I am a life-long resident of mid-Missouri. Having owned animals all my life, I knew that one day I wanted to work with them, reading anything I could about animals as soon as I could spell the word "dog." I studied Psychology at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, and that degree has helped me to better understand with various training methods when working with animals and their people. I currently am a student at the Karen Pryor Academy of Animal Behavior & Training, studying their Professional Dog Training program. All of my methods are firmly rooted in not only science, but proven positive reinforcement methods. I have found that this encourages animals to want to work for you, and encourages them to think and problem solve as well. The bond people and animals create using positive reinforcement is like nothing else I've seen. Not to mention it is a lot of fun, and encourages the people to be creative too!