I am a retired Army Nurse Corps Lieutenant Colonel. While on active duty I was a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. While stationed in Berlin, West Germany, my husband and I bought our first rottweiler, a male we named Chief. Dog aggressive, I started formal training with him when we moved to Maryland. Chief earned his AKC Companion Dog title, Canine Good Citizen certification, and Therapy Dog International certification and was the first rottweiler to become a therapy dog for Fidos for Freedom, a service/therapy dog organization based in Laurel, Maryland. It was watching these wonderful dogs help others that inspired my desire to train dogs. It is still the foundation for the type of training I do today.

I went on to train and title Daisy, Tae, and Mace, all rottweilers. I have also owned and trained German Shepherds, a Doberman, and one terrifying Silky Terrier.

While my training style has been shaped by many great instructors it is the dogs, themselves, that have taught me the most.

I have trained, taken seminars, camps or workshops with the following:

Margot Woods

Diane Bauman

Anne Marie Silverton

Debbie Zappia

Patricia Pray

Elaine Swancer

Betsy Scapicchio

Ed Presnall

Jane Jackson

Connie Cleveland

I am a member of the following clubs:

Ithaca Dog Training Club

American Rottweiler Club

Greater Rochester Rottweiler Club

German Pinscher Club of America

Pennsylvania-New York Australian Shepherd Club

I have written articles for the ARK newsletter,

the American Rottweiler Club's publication, Rottweiler Quarterly,

and The Pinscher Press, the German Pinscher Club of America newsletter.