Hello! I’m Jen.

Today, I’m a certified dog trainer, but I started as a worried dog mom.

I put a lot of thought and research into the kind of dog I wanted, and when Della Rae caught my eye at the rescue, I grilled the staff about her behavior and personality. I was told that she was incredibly sweet with people, great with other dogs, and cat friendly. However, I quickly learned that was not the case.

Della was extremely fearful with severe dog, human, and cat-directed reactivity.

I was in over my head, but I was madly in love with my dog and determined to help her. Based on numerous recommendations from friends and our rescue, Della and I got to work with award-winning trainers in our area. Not knowing any better, I studied their “balanced training methods,” which were really compulsion (aka punishment) techniques in sheep’s clothing.

I was coached to use slip leashes, prong collars, and e-collars to suppress Della’s severe reactivity—but it wasn’t working.

Every lesson, I got the blame. I was accused of being inconsistent at home and too “soft.” I persevered and developed my skills until I was eventually hired by a well-respected training facility. With my new “behind the scenes” access, I thought I’d learn some trade secrets that would cure our issues, but instead, I got a new perspective. I realized that there is a major flaw in balanced training: Its punishment techniques are overdeveloped while its positive reinforcement techniques are severely underdeveloped.

Those positive reinforcement techniques were the missing piece for Della and me. Once we learned them, punishment started falling to the wayside until we let it go completely.

We started over. We went back to the basics and relearned everything using positive-reinforcement and LIMA-based (least invasive, minimally aversive) methods. We rebuilt our relationship on a foundation of trust, consent, and choice, and the results were immediate. Della could finally tell me how she really felt, and it opened up a whole new world of communication between us. We brought on a veterinary behaviorist and continued to grow using practices that made us both happy and caused neither of us pain.

I quit my job and started this business in the hopes that no other family would have to go on a wild goose chase to get results and find relief.

We’re creating a community of quirky dogs and devoted owners who have the skills and knowledge to navigate our fast-changing world. We empower humans and their dogs to voice their questions and concerns. We ensure that everyone feels safe and supported to optimize learning at both ends of the leash. We build competence to create purpose-driven confidence, and I can’t wait to work with you.