Thanks for wanting to know more about me.
After leaving the rat race of Corporate America, I followed my passion to work with animals. Using my new-found freedom, I set out to get experience in a wide variety of animal services. I have worked as a trainer and lead handler in a two well-known dog daycare and boarding facilities as well as a dog walker and pet sitter. I apprenticed with a talented trainer with more than 35 years in the horse and dog training businesses.
I am a research addict, so I constantly search for new training techniques. When I find a problem that I don't have experience with, I find another trainer to mentor me. Each dog is an individual, so having many tools in my repertoire is essential.
In addition to training and working with dogs in two well-known kennels and daycares, I became a foster parent for rescue dogs. Over the last few years, my husband and I have fostered many, many dogs (we stopped counting at 100). Each one of these dogs brought their own unique personality, talents, and challenges to our household. We have three dogs of our own and then take in fosters as space and personalities allow, usually around three, so handling housetraining and managing a multiple-dog household is a daily occurrence. Let's face it - the number one reason why dogs are turned into shelters is behavior. It is so rewarding to see these dogs shed their baggage and find fabulous homes.
I use positive methods to calm the hyper ones, encouragement for the shy ones, and teach the scared ones that humans are trustworthy. And because I want well-behaved animals in my house, by necessity I encourage our boarding and daycare animals to be well-behaved with the same positive methods I use for lessons.