I started training dogs professionally in 2009 and still believe it’s the best job in the world.
In the years since, I have worked with more than a thousand different dogs of various ages, sizes, breeds and temperaments. I’m a huge nerd (as you may be able to guess from the name “Level Up”), so I love any excuse to dive into the nitty-gritty science behind training with positive reinforcement.
I opened Level Up Dog Training in 2016 and became a Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) in 2017. In an attempt to make high-quality dog training information available to a wider audience, I published my first book, Level Up Your Dog Training, in 2021. You can also find my dog-related writing in the quarterly newsletter for the Association of Working Shetland Sheepdogs.
When I’m not training other people’s dogs, I’m probably relaxing by training my own dogs to do cool nerdy stuff like finding my keys by scent, turning on three different kinds of light switches or helping me move the geese between pastures on my small farm. On the weekends, I compete in a variety of dog sports with my fabulous GSD/malinois mix Bright and my sporty shelties Epic and Merit. We compete in herding, barn hunt, shed hunt, lost item recovery, scent work, lure coursing, obedience, rally, tricks, dog parkour and anything else that looks interesting.
In 2022, I traded the beach for the mountains and moved to Yadkinville, North Carolina. Now I’m looking forward to making tails wag on a new side of the state!
