My commitment to positive, behavior based training began with a traumatic journey as a dog owner with a troubled dog. Jack Daniels (JD), a stereotypical Jack Russell Terrier was mine from a pup and seemed hyper but well adjusted until about four years old. At that time, he exhibited troublesome behavior that escalated to human bite incidents. I had no education on dog training or behavior and reached out to online sources while searching for local help. Aversion methods and alpha mentality dominated the media but did not improve JD’s behavior. Local resources were few and ultimately unhelpful.

I had to make the horrible decision to euthanize for behavior reasons. Many will not understand or agree with that choice, but it fired my passion for learning about dog behavior and dog training. My lack of knowledge contributed to the outcome for Jack and I determined that will never happen again. It led me to my first dog training job where I learned fear free, positive behavior modification methods and discovered a community of like-minded dog professionals. I spent seven years training with these methods in doggie daycare, private training, and group training classes while supporting local rescues and fostering/rescuing dogs.