IT STARTED ON THE FARM…
I grew up on a 57-acre farm where I spent my life running barefoot in the grass (a habit that I admit I haven’t outgrown), walking one of the four Labradors that lived with us at any given time, and helping my parents care for our farm animals (except the turkeys—that’s where I drew the line, but that’s a story for another time).
My dad spent countless hours training our Labradors to hunt using hand signals and body language to clearly set expectations… and that’s where I became fascinated with the concept of dog obedience. Sitting there in the wide-open field while he trained them to chase a decoy, I saw the way his calm consistency enabled confident dogs who thrived through learning. All this to say, loving animals has always run deep for me—and that love shaped so many important moments while setting me on a path that would one day bring me to where I am now.
And that very same love is also the reason I always knew that when I grew up and had my own house, one of my first actions would be to add a family dog to the picture. So, I did just that and brought home our first “baby,” Millie.
Millie was there with me through thick and thin. And she was there with me when I made the difficult decision to step back from my job as a licensed trauma social worker to stay home with my kids, while giving me a way to hold onto that meaningful work as I took her through therapy dog training. While we miss her every day, she will always be a part of me, and she will always be the driving force behind Elevation Dog Training.
As my kids got older, I felt a call to pursue my career once again—but instead of going back to social work, I felt a nudge toward a different calling—a calling that would reunite me with one of my early passions; a calling that would allow me to combine my love of animals with the people skills I’d built working with children and families as social worker. After much discernment, we brought home our newest “baby” Kya—a rambunctious black English Labrador who quickly stole our hearts (and our socks, slippers, and pretty much anything else you can imagine). With her by my side, I spent an intensive period of time practicing and studying to become a certified dog trainer, which I achieved in the fall of 2025. I now find great joy in helping dog owners reduce their stress by using proven techniques to achieve their obedience goals.