Professional Experience & Achievements

How I Shifted From Conditioning Horses to Training Dogs

I started focusing on both animal behavior and human psychology when I was 16, assisting with teaching riding lessons at my childhood barn. By age 19, I was teaching adaptive riding lessons to special needs students through my university program in hopes to be certified as a Therapeutic Riding Instructor. Throughout that time, I emphasized positive reinforcement and cooperative care as a part of my teaching, as part of my role was to help condition the horses for adaptive riding by creating positive associations to different stimuli and situations.

I’ve had a love for dogs and dog behavior since I was about 7 years old. I religiously read the AKC Complete Book of Dogs until the binding fell apart and I had memorized the characteristics of each breed group and the temperaments of each dog breed within the encyclopedia. Throughout my time at college, I had felt like something was missing.

After my role as a riding instructor and barn hand, in 2024 I pivoted to focus on my real passion: working with dogs. I started as an Attendant in a dog boarding and daycare facility where I learned first-hand the kinds of behavioral concerns people have for their dogs. As a Daycare Attendant, all I could do was manage the behaviors within the group setting - I couldn’t train. Until early 2025, where I was hired on as a Dog Trainer under a corporate employer where I taught group classes and private sessions with a focus on problem-solving and obedience. Something was still missing though - the clients would leave frustrated that their dogs behaved well with me in the training environment, but they didn’t have the support at home due to company policy; so, I did something about that to fix a problem and created Pawfect Partner LLC.