Current Instructors

We are excited for our 2026 instructor line up!

Area

Zephrin Allen

Zephrin has spent nearly a decade involved in K-9 SAR as a member of MARK-9 Search and Rescue based in Dallas, TX. Zephrin currently serves as the Team Leader and Head Canine Trainer for MARK-9 and currently deploys a German Shepherd and Labrador Retriever.

Zephrin has certified in Live Find and HRD through American Working Dog Association (AWDA) and National Search Dog Alliance (NSDA), where he also serves as a board member and Principal Evaluator for HRD and Area Search. Additionally, Zephrin is the founder and host of “Hunt-Find-Alert K-9 SAR” podcast, where he interviews experts in the SAR community.

Zephrin is a graduate of the Dick Stall online Detection/SAR courses and a student in the K9 Sensus Detection Dog Training Academy. He also serves as an Assistant H.R.D. instructor at the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State (FACTS).

Zephrin believes that the best instruction is helping the handler evaluate and critically think about their K-9s behaviour, and understanding the “Why” behind any challenges they are facing. His goal is for handlers to feel empowered to troubleshoot their K-9s behaviors and equipped to make informed decisions on how to adjust their training plan based on the needs of their dog.

HRD

Kryssie Thompson

Kryssie is currently a Sergeant Game Warden with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). She has worked for TPWD since 2015 and joined the K9 Team at the end of 2017. Kryssie was TPWD’s first Human Remains Detection K9 handler. Her first K9 partner, Dexter, certified annually through Utah P.O.S.T until TPWD developed their own training program and certification. She is now on her second K9, Rizzo, who is also certified in Human Remains detection.

Kryssie is an instructor at the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State. She also has extensive experience in real world deployments that include plane crashes, natural disasters, homicides, drownings, and missing people. She also has experience in working with numerous agencies from around the country. These agencies include
Texas Task Force 1, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Texas Rangers, Texas Office of the Attorney General, as well as numerous Sheriff’s Departments, Police Departments, and Search and Rescue/Recovery groups.

Kryssie enjoys assisting fellow K9 handlers in identifying challenges that they may be facing and giving handlers the tools to overcome these challenges. Kryssie encourages handlers to think outside the box when training to challenge their K9s so that they are prepared for challenges that they may face in real world deployments.

Trailing

Denise Alvord – Beginning/Intermediate/Fundamental Trailing

Denise is a firefighter/paramedic in Colorado, and has been heavily involved in multiple aspects of emergency services and search and rescue for over 20 years. She has trained/certified 4 of her own dogs (starting her 5th); working in Trailing, Air Scent, Cadaver (land and water recovery), Avalanche and Disaster (FEMA Live Find and Human Remains). She is a K9 testing evaluator for state and national SAR certification organizations and is an adjunct instructor with K9Medic, teaching emergency medical field care. Denise is the Canine Coordinator for CO-TF1, Colorado’s FEMA disaster team. Taking over leadership of the team during COVID, she worked to rebuild their canine component, developing a cohesive team, achieving and maintaining 100% certification pass rate for teams testing.

Denise has also served as the Dog Group Supervisor and served on the Training Committee for her county Sheriff’s SAR team and served as the Regional Area Director, Standards Committee and Fielding Coordinator for the State wilderness dog organization. Denise has enjoyed the opportunity to train SAR and Law Enforcement groups across the country, working in a variety of terrain and climates. She has raised/trained/placed several working puppies who continued to successful SAR and Law Enforcement careers, as well as assisting in the mentoring/training of numerous successful dog teams. Denise continues to respond regularly to K9 requests across Colorado as well as nationally.

Denise enjoys training and working with handlers to assist in developing individualized training plans to maximize their dogs’ potential, emphasizing foundations and clarity as a team.

Dan Woodruff – Intermediate/Advanced Trailing

Dan has personally trained and worked four different K9s over the last 20 years in trailing and HRD. He and his team have built a solid reputation with many law enforcement agencies and have supported a wide variety of missing person cases as well as felony cases. Dan approaches each search as if it were a felony case as approaching a search from that angle encourages caution and scene preservation. Dan’s last K9 received a Life Saving Award from the Mayor of Hanover Park. Dan has worked alongside many strong instructors and has learned from many K9s and handlers. Dan uses his time to help others to the best of his ability and continues to support the training and evaluations of his local law enforcement K9 unit.

Dan enjoys working with teams that are willing to learn and push themselves. Dan is currently a K9 Trailing Instructor for INBTI and Midwest K9 ERT, he was an instructor for NASDN. He is a Trailing Certification Evaluator for Midwest K9 ERT, and was an evaluator for NASDN. Dan encourages all of his students to train consistently and to always have the best paycheck for your K9 at the end of the trail.

Erin Sizy – Assistant Instructor for Intermediate/Advanced Trailing

Erin Sziy is a NASAR and NASDN-certified canine handler and trainer specializing in advanced
odor detection and Search and Rescue. Her canine career began in service dog training and
animal rescue rehabilitation, where she worked alongside certified behaviorists to successfully
transition high-needs dogs into community placements through behavior modification and
dedicated training plans.

Erin joined Alpha Search and Recovery in 2015 where she served on the Board of Directors for
five years. Over the past decade, she has become a dedicated instructor for her team and
beyond. Erin now travels nationally to lead workshops for law enforcement and civilian teams,
specializing in human remains detection (HRD) and scent-specific trailing.

Erin’s training philosophy focuses on preparing handler-canine teams for real-world
deployments through scenario-based instruction to improve operational confidence and nerve
strength while remaining responsive to each team’s unique needs. She is capable of adapting
training according to the canine (and handler) who ‘got out of the car’ today, ensuring that
instruction is responsive to the team’s current state and unique requirements.

Following the recent retirement of her previous German Shepherd, Watson, a NASAR-certified
Trailing canine, she began training a Hungarian Mudi, Pippin. Erin currently deploys with her
Belgian Malinois, Otis, a NASAR-certified HRD canine.