Leslie Fisher
I brought my first dog home at the tender age of 5 and according to family lore, said “Mom, look what I found.” Tramp, as he became, was bleeding from a gunshot wound, but survived to be a wonderful and colorful family pet, succumbing at the age of 16. And so it went over the years, a long line of furry faces and names coming to recollection.
I wish my Mother lived on, to witness the success of Look What I Can Do! Dog Training, founded in December of 2006. As the saying goes, the apple does not fall far from the tree. These days, I am owned by three labs, and live in the waterfront area of Earleville MD, an ideal location for my gang. Many a morning we are off to the Bohemia River, so Talley, Bridget CGC RN RA and Doobie can do what labs do best. My boyfriend Argil “adopted” all three labs, and turned not a hair at three large dogs taking up occupation.
In addition to running my business, volunteer work for Lab Rescue of the LRCP, Inc occupies some of my time, doing post adoption home checks, and providing assistance with behavioral issues. As I spend more time doing behavior consults, I frequently see that these troubled dogs often share a history of training methods that are forceful and ineffective. One of my main goals is educating clients that positive force free training produces happy willing dogs, and a wonderful dog-human relationship. No dog ever needs to be hurt in the name of training. Appropriate education needs to be provided to clients, so they can advocate for their dogs.
There has been much professional growth since 2006, including the March 2010 professional designation of CPDT-KA (Certified Pet Dog Trainer- Knowledge Assessed) after sitting for national licensure exam. PMCT (Pat Miller Certified Trainer) also goes behind my name, and I am equally proud of this title. Pat Miller was a strong early influence in my career and has very high standards in her Internships. I excelled in three of them to earn the PMCT title.
Reading articles and attending seminars on a regular basis, I feel, is a professional responsibility, to bring clients the most recent information in the field. To that end, maintaining a professional presence on twitter and Facebook has become like another non-paying job, but a richly rewarding one, making friends with so many like-minded professionals, from literally around the world. The journey so far has been exciting and fulfilling; I trust the years to come will bring nothing less.
Leslie Fisher PMCT, CPDT-KA CGC Evaluator ABC Student Mentor Member: APDT, MAAPPPT, TrulyDogFriendly
