ABOUT ME

My name is Emily, and I am not a dog trainer. Let's just get that strait right off the bat. That said, I do train dogs. I know, right? Look up towards my blog title. You should have gotten a clue right when you arrived to this blog. 

So let's just assume that I don't know what I'm talking about. K?  Good.

Now that we have that settled, I'm 27 years old and I am the proud mama of four dogs and a cat. All rescued, all came to me at various stages in their life, and all of them needed some serious training. We reside in Minnesota, along with my fiancee, 'Red', in a cozy little house (and I'm not lying when I say little). We have been heavily involved in dog rescue for appx 6 years and thus have fostered many many many different dogs of various shapes, sizes, colors, temperments and training levels.

Everything I know, I literally learned from the dogs.

I got my first dog (as an adult) when I was 18. I wasn't looking to get a dog, I was not in the financial or life situation to accomodate a dog at that point. He just sort of fell into my life. One morning I woke up as a non-dog owner, and the next morning I had a dog. We learned the ropes together. I cringe now when I look back at the way I 'raised' my first dog. He ate peanut butter sandwiches a lot of nights, because that's what I was having. I didn't know any better. The first time he got fleas, I freaked out and he lived outside for two months. Then I missed having him inside with me so I finally consulted a vet, who cured the flea problem in 48 hours with a simple thing called Frontline. Who knew? 
Well, everybody, apparently. Or so I thought. My first dog is the reason I began rescuing dogs in the first place. It would be many years before I would adopt our second dog. But as soon as we owned our first home, I brought my first foster dog home.

In those first rescue years, I avoided herding breeds like the plague. Border Collies, Australian Shepherds, Cattle Dogs. I had heard horror stories of them chewing through peoples doors and bouncing off the walls in a flurry of crazy fur. I stuck with retrievers, small dogs and bully breeds. Then one day, an Aussie came into my life.

Today, I'm with an Australian Shepherd rescue and I've got 2 Aussies, a Lab and a Corgi. Dog sports are a huge part of our lives now (as much for necessity as for fun) and the people that I have met through dog sports have made me want to better myself and my dogs. This blog is just to journal that.

Enjoy!