Specialties

 

Joyful good manners training

Puppyhood!

Managing kid-and-dog households

Socialization

Solving behavior issues through enrichment

Introducing dogs and cats

Multi-dog households

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QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

 

Certified Professional Dog Trainer –

Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA)

In what is an unregulated industry, this weird-looking list of letters is important because it provides an independent measure of my understanding of dog training, including learning theory, instructional skills, equipment, ethology and animal husbandry. Hundreds of demonstrated hands-on hours plus references from industry professionals are required in addition to the 3-hour exam.

 

Whole Dog Journal Contributing Writer

It's a dream to be writing for the outlet I've always respected most! This is serious dog writing for serious owners, and I get to cover all sorts of great topics.

Click here to read them all! 

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Peaceable Paws Intern Academy

I was able to spend a fantastic, challenging week at Pat Miller's dog training academy: 8 students working with 8 shelter dogs, with the famous positive training pioneer herself giving lectures and running classes. The days were long, the tests were hard, and that week was utterly transformative. ​

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Family Dog Mediator (FDM)

Ethologist and leading national dog trainer Kim Brophy recognized that we needed a new model for how we work with dogs, and her L.E.G.S. (Learning, Environment, Genetics, Self) course had me glued to my seat and still has me talking everybody's ear off. This is the future of how we'll be working with clients and their dogs. 

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Therapy Dog Work, Delta & R.E.A.D. Qualifications

I've worked with several of our dogs to the point that we qualified as a therapy team. (Piper and I visited nursing homes, Eli and I brought R.E.A.D to an elementary school for four years, and Mojo and I visited a sweet 2nd grade classroom every week.)

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Rescue Dog Fostering

In 2012, our family decided to give dog fostering a try. We're now on foster #200. :) We specialize in taking in nursing moms with their litters. And yes, it's hard to say goodbye ... but incredibly rewarding to see those pups nestled in with their "forever" people.

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Family Life With Dogs!

For us, family life has always been pack life. Our girls grew up surrounded by big dogs. That's our firstborn below, and that shot pretty much sums up the decades that have followed. Different dogs, taller girls, but always dogs and people, entwined. I've learned a thing or two over the years about how parents and kids (and cats and friends and in-laws) can live happily, peacefully, joyfully with dogs.