Karen started training dogs as a young girl. She had a natural talent and her first dog, Shorty, learned a large number of tricks. By the time Karen was in 3rd grade she and Shorty had put together several little “shows” that she would do for the other kids in the neighborhood. After Shorty came Ralph, a large German Shorthair. Ralph was a very energetic puppy and so Karen’s mom signed the two of them up in a dog training class. Unfortunately, it was punishment based training. Despite that, Karen again proved to have talent and they excelled in the class. One evening in that class, the instructor brought a friend to demonstrate her dog’s great recall. He was a great dane and his owner had him stay and then walked a long way down the field. When she called him, he came at a full run. It was awesome to watch and the dog’s enthusiasm made a strong impression on Karen. Karen’s next dog was Velvet, a lab/husky mix. Velvet was a softer dog than Ralph, and the punishment based training quickly caused her to have no enthusiasm about training. Karen recognized this and went back to her natural intuition of training with fun and rewards. Before long Velvet was a happy, wonderfully reliable dog. She could be walked off leash anywhere and could be recalled at a run off of any distraction! Karen had used her memory of that dane’s beautiful recall, and without even knowing the terms had shaped the same behavior in Velvet.
When Velvet was getting up in years, Karen knew how deep their relationship had grown, and feared the day when she would eventually loose her. So, she and her husband added a new puppy to the family. Kaiser was a gorgeous Bernese Mountain Dog. Karen started training with him from the day they brought him home. Remembering the issues Velvet had had with punishment based training, Karen searched online for better ideas. That was in 1998, and clicker training dogs was still in its infancy, but Karen found it and immediately loved the concept. She searched for positive trainers to learn from in her area, but there were none. She read everything she could get her hands on, got herself a clicker and got started. She found a “beginners” seminar about 1000 miles away, paid her fee and went with Kaiser, who was about 5 months at the time. She had no idea how advanced the class would be… out of 50 people at that “beginners” seminar, only 2 were not already professional trainers, most with many years under their belt. But, despite not knowing what she was getting into, it turned out to be a wonderful move as she learned from one of the best, and got to watch many good trainers working with their dogs. Top level instruction combined with her natural abilities catapulted her forward.
Karen and Ralph continued going to seminars. Karen constantly sought out the best she could find to learn from and she was a quick learner. She was often amazed at the caliber of fellow classmates at these seminars, more than once finding herself sitting next to professional marine mammal trainers. Before long she was teaching classes herself and had two big name trainers ask her to move to their area and apprentice under them. As tempting as these offers were, her husband could not move due to his work, so she regretfully declined. But she continued training. Kaiser learned a large number of behaviors, including doing the Hokey-Pokey! His “shake it all abouts” delighted everyone!
Just as everything was really rolling… Karen and her hubby had an even greater dream come true! They had tried for many years to start a family, and they were finally pregnant… with twins! Needless to say, professional training is not compatible with full time bedrest, so Karen’s training career had to be put on hold. They had success a second time and welcomed a third child when the twins were 26 months old! 3 under 3 will keep you very busy! Some years passed with not a lot of training happening, but all her kids learned to train and Karen helped many friends and neighbors with their dogs. But, little kids get bigger and when her time freed up Karen found herself returning to training seminars to satisfy her constant hunger to learn more and get even better.
To list all the trainers she has learned from, whether in person, by book, or video would be a very long list! Karen feels she has learned things from every one of them. This broad base of knowledge helps her quickly find what works for each dog. Karen says “Each dog and owner are unique. I love to work with each team one on one to help them progress quickly. Seeing the bond between dog and owner grow through training is what motivates me.”
Karen is currently training professionally in Rolla, Missouri. She is still a busy mom with 3 in high school now, but finds time not only to train professionally, but also volunteers her time at the local animal shelter.