My love for training dogs started as soon as I was old enough to help train our family dogs. Throughout my entire childhood, I would fight with my family members on who got to do the family dog's daily training. It was all basic training, but I loved every second of it. 

 

          When I was in high school, I got a corgi (Billie Jean) and I was committed to training her up to a service dog standard of obedience. Due to the level of training I wanted on her, she completed various styles of training; such as: clicker training/treat training, leash and collar training, and e-collar training.

 

     Two years later, I got my Belgian Malinois, Charlie Mae, and I jumped right into doing dog sports with her. Charlie was part of a Mondioring club to learn the basics of the sport, and we loved every minute of it. However, as she got older, Charlie slowly became reactive towards other animals and most people. Working through Charlie’s reactivity sparked an obsession with helping other reactive dogs, and it is now something I specialize in - with Charlie being the spokesperson (or spokes-dog, if you will) for shedding light on reactivity and how dogs can overcome it.

    

    I recently got my third dog, a German Shepherd, Jinx. He is the most confident, bulletproof puppy I have ever met, and I fully believe that the way he was raised played a huge role in that. He is the puppy that my puppy program protocol was created off of, as I strive to have all puppies be as confident as Jinx. He is going to grow into a “lesson dog” role, where his job will be to demonstrate obedience during consultations or follow up lessons. 

 

          Early on in my dog training career, I was hired as a kennel technician at a training facility to take care of dogs in boarding. This helped me to become extremely in tune with dogs’ health and how to quickly remedy common illnesses. Shortly thereafter, I was promoted to a trainer at the facility and I was able to shadow several professional trainers and personally train hundreds of dogs.

 

Through training for dog sports with Charlie and continuing to train with a facility, my love for training dogs continued to grow. However, I found that by working at a huge dog training company, I was not able to have the connection with families and their pups like I wanted to. This is how Peak Performance Dog Training started!

 

          I am dedicated not only to teaching your four-legged family member everything they need to know, but also having a connection with you and your family so you are comfortable and confident to continue training with your pup. I can’t wait to meet you and your four-legged family member!

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-Makenzie