Welcome! My name is Ayah (ey-uh), and I have loved dogs for as long as I can remember. Growing up, my family always owned dog breeds that others found “scary”- Rottweilers, Dobermans, and Pitbulls. My first dog as a child was a Rottweiler named Boo, and I adopted a pitbull-mix mutt that was previously a stray from the South once I hit adulthood. I wanted to provide him a good life, so I did lots of research in my area and found various opinions on how to train dogs, from punishment based to reward based. The majority of dog trainers in my area used shock collars, which I refused to use on my dog.
I was also working as a dog walker and realized that many of my clients who were trained with more punitive methods also had a lot of fear and reactivity on their walks with me. Many of these dogs still had tons of stressed body signals and hated strangers approaching us, even if they didn’t immediately growl. Some of them would even lash out or completely shut down if another dog or a stranger got too close to us. I wanted better for these dogs, so I decided to pursue force-free dog training.
I strongly believe that through force-free training, a dog and their owner can build a positive bond together and feel like best friends instead of feeling like there is a constant power balance. My goal is to help you unlock you and your dog’s potential together and work as a team. Just like my childhood Rottweiler Boo, every dog has potential to be a wonderful companion, and I am here to help you unlock that potential.