I may not have taken the most straightforward path to get into the dog training world, but it has been a path filled with so many invaluable experiences that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

I was drawn to animals, and dogs in particular, from a very young age. When I turned 14 I started working for a boarding facility near Pittsburgh, PA. I was eager to get my hands on as many dogs as I could and found myself volunteering to help the on-site veterinarian anytime they needed me. A few years goes by and in my senior year of high school, I enrolled in an internship program where I worked with a small animal veterinary clinic for half of the year and with an equine veterinarian for the other half.

I went on to attend The University of Maryland, and graduated with a B.S. in Animal Science in 2015. The requirements for this degree were broad; they included everything from animal care, anatomy, behavior, and nutrition, to benchtop sciences like biology and organic chemistry. During my time in college, I worked as a veterinary technician at a small animal clinic which provided me with a lot of handling experience and practice interpreting animal behavior, as well as communicating with both dogs and owners.

While I loved the veterinary science world, I knew it wasn’t the right fit for me long term. A few months after graduation, I went into biomedical research to try out using the benchtop science aspect of my degree. In 2016 I adopted Ava, a 1-year-old pit/hound mix, from the Washington Animal Rescue League. She had been living on the streets of D.C. and was fearful of almost everything that moved too quickly or made loud sounds. My family dog growing up was so easy, but Ava was not. I quickly realized she was dealing with the worst case of separation anxiety I’ve ever personally seen as well as some resource guarding with other dogs. So my journey took off into the dog training world, reading as much material as I could and attending classes with her.

Life took us to Colorado in 2017, where I ended up taking a new job still in the biomedical research field. Over the years that followed I continued to absorb as much information as I could from established trainers. I worked on so many things with Ava and helped friends and family where I could. In December 2021 I decided to make my lifelong passion for hands-on work with dogs my career by launching The Colorado Dog Pack. I will never stop learning and hope to attend trainer workshops/seminars every year so that I can be the best possible resource for my clients. My favorite thing about training is that every dog is different, and I love working with clients to problem solve and create a training plan that is best suited to their individual dogs.