Meet Jess

The Experience Behind Flourishing Fido

Flourishing Fido is shaped by a career spent working with and learning from animals. My journey began as a teenager volunteering as a dog walker at my local humane society and grew into an education and professional career centered around animal care, behavior, and training.

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I earned my degree in Animal Science and spent years working professionally with a variety of species. My experience included an internship at a wildlife rehabilitation center, work with farm animals, and eight years supporting the care and enrichment of non-human primates. Working so closely with different species gave me an early appreciation for behavior, individual differences, and how much we can learn by taking the time to observe and understand animals.

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My Rottweiler, Reese, eventually helped shift my professional focus toward dogs. Working through some of her challenges during adolescence introduced me to positive reinforcement training and opened up an entirely new way of thinking about behavior. I became fascinated by the learning process and by how much could change when training was built around understanding, communication, and making learning enjoyable for the dog.

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That fascination became a new professional path. I joined a local dog training academy as a Training Assistant, where I had the opportunity to spend several years working alongside and learning from experienced trainers. I am incredibly grateful for the mentors who have shared their knowledge with me, challenged me to keep learning, and helped shape the trainer I am today.​ I complemented that hands-on mentorship with formal professional education through CATCH Canine Trainers Academy and later earned my CPDT-KA.

​Since then, my professional experience with dogs has continued to grow across shelters, kennels and daycare, foster and rescue environments, group classes, private training, and service dog work, including serving as a service dog instructor for a veterans' organization. I've also had the opportunity to volunteer at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah, bringing me back to the shelter work where my journey with dogs first began.

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Today, I bring over a decade of professional, hands-on experience with dogs, formal education in animal science and dog training, and years spent studying behavior and learning to every dog and family I work with. My approach has been shaped by the many dogs I've worked with, the mentors I've been fortunate to learn from, and a belief that effective training can build skills while keeping connection and joy at the center.

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A Career Shaped By Dogs. A Love For Helping Them Flourish🌻