Hello!

I'm Laura, owner and founder of Canine Communication. I am a certified professional dog trainer with over ten years of experience working with clients and their dogs.

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I have always been passionate about animals (particularly dogs). When I was growing up, I was not allowed to have a dog so I trained my cat to do lots of tricks, and then even branched out to training the neighbors’ dogs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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It wasn’t until fourteen years ago when Mabel, my brilliant but challenging English Shepherd, joined the family that I realized this is what I wanted to do professionally.

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After graduating from Animal Behavior College with honors, I continued my education and earned my CPDT-KA (certified professional dog trainer knowledge assessed). Growing my skills and continuing my education are important to me and so I regularly attend training seminars such as:

 

• Karen Pryor Clicker Training’s Clicker Expo

• The Professional Pet Guild conference

• The Ranch Experience with Ken Ramirez (training donkeys, goats and alpacas),

• Leslie McDevitt’s reactive dog class and Pattern Game workshop,

• Pat Miller’s Reactive Rover Workshop,

• Behavior Adjustment Training with Grisha Stewart,

• Dr Susan Friedman’s Living and Learning with Animals course. 

 

As part of my journey, I have gone on to earn additional training certifications. Because Mabel had reactive tendencies, I became interested in Behavior Adjustment Training (BAT) which is for dogs with anxiety, frustration and aggression issues. I earned my CBATI-KSA (certified behavior adjustment training instructor), in 2017. In 2018, I earned my CTDI (certified tricks dog instructor) because teaching tricks is a terrific way to increase the bond between dog and owner and has a wonderful ripple effect on the rest of the training. Plus, it’s lots of fun! I am also a CGC evaluator (Canine Good Citizen). Separation Anxiety is one of the most common canine behavior problems and is diagnosed in 20-40% of dogs referred to animal behavior practices in North America and so there is a real need to address this issue. In 2022, I went through Malena DeMartini's program and became certified as a CSAT (certified separation anxiety trainer) so that I could help dogs and their humans with this behavioral challenge.

 

Over the last several years, I have taught a variety of classes, worked as a mentor trainer for Animal Behavior College, (teaching people how to become trainers), and I am a big fan, supporter and board member at Providence Animal Center. 

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