Evaluator, AKC Fetch Dog Evaluator, and participates in the Fear Free Shelters Program.
Meet the Team
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Alivia Tucker
ASSISTANT TRAINER
Alivia came from a very small town in Ohio called Millersport. There was not much around except corn fields so she kept herself occupied with all her pets. She grew up around dogs, cats, hamsters, birds, Alivia always had something to take care of and loved every minute of it. After high school Alivia went off to explore various jobs starting with fast food, then to jewelry stores, a pet store and lastly a lead dog bather position.
After 2 years of bathing and learning all the rights and wrongs of properly cleaning a dog she met her partner that then would move her to Alabama. Once here she followed her passion for animals, leading her to Hot Diggity. Alivia’s love for dogs made it the perfect fit, and since joining the team she has embraced every opportunity to work hands-on with both dogs and their owners. One of her favorites is assisting in the training classes, “Not only am I learning but I also get to help owners learn and there is nothing better than seeing an owner and their dog working as a team and enjoying being together.” Alivia has been put in just about every position in the couple of years she has been with HDDC but main duties are assistant managing with the overnight role and training.
Beyond dogs, Alivia’s love for animals still knows no bounds! As a dedicated advocate for animal rescue, her and her partner strive to make their home a safe haven for all animals in need of love and shelter. “From Chickens, lizards, dogs and cats we have just a little bit of everything and no matter the size, shape or story behind them, everyone is loved the same in our home.” Alivia spends her days at home taking care of her homestead with her partner or here at Hot Diggity or as she likes to call it her second home.
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Haley Wilson
ENRICHMENT SPECIALIST
Haley is an animal lover to the core. If there is a lost animal that needs love and compassion she is the one to make sure they get it.
Haley is recently married to the love of her life, Brady. They have bought their first home and have added the cutest new fur-puppy, Wrangler, to their family. They also have 3 cats: Sassy, Asher and Mochi.
Haley has been working for HDDC since August 2023. She could not imagine doing anything different. She loves hanging out with all the different breeds of dogs.
She has started managing, attending overnights and also works with the dogs in Academy.
Haley says it’s only up from here!