I grew up surrounded by animals. Growing up as an only child, I was lucky enough to have animals around constantly. My first companion was my dog Baloo, a lab/rottweiler (maybe?) mix that cemented my love for dogs. I grew up with Baloo, as well as several other dogs, cats, a rabbit, and the occasional wild visitor - a lost turtle, an injured baby bunny, or a cricket farm. I dreamt of getting a lizard, and most of my treasured childhood memories involve a critter or two around.

I also grew up with an interest in behavior. From a young age, I realized that I could delay bedtime by asking my mother why people behaved the way they did - the bigger and broader the question, the later I would be able to keep her talking, and stay up. That grew into a fascination with both philosophy and sociology as I grew up. My favorite book at 12 was Sophie’s World, a novel that delves into the history of philosophy. In college, I majored in Sociology as my interest in what drives people grew. While I didn’t use it immediately in the professional world, working at and eventually supervising at a financial firm gave me even more insight into behavior, motivation, and reinforcement. I was fortunate to learn important lessons about communication and leadership in the almost ten years I spent with the company.

During that time, Mouse, the American Pit Bull Terrier puppy fell into our laps and into our hearts. Very soon after I got married, I started looking for a dog. Living in a house without a pet felt odd, and while that feeling was helped by the adoption of our two ball pythons - Loki and Basil - there was still a space missing that only a dog would be able to fill. Working at a dog daycare and boarding facility briefly in college, I fell in love with pit bull type dogs. They were silly, loving, energetic, enthusiastic and ridiculous. I knew I wanted one to be my next dog, and I was committed to being an ambassador for the breed. After all, it’s all in how you raise them, right? (Wrong.)

Mouse gave me some very difficult lessons about the importance of genetics in behavior. She also helped me find my passion in understanding animal behavior and improving the relationships people have with their pets. Mouse was - and is - a challenging dog. While she is incredibly social with humans and lovely with my children, her reactivity towards other dogs has been something she and I have struggled with throughout her life with us. It is not an exaggeration that I became a trainer because of her, and because of the wonderful people who worked with me, and empathized with the difficulties I have had along the way.

While I am incredibly lucky to have Mouse in my life, and she certainly still teaches me lessons every day, she very much would like to consider herself retired and enjoying bathing in sunbeams throughout the day, rather than coming out with me to lessons, or on hikes, or heavens forbid, learning something new herself.

That’s where Fig (Yo-Yo vom Wildhaus) comes in. Fig is my adolescent German Shepherd, and my first dog from a breeder. Fig has quickly made a place for herself in the family and has become my work partner, my hiking buddy, and my introduction to dog sports and more advanced training for myself. While she was bred with the sport of IGP in mind, we are exploring a variety of sports and activities, and I’m excited to improve my own training mechanics and experience through life with her. As she matures, she’ll be continuing to assist me with day school, board and trains, private sessions and group classes alike as my demo and helper dog.

Over the past several years, I’ve continued to pursue continuing education to become well-versed in manners training classes and dog behavior. I have a particular soft spot for the reactive dogs, knowing that they are typically sweet, wonderful animals who are ill-equipped to handle aspects of the lives they’ve stumbled upon. As a parent myself, I’m also deeply committed to facilitating training geared towards families and helping kids and dogs live safely and happily together. I love watching a dog develop the skills to live their lives more comfortably and watching their people light up at their (often hard-won) successes. Much of this has led me to have a particular interest in puppies as well as reactivity, since I see a great deal of puppy socialization and early training as reactivity prevention. Ultimately, with puppies or adult dogs, with a range of manners and foundations to reactivity, fear and aggression, my goal is always for dogs and their people to enhance their relationship, communicate clearly and kindly, and better enjoy their lives together.

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