The Real Life Dog

NOW OFFERING EXPERT PET CARE/PETSITTING IN TAOS!

Although my primary focus is working with you to solve your dog behavior challenges, I have been professionally caring for pets for over 30 years and can be available for hyper-local care. If you live or are vacationing within 5 miles of me (text for service area), I may be able to help!

To find out more and request service, head to the Two Dogs Pet Services site👇

TWO DOGS PET SERVICES

German Shepherd puppy relaxing and stretched out

AM I THE PET SITTER OR DOG TRAINER FOR YOUR HOUSEHOLD?

Schedule a FREE call and let’s find out!

You might be thinking, “Why do I have to schedule a call?” So we don’t play phone or text tag and you receive immediate answers to questions. I value your time and want to be 100% focused on our conversation, so scheduling a call is the best way to do that.

Let’s chat!

SCHEDULE YOUR CALL

ABOUT ME

I’m currently working toward my certification through CATCH Canine Trainer’s Academy.

Although I’ve been professionally working with animals for over 30 years and have had a special interest in canine behavior for over 15 years, I believe in science and formal education. I have a ton of experience and know a lot about the “how”, but that doesn’t equal credentials, education, and knowing the “why”.

CATCH curriculum is focused on the “why” and teaches rewards based training and positive reinforcement principles while helping me sharpen my skills as an effective trainer and coach.

While I work my way through CATCH, I’m limiting the types of cases I accept. I’m happy to work with basic manners, AKC Rally/Obedience, reactivity without aggressive tendencies, behavior modification without a bite history or aggression (seeing a trend?), trick training, CGC, Therapy Dogs, leash manners, public access & manners, AKC Fit Dog, fearful dogs and more…just no aggression cases. I have plenty of trusted trainers I’d refer you to if I’m not qualified to help you.

As much as I really dislike school, in general, I adore learning and get fired up when I geek out on all things dog behavior.

One of the things that excites me most about working with you is watching you have fun with your dog while learning how to effectively meet your dog & household’s needs, teach your pup what you want him/her to do, and achieve your desired relationship with your dog.

I look forward to helping you alleviate frustrations, reward desired behaviors and effort, and teach your pup how to fit into a human centered world all while having so much fun!

P.S. Tricks are my jam and I love using tricks to get sticky results. Are you in?

WORK WITH ME

MY DOGS AND EXPERIENCE

For 40+ years, I lived in Monrovia CA where I founded and operated Two Dogs Pet Services, a professional pet care & dog walking company. We added puppy socialization, basic manners, and therapy dog training in 2017.

I’ve worked as a barista, a nanny to three children, youth group director, customer service in retail stores and restaurants, and Out Patient Nurse Coordinator at Dr. Domotor’s Animal House Veterinary Hospital.

I have traveled through 35 states with one or two whippets and an old tortoise (Old Man is missed since passing away at 87 yrs) in search of massive amounts of dog fun!

Recently, my three wonderful whippets (Beans, Ryder, and Vinney) and I moved to Taos, New Mexico so I could be closer to my senior mom. We are looking forward to exploring all that the land of enchantment and four seasons has to offer.

All three whippets have multiple trick dog titles and have earned their CGCA (Canine Good Citizen Advanced, now Community Canine). Vinney received his first trick title at 17 weeks. Beans and Ryder earned their AKC Obedience Beginner Novice titles. Beans has her Rally Advanced title, Ryder has his Rally Intermediate. Both have earned Fast CAT and CAT titles and Ryder is an AKC Field Champion and has a Dock Novice title. Beans recently retired from therapy dog work and is semi-retired as my service dog. Vinney is in training to take over for Beans as my service dog and we will be doing some dock diving events.

WORLDWIDE TRAINING AND COACHING

I’m still remotely operating Two Dogs Pet Services for our Monrovia team and I’m now offering pet care in Taos through Two Dogs. It’s the best of both worlds for this pet care pro and dog trainer.

Since 2017, I’ve offered effective and practical in-person dog training & coaching and began online training in 2020. Virtual sessions are wonderful for dogs experiencing fear, reactivity, stranger danger, puppies under 11 weeks, or dogs who get super excited when greeting guests.

Reach out today and let’s get you started on your dog training journey!

ONLINE OPTIONS

SOMETHING BIG HAPPENING AND YOU HAVE AN URGENT NEED?

I’m here for you! Schedule your 30 minute triage call and I’ll help you with any immediate training needs. When a stressful event is happening or has happened, our emotions run high, this is where I thrive. I’ll help you break down the immediate needs and start the problem solving with you, always keeping in mind your household and your pets, meeting as many needs as possible.

If I can’t help you, I’ll refer you to someone who can.

*this call does not replace a consult or training session, think of it as urgent care.

BOOK A TRIAGE CALL

Whippet dog wearing a jacket and scarf. Standing in front of a pond, blue sky with clouds.

HOW I TEACH + WHAT TO EXPECT WHILE WORKING WITH ME

I focus on the welfare of each dog, person, and household I work with and I’m proud to use effective reward-based, fear free, and humane methods of care and training.

I will teach you how to recognize your dog’s body language cues so you’re able to gain further understanding about what they need and how they’re asking you to meet those needs.

My favorite ways to meet a dog’s needs include enrichment, games, fitness, tricks, and creative use of the environment. All those things are useful in teaching you how to get alternative behaviors to those frustrating, undesirable behaviors. Let’s end the frustration! For both you and your pup.

That’s a lot to absorb, especially if there are some big behaviors going on and you’re feeling overwhelmed. Let’s chat for a few! You can ask me anything.

I know, book and schedule, right? Here’s the thing…I care a lot about the time we have together, so getting on my calendar so you have my full attention is super important to me.

If you just have a couple quick things, texting works, too. Here’s my number 626-673-7978, use it lots!

SCHEDULE A Q+A CALL

Two whippet dogs relaxing on a beach in Florida.

CAN YOU HELP ME FIGURE OUT WHICH TRAINING TOOLS ARE BEST FOR MY DOG?

You can count on me to compassionately tell it like it is without judgment. If you aren’t comfy with using a certain collar or method, go with your gut and let’s dive deep into problem solving. Let’s figure out why your pup is exhibiting undesirable behaviors then if a tool is needed, I’ll explain everything, answer questions, and make sure you feel awesome about trying something different.
For me, with my own dogs, I first consider if it’s necessary, kind, comfortable, and safe. Tools are like seatbelts…for safety, not steering or control like a steering wheel.

I will not use or suggest using coercion, correction, intimidation, or aversive tools or methods (such as shock collars, prongs collars, choke chains, slip leads, shaker cans, spray bottles, dominance, alpha, pack leader, etc). While those things work to stop behavior, they are not necessary to modify behavior and the fallout is risky because of how/why they work. The things listed above work by teaching the dog to avoid or turn the correction/punishment off (the beep, shock, collar pressure, scary noise, etc), which contributes to suppressed behavior (like a growl) and learned helplessness (I better not move until the human says it’s ok or I get punished). If you’re looking for alternatives to behavior suppression, I’m your trainer. I would rather see the lip lifts and hear the growls versus hear about the preventable bite…it’s all very clear and necessary communication. Ready to get started?

OKAY, LET’S CHAT!

Pitbull terrier sitting on a cot during a training session using positive reinforcement methods.

WHAT WILL YOU TEACH ME?

I love chatting about your goals, helping you check your expectations (of yourself and your dog), and coaching you how to get sweet results as fast as possible, at your household’s pace.

Let’s teach your dog what you want them to do and reinforce/reward all the little awesome things your pup does on their way to reaching those behavior goals. By pairing reinforcement such as toys, food, and environmental enrichment with fun learning, what your dog is picking up from each short session sticks a lot better over a longer period of time. You may find, like a lot of my clients have, that your pup seeks you out to train or offers these little learned behaviors so you’re not always asking or cueing for that “down” or “stay”…they just enjoy doing things that you’ve reinforced. How awesome would that be?

Did you catch the word “cueing”? I also look at the language we use in reference to our dogs and how we are thinking about training. Food for thought: what if you chose the word cue instead of command? Little things like that actually make a big difference. Ready to learn more?

REQUEST TRAINING

What’s this Trick Squad?

Did you know sit, down, stand, back up, a nose target are all considered “tricks” and a lot of complex behaviors like a nice heel with directional change are a bunch of simple tricks chained together? It’s true! And just about everything we want our dogs to do in everyday life is a trick, like the core behaviors mentioned above! We can use FUN tricks to teach that nice heel or to work on getting attention back on us before our pups get too distracted on walks, before they become overexcited around people…there’s a theme here. Participating in the Trick Squad helps prepare you and your dog BEFORE you need it.

Teaching our dogs what to do before we introduce them to new environments and stimuli plus knowing what we are doing so we can rehearse on our own is what happens in our weekly virtual workshops. You also receive one on one coaching and extra support in our private FB group, not just from me, but from other Squad members.

We talk about consent, comfort, duration, distance, timing, reinforcements, and so much more! I promise this won’t break the bank and what you’ll receive at just one workshop far exceeds the monthly cost. What are you waiting for?

TRICK SQUAD SIGN UP

EFFECTIVE + PRACTICAL DOG TRAINING REAL COACHING FOR REAL PEOPLE

START HERE👇