My Story

My journey into dog training started in 2020 while I was pet sitting a friend’s young German Shepherd, Luna. Around 3 to 4 months old, she began showing reactive behavior toward people, and at the time, that was completely new to me.

Before that, most of what I knew about training was basic obedience and reward-based methods — using treats, praise, and redirection to encourage good behavior. I had not truly been introduced to balanced training yet, and I had never worked through that kind of behavior before.

At first, I tried the approach I was familiar with, but I quickly realized this dog needed more than rewards alone. She needed structure, clear communication, boundaries, and guidance she could understand.

That experience pushed me to start learning more about balanced training. I began studying, practicing, and applying what I was learning with her. Over time, I started seeing real progress. Eventually, I adopted her, continued her training, and began applying those same principles with my own dogs.

What started as a personal learning experience slowly grew into something more. I became passionate about understanding dog behavior, improving my handling, and learning how structure, obedience, and clear communication can change the way a dog responds to guidance.

When I became pregnant with my son, dog training became more than just something I enjoyed learning. It became something I started looking at seriously as a future career. During that season, I began taking on my first clients and continued building my experience through real dogs, real owners, and real behavior challenges.

Today, Realistic Dog Training LLC is built around practical obedience, owner education, and balanced training. My goal is to help owners better understand their dogs, improve communication, build better handling skills, and create more structure in a way that fits their lifestyle.