Our Story

While obtaining my Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology (completed in 2002) I learned about pet therapy and it became an immediate passion of mine. I was raised in a generational farm family in Missouri and have always had a love for animals and a talent for working with a variety of species.

I went on to complete my Master’s in Social Work (2002 graduate, licensed in 2012), and it was a few short years later I came across a sad, young puppy face scheduled to be put down the next morning. My heart said to me “that’s your therapy dog”. So I contacted a rescue who could pull the puppy for me, brought him home the next day and named him Beau. Beau was quite sick at 5 months old, so it was a few months before we were able to begin training. He sailed through every class and every task that was asked of him! My instructor invited me to become an assistant for her, which I did for about 5 years while also teaching the volunteers at the Humane Society of Southwest Missouri once per month. Beau achieved his Canine Good Citizen and Canine Good Citizen Advanced along with trick dog titles.

A few years later and a dog I named Gus came to me and I adopted him as well. Gus’ talent was in Barn Hunt, and boy did he love it! Unfortunately he got cancer and passed away in less than a year of us starting Barn Hunt. It was such a joy to be in the “ring” with him and really sparked my interest in scent work.

A couple years later I brought home my German Shepherd Dog, Fury, at 18 months who introduced me to the sport of dock diving- his absolutely favorite game in the whole world so we’ve had a lot of fun working on it!

In 2022 Chance joined our family and I have focused a great deal on scent work games and tricks with him as these are activities he can participate in without having to be close to other dogs as he can be dog aggressive. He is excelling very well and loves participating, especially when finding rats and people!

I’m a life long learner and smart enough to know I will never know it all and I will always have fun learning more with my dogs, and assisting clients with theirs as well!