Sit Stay Zen

07/26/2026

Congratulations to our new Your Dog's Place, LLC Therapy Dog teams, Lynn with "Ginger", Neil with "Macey" and Dave with "Christmas". They aced their Bright & Beautiful Therapy Dog Certification test yesterday! The teams did fantastic, staying calm, cool and collected and I couldn't be more proud! Shout out to soon to be Therapy Dog "Bobbie"! Thank you to my incredibly reliable and FUN volunteers - Diane with "Riley Ray", Stephanie with "Daisy" and Michele with "Tuukka"! I can always count on you and I'm so happy you enjoy coming to watch our future therapy dogs in action! We sadly say goodbye to our retiring evaluator Donna DeVoist of Wylde Pups Gentle Dog Training and Lure Coursing. We'll miss you and appreciate the past 5 years together doing these evaluations! With pleasure, we introduce you to our brand spanking new Therapy Dog evaluator Jennifer Arnold! You're a wonderful addition to this program and I knew you were the perfect person for this job, so happy you enthusiastically said yes to coming on board! Jen's assistant dog, Ve, did excellent for his first time in this new role. Thank you Ve, great job! Thanks again as always to Jodi from Rockstar DOG Bakery for her delectable custom dog cookies. They were snatched from my offering hand with fervor, these dogs KNOW they worked hard for them! Thrilled to have these canines working in our local communities bringing smiles and laughs to all they meet!

05/20/2026

Congratulations to our new Your Dog's Place, LLC Canine Good Citizens! They had top notch performances yesterday in spite of the heat! Hurray Lisa and "Olive", Lori and "Kane", Virginia and "Darby", Karen and "Marley" and Kert and "Ripp"! Thank you to my incredible volunteers who step up to the plate, sometimes last minute! I love to see you and appreciate your help, smiles and laughter - Elaine and Woody with "Cooper", Mr. Reliable friendly Golden, a natural for our neutral greeting dog! Huge THANK YOU to Nina from Happy Paws - School for Dogs for coming out in the sweltering heat for the day to evaluate these dogs. I know you want them to pass as much as their handlers do and you're so great about taking the stress off of "testing"! Thanks to my friend Jodi at Rockstar DOG Bakery for delectable customized doggie cookies. I love to watch the dogs' faces light up when they see their hard earned reward! Devoured on site every time.

03/09/2026

Congratulations to our new Your Dog's Place, LLC Therapy Dog teams - Jim with "Cylla", Patsy with "Zephyra", Keta with "Danny" and Tracy with "Luna"! They all aced their Bright & Beautiful Therapy Dog Certification test this past weekend! Everyone did fantastic jobs preparing their dogs and I'm very proud of you all! We are looking forward to your healing presence in our local communities as your sweet dogs bring smiles and laughs to all they meet. Thank you to my incredible crew of volunteers - Diane and Frank with "Riley Ray", Michele with "Tuukka" and Amy with "Opal"! (Even my shy guy "Bishop" helped out this weekend.) I appreciate you all more than you could possibly know! Huge thank you to Donna DeVoist of Wylde Pups Gentle Dog Training and Lure Coursing for traveling from afar to evaluate our crew and dealing with our Winter weather rescheduling! We love having you and "Rocky" and my students always appreciate your calm energy. Thank you to Jodi Davidson McGee for her delectable custom dog cookies which usually leave the building in our dogs' bellies, they just can't wait to wolf them down! Can't wait for stories this upcoming year about the joy these dogs are spreading!

03/02/2026

Congratulations to our new Your Dog's Place, LLC Canine Good Citizens! They rocked it for their evaluations this past Saturday! Hurray to Nicki and Mike with "Millie", Tracy with "Luna", and my sweet shy girl "Kula". Keta with "Danny" and Tracy with "Luna" earned their CGCA titles, excellent job to you both! A big shout out to Karen with "Frank", Lisa with "Olive" and Mercedes with "Teddy" who all made me very proud and I know I will see you again soon! Thank you to my incredible volunteers who I love to see and appreciate their reliability - Diane and Lorrie with "Marley" our loveable neutral dog who has found a new job she loves to do! Huge THANK YOU to Nina from Happy Paws - School for Dogs for coming out for the day to evaluate today's group, always fair, always honest and most importantly rooting for our dogs to pass and earn their title. Thanks to my friend Jodi for delectable customized doggie cookies which the dogs love to devour after a job well done!

02/17/2026

Hi Peeps! Many of you know me from over the years training dogs to become certified as Therapy Dogs. The organization I currently have dogs achieve their certification through is Bright & Beautiful Therapy Dogs. If your certification has lapsed or you have worked with me in the past and are interested in your dog becoming a Bright & Beautiful therapy canine, please contact me. I have one spot open for a dog to test this Friday afternoon at Your Dog's Place, LLC Thanks!

09/30/2024

Congratulations to our new Your Dog's Place, LLC Canine Good Citizens! They aced their evaluations on Saturday! A shout out to Carol with "Louie", Morgan with "Karma Mae", Bernard with "Thor", Alexis with "Eve" and "Winnie" and Woody with "Lainey". Thank you to my incredible crew of dedicated volunteers - Diane and Jen with "Odin". Your love for the dogs relaxes them and I appreciate that you enjoy coming to help us! I think "Odin" enjoys it too! Great big thanks to Nina from Happy Paws - School for Dogs for coming out for the day to evaluate this group. We can't thank you enough for your patience and understanding of nerves, both handlers and dogs! You always put everyone at ease. Thanks again to Jodi at Rockstar DOG Bakery for customized doggie cookies!!! I love seeing the dog's faces light up for their well-earned treats!

09/20/2024

08/20/2024

It's the annual nationwide Clear The Shelters event! This is Nico and his friend Eileen who volunteers at Olga & Dorothea Dessin Animal Shelter. I have been helping her train Nico who has been waiting for his forever family since November of last year, that's over 9 months!!! This young guy (under 2 years old) is my dog's brother, who I adopted earlier this summer. Not only are they strikingly similar in their good looks, but also in their adorable traits. He loves to hug and cuddle and is very bonded to Eileen and all of his other friends at the shelter. So far Nico is learning how to give attention on command, sit, down and come when called (his recall is really fantastic!) He is extremely agile and would LOVE to go hiking with you! He often does group hikes with the other dogs at the shelter. He is great about traveling in the car too! Nico and my dog, Kula, came from a hoarding house when they were just puppies. They still have much to learn about trusting new people and all they missed out on when they were little pups. Kula and me are making up for lost time and love! For anyone who adopts Nico, I am offering a reduced rate to continue his training. Please share and find this affectionate, fun, loyal boy a forever home!

06/11/2024

Congratulations to our new Your Dog's Place, LLC Therapy Dog teams, Jen and "Odin", Tracy and "Luna Blue Bear" and Scott and "Olive"! They passed their Bright & Beautiful Therapy Dog Certification test this past Sunday with flying colors! A shout out to "General Ike" who is destined to do this type of work and has amazing "parents" who will continue to lead him down this path. You all did fantastic, and I couldn't be more proud of my students! Thrilled to have you working in our local communities bringing smiles and laughs to all your dogs meet. Thank you to my incredible volunteers - Diane with "Riley Ray" and Michele with "Tuukka"! I count on you and you always deliver. Huge thank you to Donna DeVoist of Wylde Pups Gentle Dog Training and Lure Coursing for traveling from afar to evaluate our crew and on a Sunday this time! We adore having you and "Wink"! Thanks again, as always to Jodi from Rockstar DOG Bakery for her delectable custom dog cookies. These dogs just can't wait until they get home to eat them, they must eat their cookie then and there! Can't blame them, they worked hard for them!

06/03/2024

Congratulations to our new Your Dog's Place, LLC Canine Good Citizens! They rocked it for their evaluations this past Saturday! Hurray to Val with "Curly", Sarah with "Reuben", Jodi with "Riggs" and Steve with "Ellie". Jess and "Potter" made me so proud, and we hope to see them again! Thank you to my incredible volunteers who I love to see and appreciate their reliability - Diane, Jen and Joe with trusty "Odin". Huge THANK YOU to Nina from Happy Paws - School for Dogs for coming out for the day to evaluate today's group, always fair, always honest and most importantly, rooting for our dogs to pass and earn their title! Thanks to dear Jodi at Rockstar DOG Bakery for doggie cookies which her new Canine Good Citizen, Riggs, gets to pre-test for all of our recipients!