MEET ERIKA

Your dog can make your life a literal nightmare... or the most fulfilling experience of all.

My mission is to help you live the second one.

Some people find their purpose through hardship. Others through joy or a moment nobody else noticed. I found mine in a retirement home when I was nine years old, watching a little dog make an old woman forget her pain.

I always loved dogs. Growing up, they were my safe place, the one constant source of love in a world that didn't always feel stable.
But that moment, during that pet therapy session, opened my eyes to the real impact dogs can have on people's lives. On how this type of relationship can make us feel. On who we can become, thanks to them. I carried that with me for years.


Then Molly came. And that was only the beginning of the direction my life was about to take.
MOLLY

My greatest challenge. My first success story.

When I rescued Molly at seventeen, I thought my love for her was all I needed for a great life together. I was so wrong.


Very soon she started barking at everything, dragging me on every walk, lunging at every dog she saw, never coming back when called. It was really difficult at home, and deeply embarrassing outside. I remember thinking: it shouldn't feel this hard. Everyone else's dog is behaving. What's wrong with mine?
Molly pushed me so far I had no choice but to learn. And once I started studying dog behavior, I realized that...she wasn't the problem. I was.


Until that point, I had never really understood her needs. I had never truly accepted who she was. And when I learned how to communicate with her properly, we finally started to have a healthy relationship.
Molly taught me the most important lesson of my career, even before I had one. Behind every behavior there is always a reason. And when you tune in to your dog's needs, your life and your dog's life can take a completely different turn.

After Molly, I threw myself into learning. I studied, got certified, volunteered in shelters and started working with dogs and their guardians. I was two years in when Nala arrived, enough to do things very differently this time.

NALA

She showed me what's possible.

When Nala came into my life, everything felt different from the very first moment.
This time, I had the skills. I raised her with patience, understanding and trust from day one. And what grew between us was something I hadn't experienced before. Something I didn't know was possible. She wasn't just my dog. She was my life companion. The one who showed me how much richer, fulfilling and more joyful every single day can be when you and your dog truly understand each other.


Through her I kept learning what it means to love without fear, to slow down, to listen, to meet another being exactly where they are. She was a mirror for the parts of myself I couldn't always see. She reminded me that life should be playful, that nature heals and that the relationship between a human and their dog (when built with intention) can amplify everything good in your life.


Nala left us very recently, but her presence hasn't gone anywhere. She lives in every course I teach, every guardian I help, every puppy who gets the start she helped me understand was possible.
She gave me what I want every guardian to have.
She is the reason why Your Dog's Way exists.

THE "YOUR DOG'S WAY" MISSION

Molly started this. Nala made it inevitable.

Most people come to me the way I came to dog training: pushed to the limit, convinced something is wrong with their dog, trying everything and feeling like nothing works.
I know that feeling. The frustration. The guilt. The confusion. And I know how it feels when everything starts changing, when frustration turns into understanding and chaos turns into connection.


That moment is what I build everything around.
Because you shouldn't have to spend years struggling before someone explains what's actually going on. You shouldn't have to go through what I went through with Molly to eventually find what I found with Nala.
You deserve that understanding from the very beginning.


My mission is simple, and I've never wavered from it since I was nine years old watching that little dog working in a retirement home.
I want every dog guardian to experience the depth of a relationship like the one I had with my dogs. The joy. The connection. The feeling of creating a life that is beneficial for both of you.
That's Your Dog's Way.
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SIUA Certified · VSA Certified · Cooperative Care · 13+ years experience · Force-free methods · Psychology background