2023 was a challenge for many in various ways. I’ve had clients struggling with separation anxiety, and other fearful or aggressive situations: dogs biting children, resource guarders, dogs who don’t like to be touched, dogs who growl at or who are afraid of people who live in their home, dogs afraid of other dogs, dogs reactive on walks, making it unsafe to walk them, dogs afraid of going outside and people struggling with big decisions like rehoming or behavioral euthanasia. I’ve been honored to help these families. I’m trusted by a network of vets and vet behaviorists across the country that refer cases to me, knowing their clients will receive the utmost care and competence in training guidance. These are not tasks I take lightly. In an unregulated industry, these relationships of trust are golden nuggets.
Including the clients I saw this year, I’ve now helped over 2400 clients and their dogs live happier, healthier lives and gain a greater understanding of each other since I became a professional trainer. That’s over 7100 hours of one-on-one training! Seeing the love and understanding from the humans and the sacrifices they’ve made to get the training their dogs need, so both the dog and human could live a happier life, was my greatest joy.
This year we celebrating our BooBoo’s 15th birthday, which is a HUGE milestone. As you might know, she is the reason I am a trainer and why Rescued By Training even exists! I also became a certified end-of-life companion animal death doula, inspired by losing Mr. Barbo in August last year and wanting to help my clients better navigate these losses, especially those dealing with stigmatized losses such as behavioral euthanasia. And, as much as we can, to help plan for losing our companions. We can never be prepared, but we can think about things like what if our companions outlive us?
This year I also contributed to several press publications and articles, including most recently The New York Times on an article about Commander Biden’s bite incidents and the training methods used that likely contributed to these incidents. I did a webinar presentation The Pet Professional Guild and just recorded an episode of The Pawsitive Post in Conversation podcast talking about my latest course launch, Bringing Home Baby which will be available in the coming weeks. I was also on the Risk! podcast as a pet death doula, discussing a touching story about pet loss with a fantastic storyteller, David Crabb and his story, For The Love of Charlie. And, my blog, Permission To Spoil Your Dog won my alma mater’s Best Blog award as part of their Academy Awards! Those were all wonderful highlights for me this year.
And this year, I marked 4 years of blogging, delivering near weekly quality content here on the blog and on social media. I may be changing the way things work in 2024 for social media since Meta has really changed things this past year, so be sure you are signed up for my weekly newsletter so you never miss any news from me.
With New Year’s Eve right around the corner, if you’re worried about fireworks scaring your dog, you can get a refresher on 9 Ways To Help Your Dog’s Fear Of Noises.
I wish you and yours a very happy New Year and hope 2023 gives you an opportunity to do good things and more of what you love. Remember to check out all my self-paced course offerings here or if you want one on one training, schedule a session! Be sure you are signed up for my weekly newsletter so you never miss any news or posts. I may be scaling back some of my social media, but my newsletter will be on the regular! I’ll be taking the next couple of weeks off but thank you for being part of the RBT family! Stay safe!
Happy training and happy New Year!
