This Saturday, I graduated from University of Wisconsin - River Falls with a B.S. in English (Creative Writing) and minors in Animal Science and Professional Writing. I also moved back to my hometown to save up some money and spend time with my family while I wait to hear back from the graduate schools I applied to. I am hoping to go on to receive my MFA in Creative Writing with the end goal of teaching at a university.

In the meantime, I am already missing all the amazing parts of my life I left behind when my time as an undergraduate student ended. First, I will miss the ADEPT program. Over the past 3.5 years, I had the opportunity to work with 7 amazing dogs. During this time, I learned all about service dog laws and how to be an advocate for service dogs and their handlers. Last summer, I even had the chance to see some of the dogs in our program graduate and be placed with their forever partners. I can say without hesitation that being a part of the ADEPT program was the highlight of my time as an undergraduate student. I looked forward to our classes every week, and I loved being able to share stories and laughter with this fantastic team. I am so honored to be a part of the PawPADs family; this experience has truly changed my life!

Second, I will miss my job at the Campus Information Desk. I loved my team and the experiences I had while working the desk and Student Involvement events. It was amazing to have the opportunity to interact with students, faculty/staff, and community members every single day. It is a special job that makes you look forward to going into work most days.

Third, I will miss my classes and professors. A large majority of my professors seemed to truly care about our success as students and as people in general, and without them, I couldn't have had the fantastic experience that I did. While I was sad to miss out on two years of in person classes, their ability to adjust their classes to fit their student's needs was astounding. I am hopeful that I will be back in a classroom again as a graduate student, but in the meantime, I will look back fondly on my undergraduate years.

Finally, I will just miss the community. My apartment was such a fun place to be, and I have lots of fond memories of hanging out with friends and my roommates there. The community was so close-knit and felt like home for the past four years. I will miss it all!

I am thankful to have Theo and Yuki to keep me company through this stressful but exciting time of my life, and I look forward to continuing to include dogs in my life forever even though my time as an ADEPT intern is over. I plan to stay in contact with PawPADs and would love to be involved in the organization again in some way or another. Until next time, stay pawsome!

It is almost the end of the semester which is a crazy concept because it feels like September 1st was only a couple weeks ago. Not only is the semester almost over, but that also means that my undergraduate career is almost over. I graduate on December 18th (less than two weeks from now!), so it is crunch time! Final projects are piling up alongside my graduate school applications. I am applying to a few MFA programs across the US, and it has definitely kept me busy polishing my writing samples and typing up a brand new Statement of Purpose for each university.

​I also found out not too long ago that I passed my exam to become a Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Assessed (CPDT - KA) which is super exciting. I hope to take on a few clients once I move back to my hometown after graduation and also will be looking into teaching some group training classes if possible. Right now, training is going to be a part-time gig for me while I work toward a career in the writing industry, but I am super excited to get to have a foot in both of my passions!

Yuki has also gotten so big; she is now five months old and almost as tall as Theo! She is still just a little over 30 pounds, but she is definitely getting to be a tall, lanky teenager. Thankfully, I haven't been getting too much adolescent brain loss yet, but there have been a few occasions where her newfound teenage spirit has poked out from her typical perfect puppy demeanor. Namely, she now thinks barking at things outside the apartment is super fun, but we will work through that one. We have also been attending puppy class for the past five weeks which means that next week is graduation! I have been so impressed with Yuki's focus and temperament at our classes, and we both have had a lot of fun.

Oliver is also doing well. We made the decision a little while ago to have him spend a little less time on campus since he seemed to enjoy Public Access trips and being at home more than being on campus which has been good for him, I think. His confidence has been so much better, and he is generally just doing really well! The big ol' blockhead has definitely grown on me, and it is going to be tough saying goodbye in just a couple weeks.

Theo is also doing great. I feel like I don't talk about him a ton in my posts, and that is because he is just my solid boy. Since he is in his middle years, we have settled into our routine and not much new has been happening lately. I retired him as a Therapy Dog during the pandemic since we weren't going out anymore, so he has just been enjoying his life in retirement as my BFF and the rock I can rely on at any time. 

That is all I have for this post! Until next time, stay pawsome!

Wow, I have so much to talk about in this post. I can't believe it is already October; my last post was mid-August, and time has flown by since then. Since my last post, I have handed Penny off, gotten a new puppy, started my final semester on campus, and started working with a new ADEPT dog.

After spending the summer working at the desk with me, Penny went back to the training center at the end of August to participate in Jump Start training with the new interns. I won't lie, Penny was my toughest trade-off yet. She has definitely been the dog I've worked with during my time as an ADEPT intern that I bonded with the most, so it was a challenging moment to hand the leash off. Penny remains on campus for now though, so I am happy I still get to see her around. She is doing great, and I have high hopes for that goofy girl! I think her nose will really take her places.

​Then, on Monday, August 30th, I picked up my new border collie puppy; her name is Yuki which means "snow" in Japanese. I have been wanting a border collie for years, and I finally decided it was time to add one to the family. She is from Contact Point Border Collies in California, and I couldn't be happier with her so far. She was almost nine weeks old when I picked her up, and in just a month, she has grown so much already. I have been taking weekly pictures of her to mark her growth, and it has been cool to note the small changes that happen every week.

Now, she is 14 weeks old and is such a fun pup; I can't wait to start some dog sports with her when she get a bit older. So far, we have mostly been working on some basic manners, house/crate training, and some free shaping (like laying down in a box and goofy stuff like that). I also just bought the supplies for a scentwork kit since that is an enriching activity that puppies can do. I think I might see if Theo likes scentwork too, and the three of us can maybe enter some trials at some point in the nearish future. In the future, I am most interested in agility and dock diving, but I'd love to try lots of other dog sports with Yuki and see what we like best.

A few days after I picked up Yuki, classes for fall semester started, and I also got assigned my ADEPT dog for the semester. I am working with Oliver this fall who some of you may remember from last summer when he came to stay with me for a couple weeks. I chose not to house full-time this semester since I have Theo and Yuki already at my apartment, but Oliver does get to come hang out at home with me during the day. He has so much fun playing with my two pups, and it gives Theo a break from Yuki's endless puppy playfulness!

Even though this semester is my lowest course load ever, I have been more stressed than ever. With lots of different things pulling me in different directions, I have definitely been all over the place, but I am trying to take everything with a grain of salt and enjoy my  final semester on campus. I had hoped to be more active on YouTube, Instagram, and my blog this fall, but here I am, not posting anything until almost the middle of October! I will be real with you all, finding the motivation and inspiration to make content has been a challenge lately, but I am still here and will hopefully get back on track with regular uploads and blog posts soon :) Until next time, stay pawsome! 

Hello blog readers! I recently used a new product for the first time, and I wanted to share my experience with you all. I was sent the LuckyTail nail grinder to try out with my dogs. If you would like to watch my YouTube video instead, feel free to click this link. 

I tried it out on Penny first since she is familiar with nail grinders, and it worked great. It has a slightly less intense level of grinding, so it is great for introducing nail grinding to your pet and for trimming off the nail slowly and comfortably for your dog. I worked on desensitizing Theo to the grinder in my video, and we have continued working on it a little bit since then. He is slowly becoming accustomed to the feel of the grinder which is something he has never been a fan of in the past.

Some of my favorite features about this nail grinder are:

• It has multiple speeds
• There is a cap that can be used for either small or large dogs
• It is rechargeable and easy to use
• The low-intensity/quietness of the grinder makes it less scary for dogs first being introduced to nail grinders

If you want more information about this nail grinder, check out my link: https://luckytail.com/regular-dog-claw-grinding-device-aff-bundle-1a9w5s/?aff=89 

Until next time, stay pawsome!

For 4th of July weekend, I headed to my parent's house to spend some time with them and my brother. Because of a combination of the heat and fireworks, us and the pups spent the majority of the weekend inside, but we did get some good time outside too! Friday night, my parents, Theo, and Penny hung out in the backyard and had a fire.

On Saturday, my parents and I biked downtown and got some ice cream while the pups hung out in the air conditioning. That night, my dad and I went and listened to some live music while my mom stayed home and got some puppy cuddles. Sunday night, my family and I went downtown for the fireworks, and the dogs got to stay home in the quiet, safe house. On Monday, Penny came with my dad and I to the mall and Target, and she was amazing! I brought along a diabetic alert scent, and she alerted super fast!  She has a bright future, such a smartie <3

Now we are back at work for the week, and Penny has been snoozing off her busy weekend at the desk with me. She is so perfect, and I'm thankful to be working with her this summer! I apologize for the short post, but I don't have a ton to say.  I will have some exciting news sometime in the near future, but I am going to wait to share until I have some more information.  Until next time, stay pawsome!

Penny, Theo, and I went to my parent's house this weekend, and we had a ton of fun!  We got back pretty late on Friday, so we just ate dinner and had a relaxed evening.  Then on Saturday, we spent the day outside gardening and playing fetch.  Penny was thrilled to be able to help and even tried planting her own tennis ball tree!  She liked to put her ball into whatever pot I was planting things in because she knew I would throw it faster.  This turned into a game where I asked her to put her ball in various types of baskets including a little plastic cup at one point and then throw it.

On Sunday, we left in the morning to go to Devil's Lake State Park.  We spent a few hours hiking the trails and got to see some beautiful views.  There were a few steep trails, and I was really impressed with how well Penny did with staying close to me and not putting any pressure on the leash which would have made it harder for me to keep my balance.  We got to eat at a picnic table in the park, and Penny took a nice snooze under the table for the majority of the time we were eating.  Theo opted for keeping a keen eye out for the other dogs and people walking around.  I think he enjoyed "people watching" just as much as I did!  When we got back to the house Sunday night, both the dogs fell asleep and stayed asleep until I woke them up for their last potty before bed.

Monday was a little more relaxed.  We had a late start and just hung out in the backyard playing some games and drinking coffee.  Penny got to play even more fetch which she was pretty excited about.  We headed back to my apartment after dinner and then watched a movie and had a nice relaxing evening cuddling on the couch.  I think both dogs were pretty tuckered out, and I have to admit, I was definitely a bit sore and sleepy as well!  Until next time, stay pawsome!

I just completed my penultimate semester at University of Wisconsin - River Falls!  And by just completed I mean I just submitted my last final of the semester about an hour ago.  The past few months have been extremely hectic and rather exhausting, so I am happy to finally be done.  I had the toughest course load of my education so far, so between that, my job, ADEPT, and a few other little things behind the scenes, I definitely stayed busy this semester.  Hence why I haven't made a blog post since January!!

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Dog Behavior Conference which was very interesting and super inspiring!  I always love the chance to learn more about training and behavior.  Some of the topics were adolescence, puppy socialization, shelter dogs, out of the box solutions to behavior problems/listening to your dog, separation anxiety, and more.  It was three entire days of sitting in front of my laptop, but I was engrossed by the speakers the whole time; it was fascinating!

It has been so wonderful working with Penny over the past few months, and I am so excited to continue building her skills and hang out with her over the summer!  That girl has a phenomenal nose, so we have been doing a lot of diabetic alert work lately.  She is regularly hitting both high and low scents, and she is starting to get better at distinguishing between them with her alerts.   I have a super exciting YouTube video planned in the next few weeks talking about diabetic alert and showing you Penny's alerts in action.

Over the past few weeks, Theo, Penny and I have also been going on lots of walks/hikes and getting out in nature since the weather has been so nice.  There is a trailhead only about ten minutes from my apartment, so we go there about once a day as long as it isn't raining.  I let the dogs splash in the stream one day since it was bath day anyway.  They had a blast getting all dirty, and I loved watching them be goofy.

As for public access, I have still been limiting the amount of time I spend out and about, but as of tomorrow, I will officially be fully vaccinated (two weeks after my second vaccine) against COVID-19, so I will hopefully be more confident about going out on more outings with Penny over the summer.  I am thrilled with how well she has done on the outings we did manage to fit in this semester, and I know she will continue to do great things.

I leave to go on a trip to Florida with my sister and a friend of hers on Sunday, and I can't wait!  Penny is going to spend the time I am gone with her other trainer, and the current plan is for her to spend the rest of the summer with me.  I will be working full-time on campus, so Penny will get to be a full-time working dog too!  She does super well at the desk, and since the summers are usually pretty quiet at my job, we will hopefully have some extra time to do some training when it isn't busy.

Anyway, that is probably enough rambling for the time being.  I will be trying to post a new update at least twice a month over the summer, and I also want to focus on getting the training page of this site more fleshed out.  Lots to do, and I can't wait!  Until next time, stay pawsome!

Some of you might remember Penny from this summer, and she is back!  I worked with her for a couple weeks in June, and now I get the chance to work with her for spring semester.  I am so excited to see what we can accomplish over the coming weeks.  Penny is so smart and motivated to work, so it has been a blast doing some training our first few days together.

​This semester, we have teams of two, and my partner can also house.  This gives Penny the opportunity to have sleepovers with both of us which is pretty exciting!  Penny spent the first few nights with me to give her a little bit of consistency while we switched teams, but from now on she'll get to spend a few nights at her other handler's place and a few nights at mine.

Penny has a fantastic nose and seems to love diabetic alert work, and she also has been fun to work on the mobility tasks with.  I can't wait to see all the refinement of her skills we can do this semester.  We went on our first public access trip on Thursday, and she rocked it!  She's also been doing awesome throwing away cans for me, turning the lights on and off, and all sorts of other things.  She even picked up my phone when I dropped it which is a really odd object that some dogs aren't the biggest fan of picking up.  She also has been playing with Theo a ton -- they are the perfect play pals.

I don't currently have any in-person classes, but I am working at the Campus Information Desk again where Penny gets the chance to nap and get out for some "real world" practice since much of our world is currently virtual.  She spends most of my shifts napping under the desk and picking up things that I drop.

I have lots of exciting videos planned for this semester on my YouTube channel, so be looking out for those as well as updates on Penny this semester.  Until next time, stay pawsome! 

The last few weeks of this semester flew by!  I felt like I blinked, and we were wrapping up finals already!  We didn't go on quite as many public access trips toward the end of the semester because of social distancing advice, but we did still go on a couple really fun ones.  We went to the normal places like Target and the grocery store, but on Monday, a couple coworkers and I celebrated finishing our finals by going out to eat.  Hugo rocked the trip!  Our waiter didn't even realize he was under the table until the very end, so I was super proud of Hugo!

Hugo has also been coming to work with me regularly, and he has been amazing even during the really long shifts.  He loves to just curl up and take a nap.  While we are home at our apartment, we have been practicing a lot of task stuff as well, Hugo's favorite being "tug."  Hugo has gotten really good at tugging off socks and gloves, pulling zippers of coats down, and tugging open the fridge.  I see Hugo light up when we do physical assistance tasks, and it has been so cool to see him grow in his skills and confidence this semester!

Last night, my roommate and I made puppy cookies gifted to us by our fearless ADEPT leaders.  Theo and Hugo both enjoyed giving them a try, and we had a blast.  This morning, Hugo left to spend the holidays with his other trainer, and while I am going to miss him dearly, I'm so glad he gets to go hang out with his other "mom."  The dog I worked with last semester, Baxter, wasn't able to go home with his trainers over J-Term, so I get to hang out with him over Christmas and the rest of break!  I will make an update post about Baxter soon, but until next time, stay pawsome!

It has been a while since I have posted an update on Hugo, so here we go!  I got to take Hugo to my parent's house for a long weekend last week, and we did tons of fun stuff.  We got to go on a bunch of public access trips, and he rocked them all!  I went to the clinic to get my flu shot while I was home, and Hugo did really well while the nurse gave me my shot.  He just settled like a perfect gentleman and took a little nap.  After that, we swung by the People Food's Co-op to get my mom a cake for her birthday and then Dollar Tree.  Hugo did amazing for all three!

We also went to Woodman's and then the mall and got to hang out at Bath and Body Works and JC Penny for a little while.  Hugo was great at those stores as well!  We worked on some behaviors like tucking under a display table, so he would be out of the way.  When we weren't out on public access, Hugo got to run around in the backyard with Theo.  While we are at the apartment, we don't have a fenced in area for them to play together, so I think they enjoyed the chance to zoom around. 

Our other favorite activity for the weekend was hiking.  We went on two long hikes over the weekend, and Hugo was an angel.  On day two of hiking, he was definitely a little slower, but he still kept up just fine.  We really enjoyed the rare nice weather in November -- it was so nice to get outside again after the yucky weather we had before that.  Until next time, stay pawsome!