TheTherapeuticCanine.com

I’m Tara; I’ve been training professionally since 2017.

I got into dog training after adopting my dog Havok in 2016, who lived up to his name. He taught me all about living with and training a dog with behavioral challenges, he’s also the dog that pushed me to find a kinder, more therapeutic style of training.

I started off my education at a police k9 facility, then started working mostly with behaviorally challenging pet dogs after graduating from their program. I had always been interested in service dogs, even before I really got into dog training, so I sought out as much information about them as I could once I began training professionally. In that process, I realized how much working with service dogs helped me with my health conditions, so part of my learning includes training my service dog Draak.

Continuing education is one of my favorite hobbies. I’ve read more books, gone to more seminars, and taken more courses and webinars than I can count. I recently earned my Family Dog Mediator certification and have my eyes on a few other certifications in the near-ish future.

My other favorite hobby is dabbling in various dog sports and having fun with my dogs. I live in Charlottesville Virginia with my three dogs Bug, Draak, and Donnie and my two ferrets Smudge and Taaz.