My Career:

I started my career training and showing horses.  I bought 2 thoroughbred race horses off the race track, trained and showed and then sold them as hunters/jumpers.  I fell off a lot which later prepared me to work as a stunt-woman.

During my diverse career I have worked professionally as a bird trainer, tour guide, actress, stunt-woman, screenwriter, scuba diver, software instructor, artist, independent film executive, studio motion picture executive and now a dog trainer and dog show judge.

I performed the Bird Show for audiences at Busch Gardens Bird Sanctuary.  I had to get up at 4:00am every morning to train and feed the birds.   My favorite was taking the boat out at dawn to feed the flamingos.  The hardest bird to train was the “wise” owl.

I lived on a sailboat for several years, started to sail around the world, but after 8 months, returned to the USA.  I’ve traveled to Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Bora Bora, Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland, Greece, Spain, UK, Holland, Belgium, Mexico, Tahiti and I won a week in Hawaii, all expenses paid from answering movie trivia questions on an LA radio show. I was also a tour guide at Universal Studios for 2 years.

From 1982 to 2009 I settled down and worked in the Motion Picture industry.  I was lucky enough to work on films like Dances With Wolves (I got to attend the Academy Awards), Silence of the Lambs, Notting Hill, Casino Royale, Spiderman and 100s of other films.

Then came the dogs….in 2000, I started training and competing in agility. Two years later I added conformation, herding and obedience. 

In 2009 I started working full-time as a dog trainer.  I’ve done very well in competition including numerous awards in herding, agility, conformation, scent work and rally.  In herding, my Border Collies were ranked #2 (B course) & #6 overall Nationally (AKC herding stats).  I have multiple breeds (Border Collies, Whippets and Parson Russell Terriers) ranked in Top 20 conformation & owner handled.  Other honors include AKC Eukanuba Nationals honor roll 2012 with 3 different breeds and Awards of Merit wins, Best in Specialty Show win and many, many other competitive awards.

My dogs have been on TV (Animal Planet’s TOO CUTE) and in numerous TV and print ads and in numerous calendars.

I spent a year boarding and  training 18 German Shepherd dogs for celebrity clients.   I also work with 2 Southern California all breed rescue groups, rescuing shelter dogs, puppy mill survivors, dogs that have been deserted and left to die in the desert, training them for successful good citizen home placement. 

Along the way I also became an AKC Judge in Scent Work, Conformation and Farm Dog, and an Evaluator for AKC and DMWYD Trick Dog and Canine Good Citizen.  

I am currently working full time as a dog trainer.  Most of my training lately has been with service dogs.  I’m helping clients learn to train their own dogs as well as training them here at my 2.5 acre facility.