Animals teach us so much. They teach us about compassion, play, forgiveness, staying in the moment, and loving unconditionally. They have the ability to make our lives happier and more fulfilling. Taking the time to build trust, learning how to understand your pets behavior, and learning how to communicate with them will help your family thrive. Connecting with your pet means understanding each other and learning how to communicate.

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to grow up and be a dolphin trainer. I pursued this path and made it happen. Little did I know that once I started my career at a well known sea life park that my true calling would be for “the dogs of the sea”: sea lions. I have had the privilege of working with a variety of sea animals including  dolphins, whales, walruses, river otters, seals, and my favorite- sea lions. I earned a Bachelors degree in Psychology with emphasis on animal behavior. I have 30 years experience in the animal training industry. It is where I learned and practiced the training methods I use in dog training. Using positive reinforcement and successive approximations to shape desired behavior.

My experience ranges from basic obedience in young and old animals to animals with behavioral challenges including fear, aggression, and social issues. My specialty is problem behaviors. Finding solutions in any situation and creating a plan to get results. Highlights in my marine mammal career include training a sea lion front flip ( first time accomplished in any sea lion facility), teaching a rescued sea lion pup to eat fish on her own using successive approximations and positive reinforcement to shape the behavior of eating, and training a 900 Lb. wild sea lion whom we rescued from the Bonneville Dam. He required protective contact at first. Once he understood the basics of training, I taught him a new concept to our area called free shaping. Free shaping is quite common in dog training. It can be used for learning fun behavior and also very stimulating for some dogs and shaping specific behavior. The goal of free shaping is to shape behavior without prompts or direction from the trainer. I have presented papers and been honored with awards at The International Marine Animal Training Association Conference for the front flip and Bonneville rescue and will be presenting the third next spring.

In the last 10 years, dog trainers have turned to using more positive methods that marine mammal trainers have been using for decades. I truly believe in these methods and have only seen positive results. I’m happy to help with any and all of your dog training needs!

Dawn