About Crystal Collins, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, CTDI

Crystal began her work with animals shortly after graduating high school, when she got a job at the Indiana County Humane Society. She worked her way to manager very quickly, helped to reduce the euthanasia rate and was responsible for changing the euthanasia method from intracardiac injection to the more humane intravenous method. After leaving the shelter she began working at a local veterinary clinic as a kennel worker and assistant and then as a grooming assistant and kennel attendant at another local business.
Simultaneously, she began her first business, the non-profit Starfish to the sea Animal Rescue (STAR.) She was 22. Under that banner, Crystal helped to rehab and rehome over 200 animals over an 8 year period, fostering most of them herself, and earning a reputation as a responsible and reputable rescuer. During that time she was also hired as a paid consultant by local no-kill shelter Four Footed Friends as they were building a new facility and needed assistance planning their dog kennels and programs. Crystal was hired as the kennel manager for that same shelter not long after it was operational, but after a year she left. She decided to pursue rescue full-time for a while and in 2011 she received the prestigious Pittsburgh 40 Under 40 Award, honoring her community service as a young adult for her charitable work. In 2013, she was a founding board member of SNIPP (Spay and Neuter Indiana PA Pets), a non-profit group offering free and low-cost spay and neuter services.

In 2012, Crystal opened her first training business, Dog Star Rising, after realizing that she could help people and animals in a different way and utilize the knowledge she had gained while attending seminars and educating herself in order to better aid her foster animals. She knows first-hand that training and behavior modification go hand in hand with keeping animals out of shelters. She became the first person in Indiana County, PA and any of the surrounding counties to become Certified by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. She has been certified in Pet First Aid and CPR and is an Evaluator for the AKC in Trick Dog, Canine Good Citizen, and Community Canine. She is a Fear Free Certified Animal Trainer and a Certified Trick Dog Instructor. 

Crystal had to close Dog Star Rising due to some health issues in 2019 but in 2020, after moving to Pittsburgh, PA, she doubled down to begin Stellar Pets Training and Behavior so that she could continue her work with the public and their pets.

​Crystal believes you should never stop learning in your field, and her continuing education has led to seminars, training workshops and even dinner with some of the most renowned experts in the field like Pat Miller, Patricia McConnell, Nicole Wilde, Michael Shikashio, Sue Sternberg, Susan Friedman, Ali Brown, Jean Dodds, and many more discussing topics like aggression, dog play and dog-dog interaction, resource guarding, reactivity, safe handling, dog play, separation anxiety, shelter dog assessments, thyroid disease, diet, and so much more. In 2018 she was an attendee of Midwest Veterinary Conference where she spent four days in lectures from board-certified veterinary behaviorists on various topics. Additionally, she has completed an eight week course on missing pet recovery so that she can aid in finding lost pets, and has volunteered to do this.

Crystal feels she owes a great deal of her training knowledge to the dogs that have blessed her life. She has competed with her best canine friend, her Irish Setter Toby (STARs 'n Stripes Furever Meant To-be, ATD, RATI, RL2, RLV, RL1, CSL-H, JV-O, RV-N, CGC) in Rally obedience, agility in multiple venues, Barn Hunt (she brought home a sick and blind rat!), trick dog, canine nosework, and he earned his Canine Good Citizenship as a young adult. She adopted Toby in 2006 at 7 months of age and they competed in new sports into his teens. Crystal now keeps Toby's memory with her every day.

Crystal is down to one dog after a year of changes in 2020, cattle dog mix puppy Link, a trick dog title holder by 12 weeks, who was born during the pandemic and has never known a life where people don't wear masks and taste like hand sanitizer.

Crystal also shares her home with her two cats, Tybalt and Larry Peterson from Accounting.