When I refer to "we" or "us," it is generally implying myself (Madeline) and my partner Daniel. We are a team in all things dog and we are full time private dog trainers. Aside from breeding, raising puppies, training our own dogs as well as client's, we also have a passion for animal keeping in several other areas and our home is home to ornamental Goldfish, Betta, fresh water shrimp, three parrots, Nigerian Dwarf goats, fancy rats which we train for Barn Hunt, and one novel cat. When I say our lives are fully dedicated to animals, I really mean it! We don't do very much traveling these days (without bringing at least some of the dogs), we don't work a job that keeps us away from home, and we spend most of our time right here, enjoying our little farm and our community of like minded people. Working from home gives us the freedom to have so many animals and still provide them with excellent care.
I was home schooled as a child and my mother taught a little unconventionally. She gave me the basics and then let me choose the path of my education. Animals were an obvious choice for me. I whelped and reared barn cats and litters of puppies out of family and friend's dogs, rehabilitated baby birds and other wildlife, and always loved the raising of young. I studied wolf psychology in my early teenage years and aspired to open a wolf sanctuary. This was a long term goal and I knew I had to do something in the meantime. I started to learn more about dogs and other canids. I started training my own dogs and at around 16 years old started training friend's dogs and eventually their friend's dogs as well. At 18 I was hired as the dog trainer at a pet store in Montana. I learned a bit more there, mostly more of the people skills involved, as the actual training program was lacking in several ways.
I didn't have a dog of my own after moving out of my parents house, so I was researching different breeds and came to the Border Collie. I found a semi local litter of working line puppies and was approved (somehow!) to adopt one. I quickly realized they were meant to be "my" breed. I fell in love immediately and dove in head first. The extreme intelligence and biddability of the Border Collie really drew me in, not to mention their incredible devotion and love.
My first Border Collie did intimidate me at times and I certainly messed up in more ways than one in her training. I always wished I had someone to ask questions and advice of. But we learned together, through trial and error.
Daniel came from a rather troubled household as a child and moved out and began working at the age of 15. He worked as a cook and restaurant manager for 10 years, until we met in 2017 and he decided to start chasing his dreams and doing something that involved what he was really passionate about, which was dogs! At the time, I was primarily doing dog boarding and sitting from my home and as anyone who has worked with dogs on a semi large scale can attest, it can be a really taxing job as far as time and energy commitment! I certainly had "an opening" for Daniel to fill and we were able to really take things to the next level by helping and encouraging one another and we quickly realized that although sitting dogs was nice, it was something the community appreciated and it kept our bills paid, seeing dogs in constant states of over arousal and being so mismanaged and misunderstood by their people was difficult and we wanted to be able to make a bigger impact in the lives of these dogs and their humans. We both already had a fairly firm understanding of canine behavior and operant conditioning, our own dogs were trained pretty well and I had had some experience training other people's dogs. We had countless hours of time spent with a huge variety of dogs and even when we were just sitting, we consistently got feedback that people's dogs were coming back home with better manners. However, we wanted to get our hands on more information, learn more methods, and spend more time geared towards training with dogs. To achieve this, we decided to uproot our entire lives and hit the road, traveling full time for over a year and spending that time learning and training and truly developing our own style. This was time well spent and once we settled back in Northern Nevada and opened up our doors for dog training, the success we experienced was nearly immediate. We are very fulfilled and happy being able to strengthen the bonds between handler and dog!
Now, as dog trainers, we do regularly see dogs that simply have no start and no idea how to behave acceptably in our human society. We see so many problems that could be solved before they arise, if breeders and puppy owners were to take the time to expose their puppies to things with their lifelong well-being in mind. Simple things like resource guarding, body handling, exposure to different noises, novel animals and people, and even just the very basis of all behaviors: to trust and pay attention to your handler.
Therefore, it is our goal to bridge the gap often times left between breeder and behaviorist.
I strive to give my puppy owners not only lifetime support and answers to all of their questions but also a bond and friendship. I love getting to know my puppy owners and I welcome them with open arms. I am rather extensive in my screening of homes but mostly I am just looking for like minded people who want to stay in contact with me. It helps me better my breeding program when I can see and hear how the puppies are maturing and turning out.
And I am always trying to better my practices and expand my knowledge.
I was home schooled as a child and my mother taught a little unconventionally. She gave me the basics and then let me choose the path of my education. Animals were an obvious choice for me. I whelped and reared barn cats and litters of puppies out of family and friend's dogs, rehabilitated baby birds and other wildlife, and always loved the raising of young. I studied wolf psychology in my early teenage years and aspired to open a wolf sanctuary. This was a long term goal and I knew I had to do something in the meantime. I started to learn more about dogs and other canids. I started training my own dogs and at around 16 years old started training friend's dogs and eventually their friend's dogs as well. At 18 I was hired as the dog trainer at a pet store in Montana. I learned a bit more there, mostly more of the people skills involved, as the actual training program was lacking in several ways.
I didn't have a dog of my own after moving out of my parents house, so I was researching different breeds and came to the Border Collie. I found a semi local litter of working line puppies and was approved (somehow!) to adopt one. I quickly realized they were meant to be "my" breed. I fell in love immediately and dove in head first. The extreme intelligence and biddability of the Border Collie really drew me in, not to mention their incredible devotion and love.
My first Border Collie did intimidate me at times and I certainly messed up in more ways than one in her training. I always wished I had someone to ask questions and advice of. But we learned together, through trial and error.
Daniel came from a rather troubled household as a child and moved out and began working at the age of 15. He worked as a cook and restaurant manager for 10 years, until we met in 2017 and he decided to start chasing his dreams and doing something that involved what he was really passionate about, which was dogs! At the time, I was primarily doing dog boarding and sitting from my home and as anyone who has worked with dogs on a semi large scale can attest, it can be a really taxing job as far as time and energy commitment! I certainly had "an opening" for Daniel to fill and we were able to really take things to the next level by helping and encouraging one another and we quickly realized that although sitting dogs was nice, it was something the community appreciated and it kept our bills paid, seeing dogs in constant states of over arousal and being so mismanaged and misunderstood by their people was difficult and we wanted to be able to make a bigger impact in the lives of these dogs and their humans. We both already had a fairly firm understanding of canine behavior and operant conditioning, our own dogs were trained pretty well and I had had some experience training other people's dogs. We had countless hours of time spent with a huge variety of dogs and even when we were just sitting, we consistently got feedback that people's dogs were coming back home with better manners. However, we wanted to get our hands on more information, learn more methods, and spend more time geared towards training with dogs. To achieve this, we decided to uproot our entire lives and hit the road, traveling full time for over a year and spending that time learning and training and truly developing our own style. This was time well spent and once we settled back in Northern Nevada and opened up our doors for dog training, the success we experienced was nearly immediate. We are very fulfilled and happy being able to strengthen the bonds between handler and dog!
Now, as dog trainers, we do regularly see dogs that simply have no start and no idea how to behave acceptably in our human society. We see so many problems that could be solved before they arise, if breeders and puppy owners were to take the time to expose their puppies to things with their lifelong well-being in mind. Simple things like resource guarding, body handling, exposure to different noises, novel animals and people, and even just the very basis of all behaviors: to trust and pay attention to your handler.
Therefore, it is our goal to bridge the gap often times left between breeder and behaviorist.
I strive to give my puppy owners not only lifetime support and answers to all of their questions but also a bond and friendship. I love getting to know my puppy owners and I welcome them with open arms. I am rather extensive in my screening of homes but mostly I am just looking for like minded people who want to stay in contact with me. It helps me better my breeding program when I can see and hear how the puppies are maturing and turning out.
And I am always trying to better my practices and expand my knowledge.