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"Before you get a dog, you can't quite imagine what living with one might be like, afterward you can't imagine living
any other way. Life without Lucille? Unfathomable, to contemplate how quiet and still my home would be, and how much less
laughter there'd be, and how much less tenderness, and how unanchored I'd be without her presence, the simple constancy of
it. I once heard a woman who'd lost her dog say that she felt as though a color were suddenly missing from her world: the
dog had introduced to her field of vision some previously unavailable hue, and without a dog, that color was gone..."
-Caroline Knapp, "The Color of Joy"
I teach dog owners to understand their dogs as an animal, a species, a breed and an individual.
Understanding our canine companions at this level results in a dog-human relationship of mutual
respect that creates the best possible condition for all avenues of learning, training and behavior modification.
I combine the understanding of innate dog behavior with the modern learning theory for successful
training and behavior modification. The result of this combination and human commitment is tomorrow's hope for a well mannered
canine companion that is happy, balanced and ready to serve his human to his greatest capacity.
I have been rescuing and working with dogs all my life. I started training dogs about seven years
ago when I began training my own search and rescue dog. I have studied under two master trainers and have now accomplished
several hundred training hours. I have former studies through Penn Foster and I am currently working towards my Master's Degree
in Animal Behavior. I am also a American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizenship evaluator. My most important training has
been provided by the dogs in shelters, those I have rescued and those dogs that I have had the privilege
of calling my own. They are my true mentors and teachers and have taught me more about understanding dog behavior than
anything I have ever gained from a text book. I will forever be greateful to the hundreds of dogs that have been so patient
with my fumbling human ways and made me the dog trainer I am today.
"We cannot change yesterday. We can
only make the most of today and look with hope towards tomorrow.
Believe in your dog, together you can go further than you can
go apart. Together there will be no challenge to great because you will have the will and the heart to make it happen. You
fill find that it doesn't matter where you start, but where you finish that will count, that patience will correct misfortune
and that no matter what direction you go, you in the company of your dog will never give up. Given a chance, your dog will
teach you trust, patience, compassion, forgivenesss, courage, loyalty, perserverance and they will teach you hope."
There is nothing more encouraging and nothing we are more eager
for in life than hope. Tomorrow's Hope was so named because of of the hope our dogs give us when we allow them to teach us
to be the person they know we are."
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