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, these odd-looking letters are important. I had to study — a lot — for this, in addition to documenting hours of experience and asking for recommendations. If your trainer doesn't have this qualification, ask why. 
 

Peaceable Paws Intern Academy​

Positive training pioneer Pat Miller runs this intense, top-notch academy combining her lectures with hands-on work with shelter dogs. I've never learned so much so quickly.

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Licensed Family Dog Mediator (LFDM-T)

Kim Brophy's phenomenal L.E.G.S. (Learning, Environment, Genetics, Self) concept has taken the dog industry by storm. I'm obsessed with Kim's courses, and her conferences bring together the smartest, most forward-thinking dog experts. I'm delighted to be licensed in the training division of this very hopeful ethology-based movement.

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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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Puppy Culture 

Long ago I took a deep dive into Jane Lindquists's amazing courses: Puppy Culture & From Newborn To Home. Lindquist deciphers the research for the rest of us, and has developed an entire best practice protocol based on what studies show works best. Fascinating stuff. 

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Life With Dogs!

And finally . . . a lifetime of personal experience. Our girls grew up surrounded by big dogs. That's our firstborn below, and that shot sums up the decades that have followed. Different dogs, taller girls, but always dogs and people, connected. 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. I've worked with hundreds of adopters and their puppies, and hundreds more clients and their dogs. I feel so lucky to get to do something so interesting, so rewarding, every day.