How My Dog Training Journey Began

I’m Angie, but this isn’t about me...not really. It’s about how I can help you and your dog. And that all started with an Australian Cattle Dog/Border Collie mix puppy named Jaxton. I was 19 when I rescued him. Jax was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of dog: handsome, athletic, sweet, smart, just the perfect companion. He could learn any obedience command with hardly any effort. His recall was always on point, he got along with other dogs, and he loved the humans in his circle. But he was always terrified of people he didn’t know.

When Jax was a puppy, we would go to Starbucks and he would growl or bark at every person who walked by. And that was before they even got into “his” space. When people approached or made eye contact, it got worse. I spent a lot of time (and money) on obedience training that focused on desensitizing Jax to the people that were scaring him. I encouraged strangers to pet Jax and give him treats, all while I held him back and attempted to keep him calm. Yet no matter how many times we repeated this routine, nothing changed. Looking back, it’s no wonder none of this worked.

I cringe at the stress I put Jax through in his early training. Because I thought that “obedience” was the only type of dog training there was, I never got to the root of his issues: I didn’t advocate for him, didn’t claim his space, I let people approach and pet him when I knew he was uncomfortable. I didn’t know that there was a lot more to dog training than putting him into situations that distressed him and hoping he “got over it.” I wasn’t the trustworthy leader that he needed me to be.

Then about 10 years later, Kacey the pitty-mix came into the picture, and she could not have been more different from Jax. To my delight, she loves people, especially kids! But she came with a set of issues that I never experienced with Jax: high prey drive, difficulty potty-training, eating everything. When Kacey broke through our fence in pursuit of a squirrel for the second time, and then began lunging at other dogs on our walks, I knew I needed to do something different with her. Just as with Jax, “obedience” training on its own wasn’t going to solve the problem.

It was right around that time that I discovered that the concept of dog psychology existed. That it’s possible to train a dog’s state of mind by understanding the root causes of behavior, rather than focusing solely on obedience. Once I realized that this world existed and started seeing real life examples of not just my own dogs, but LOTS of dogs’ lives transforming, I sought out all of the education in dog psychology and balanced dog training that I could. The more I learned and began to see results with Jax and Kacey, the better our relationships became, and the more I wanted to become a trainer so that I could share this success with others.

I have a degree in psychology from UC Davis, and although I didn’t pursue a career as a psychologist, I’ve always been fascinated by how the mind works (human or otherwise). Combined with my lifelong love of dogs, I’m excited to be able to share what I’ve learned and help other dog lovers build great relationships with their dogs.

As part of my training, I have shadowed and gained hands-on experience with a number of excellent balanced trainers, including the extremely talented Kim Erickson from The Canine Republic in Santa Clarita, California. I have also attended various workshops with highly respected dog behaviorists, including Cheri Wulff Lucas and Brian Agnew, and am also heavily influenced by Mark McCabe’s Training Between the Ears philosophy. I’m a member of the IACP and am always absorbing as much information I can in order to improve my craft.