Jenna has been training dogs since she was a teenager. They’ve always made as much or more sense to her than humans have, and learning dog body language only confirmed what she’d already been feeling! While learning, she trained her neighbor’s dogs, which ranged from teaching a deaf dog basic commands to teaching a fear biter better coping mechanisms and helping build confidence.
She didn’t start charging for these services until someone asked her to work with his human aggressive king shepherd. When she found out that few trainers would help human aggressive dogs, she started doing it on the side. From there she branched into dog aggression (dogs who are aggressive toward other dogs), then downscaled to basic manners and puppy training. You could say she worked backward!
Jenna has a behavioral psychology degree from the University of Guelph, and initially learned dog training the old fashioned way — trial and error — before finding other top trainers and learning from them. She continues to learn with other top trainers in this area, swapping ideas and exchanging methods, and still researches and reads up on new theories and techniques.
While working in Southern California and building her reputation, she also trained horses. Many of the horse tricks she learned over the years translated well into dog tricks, too, which tickles her to no end. She moved to Northern California because she was tired of the desert and non-dog friendly areas, and she’s been proud to call the South Bay area home since 2009. Business has boomed since then, allowing her to hire on a part-time assistant trainer and find a place with a yard and a landlord who allows her to board and train dogs. In fact, he seems to enjoy seeing the dogs come and go!
Next up on her world agenda: to build a reputation across the seas, so she can write off international travel. Maybe some day!
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