I founded The Dog School (then called Canine K - 12) in 1987. My dream was, and is, to have a dog training facility that taught love, respect and kindness while effectively training our dogs. We love our dogs, and how we train reflects that love.

I began to train my neighbors' dogs when I was seven years old. By high school I was getting paid to train and walk dogs. Over the next many years, I received two college degrees, dog training along the way.I worked in a boarding kennel for many years and learned a tremendous amount about how dogs talk to each other. My 3-year stint as the Executive Director of a rape crisis center gave me a wonderful opportunity towork on my people skills.

One of my strongest assets is an ability to "speak dog." If we are all able to understand what our dogs are saying to us, we can communicate and train them far more easily. Everything we do here includes teaching owners how to read their own dogs while loving and training them. My number one motto is "be really, really nice" to people and dogs. With this philosophy I went from being the only employee to running a training facility with 5 employees and several interns.

Since 1997 I have been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Vermont, where I teach Dog Behavior and Training. I am a behavioral consultant for several Vermont animal shelters. I have conducted seminars in various parts of the U.S.A., and recently Sam Levenberg and I began Random Rescue where we house, train and then place homeless dogs.