I’ve been a life-long animal lover. I have always had dogs in my life, and growing up we had an animal menagerie that included cats, rabbits, various reptiles, birds, hamsters, and guinea pigs. I became actively involved in dog rescue in 2000 and over the years I have volunteered as a foster mom, home visitor, training point of contact, shelter dog assessor, and am currently co-director of a local all-breed rescue. I’ve fostered dozens of dogs over the years of all breeds, sizes, and temperaments.
My volunteer work through rescue led me to the dog training world. I did a dog training internship in 2004 with a trainer who used force-based training methods like prong collars, physically correcting dogs for unwanted behavior, and physically manipulating dogs to get them to do what you wanted them to do. These methods never sat right with me – I felt horrible inflicting any kind of pain on my pups and asking others to do the same on their pups. Since then, my personal philosophy towards dog training did a gradual transition to force free methods and I attended my first Peaceable Paws academy in 2020 and never turned back. I now officially call myself a “cross-over” trainer. Shortly after my first academy, I became an Intern under Pat Miller and started assisting with group classes. I currently am a Lead Trainer and teach Puppy Kindergarten and Basic Good Manners classes here at Peaceable Paws.
I have my master’s degree in Public Health, I am a PMCT1, soon to be PMCT2 (summer 2022), and plan to sit for the CPDT-KA exam in fall 2022. I also have a strong passion for dog sports and use my spare time to educate myself about canine fitness.
I live in Boonsboro, MD with my husband and our two dogs, Logan and Scarlet, who are both foster fails. (At Peaceable Paws we call that a “foster success…” When I’m not working, you’re likely to find me doing some sort of activity with one or both of my dogs like hiking, running, agility, FastCAT, or nose work…just to name a few.