Greetings from Wild, Wonderful West Virginia!

DOGS, DOGS, DOGS!

Dogs have been an integral part of my life since I was little. I was more often found with a dog in my lap or in a dog house than anywhere else. I swear I was raised by my Dad's Dobermans and my first pup, a Cocker Spaniel mix - Cracker Jack. I was a toddler in diapers when I started hanging out with 85lb Dobies and loving every minute of it.

I got involved in dog training from an early age - participating in and then becoming president of our 4H Dog Training club, including winning with a presentation on Pit Bulls for a state competition at 16 yrs old.

I knew leaving school I wanted more, and I was given the opportunity to study under an Ohio PD K9 trainer in 1993. After a two year internship - this confirmed that training is what I wanted to be doing and here I am - almost 25 years later still doing it!

I started the way most trainers started 20 years ago - with check/pinch collars and ecollars.

I remember thinking after a few years that there had to be a better way - I mean it's not like you can force an Orca to do what you want with a collar...and this led me to discover positive reinforcement and clicker training. I've never looked back!

I am currently belovedly owned by 3 dogs:
LUKA, my medical misfit Giant Schnauzer x Standard Poodle boy who, at the tender age of 5, is mostly blind and deaf but a real love.

GRYPHON, my delightful 3yo, Rough Collie, Service Dog in Training (SDit). I have a lovely plethora of medical conditions myself and he is training to assist with everything from balance work to helping with the laundry on days I struggle.

(The little black dog there is CRICKET - one of my long term live-in girls who now has a wonderful family of her own nearby.)

I have missed having a little lady around the place and so our most recent addition to the family is FIZZGIG - a feisty little terrier mix pup who is going to represent the smaller side of Service Dog work in my Business Education seminars and seems to be going to be a generally fun little spitfire to work with. She is fearless at all of 11wks old and is just a crazy, silly, hot mess right now but so much fun to work with.

I run a local dog training business - think PAWsitive Pup - teaching everything from basic obedience and manners to Therapy and Service Dog work. I am not as active in rescue work as I once was but I do still try to help where I can and frequently have foster pups around.

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TRAINING PHILOSOPHY

Training is an ever evolving art and I keep up to date with the latest research, follow a great group of positive trainers on Facebook/YouTube and continue to learn every day.

As a positive reinforcement trainer, the key is to focus on what a dog SHOULD do instead of what it shouldn’t. For example, instead of teaching a dog not to jump, teach them to do something else like sitting and giving eye contact.

It’s about looking for opportunities for the dog to SUCCEED and get the dog excited about learning instead of waiting for him to fail, do the wrong thing and correcting that.

Much has changed over the years but one thing remains the same - we love our pets and want the best for them - and that's why I am here for...to help people build better bonds with their pets - just click til it sticks!

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TRAVEL

Part of growing up in a classically dysfunctional family was we moved around a lot...and I mean a lot. By the time I finished high school, I had lived in 6 states and been to 11 schools. This has certainly, I'm sure, contributed to my adult wanderlust.

In 1998, I had the opportunity to travel to New Zealand and ended up spending the next 14 years there. It is an amazing country that I hope I get a chance to go back to in the future. And talk about scenic - from salt flats to high country, places where the mountains meet the ocean and places where the land stretches flat as far as the eye can see...it is simply breathtaking!

My dad passed away while I was gone and when my stepmom got sick in 2010, I didn't want to be so far from what little family I had left so I packed up my life and headed home.

It has been a roller coaster of recent years but I seem to be settling in now in WV. I didn't think I would have come full circle but strangely I have. I was born here (though not raised here) and at least for now, am happy to call this home.

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WRITING, ART & PHOTOGRAPHY

I have always been a crafty, painting, reading, writing, picture snapping fool...

I used to draw and paint, then got into painting miniatures (as in Warhammer Fantasy miniatures), I scrapbooked and road tripped for just taking photos...but over the years, I let people who should have built me up & reinforced the dream instead tear me down and I gave it all up for many years. I couldn't stand to look at a canvas and I have 3 books I started but haven't worked on in probably a decade honestly.

I allowed them to convince me that this was just another aspect of my life I was not good enough in, that I was wasting my time, and theirs, by pursuing any creative endeavor. Then my health got worse and the MS has begun to effect my hands pretty badly in the last few years.

But I am so proud to say that in Sept 2017, I put a brush to canvas for the first time in over 15yrs. We had a local Paint Your Pet night and though I didn't come anywhere close to finishing it - I started something I have been terrified of failing at for so long, shaking hands and all!

I am hoping that being here will give me a chance to rediscover the parts of myself that I crammed in a dark corner and told to STAY. The spark is there - it just needs to be fanned into a Phoenix Rising!