Meet Kristen

Kristen's journey into dog training didn't begin with a perfectly mapped-out career path. While pursuing an undergraduate degree in veterinary medicine at the University of Arizona, she found herself struggling with her own mental health and with her dog, Hennessy's, reactivity. As a college student without the resources to afford professional training, Kristen began searching for answers herself. She started an online training program, sought out mentorship, and began building her own business. What started as a way to help her own dog eventually became the career she couldn't imagine living without.

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During that same time, Kristen began training her first service dog, Tequila, for psychiatric work. Tequila also naturally began alerting to migraine odor, opening Kristen's eyes even further to just how incredible the bond between humans and dogs can be.

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Today, Kristen's life revolves around dogs. She currently shares her home with four dogs and a foster, and each of them has played a different role in shaping who she is. Hennessy taught her to look beyond the behavior and see the dog underneath it, to recognize that a difficult dog is still a good dog. Tequila showed her that the relationship between a person and their dog can be truly reciprocal; while Kristen was training Tequila to support her, Tequila was finding countless ways to support Kristen in return. Kenobi taught her that even when you lose the part of yourself that once felt effortless, you can find your way forward. And Reyna has taught her that finding joy in something new doesn't mean you're leaving behind what came before.

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Those lessons have become a huge part of how Kristen approaches training. She believes dogs aren't giving us a hard time, they're having a hard time. What we often label as stubbornness or disobedience may actually be confusion, fear, anxiety, frustration, or simply a dog who hasn't learned what we're asking of them yet.

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Living with chronic illness has reinforced that belief. Kristen has learned that progress doesn't require perfection, it requires consistency. Some days, showing up and giving what you have in that moment is enough. She brings that same philosophy to her clients and their dogs, while emphasizing advocacy for those who can't always advocate for themselves.

Her mentorships have helped shape not only how she trains, but the kind of trainer she wants to be, learning what resonates with her, what doesn't, and how she wants to show up within the dog-training community. She strives to be the trainer who shows up, who makes people feel seen, heard, and supported, and who provides the kind of guidance she once needed herself.

 

For Kristen, dogs have become a constant in a life that hasn't always felt predictable. She has found a sense of home in them. Now, she wants to give dogs and their owners the same thing they've given her: the confidence, freedom, and ability to experience a bigger world together.