I'm Sofía Brenes, and I'd like to tell you why I became a dog trainer. I grew up around dogs, but back then the dog just existed in the backyard, no toys or socialization, let alone training. Unsurprisingly, our dogs were incredibly aggressive towards strangers or other animals. I thought there had to be a way to train them so they could live inside. I looked, but information was scarce and like so many people, I fell into the "show your dog who's boss" trap. The end result: a dog that lived under a constant state of stress, and would quickly resort to biting when pushed. I could not understand why my methods had not worked. 

Years later, while flipping channels I found a show where a nice British lady showed people how to get their dog to stop growling and biting, everything that I'd failed to stop, and there was no yelling, no quest for domination. The show was "It's Me or the Dog" with Victoria Stilwell. She kept on actually explaining the reasons they were behaving like that in the first place. I was hooked.

I started volunteering at a local shelter, and was handed a bag of treats and a big, beautiful, pitbull. This dog was over excited, and all over the place. I grabbed some treats and placed them near his nose. As I moved my hand up, he followed it with his eyes and naturally sat down. I said “Yes!” and gave him a bit of hot dog. After a couple of repetitions, I didn't move my hand up. He cocked his head sideways, as if to say, “What are you doing?” His ears perked up. He looked at me, he looked at my hand. His eyes moved from my hand to my face, and I realized: I'm actually looking at this dog thinking and trying to figure this out! 

He frowned for a second, and then he sat down. Victory! After feeding him again, his face relaxed, and his tongue was now out, he was happy. He immediately sat down again, and looked at me: “oh I get this game now, cool. I'll sit, you feed me”. I had never done training before, I had never seen this dog before, and in five minutes I taught him how to sit down. No forcing, no yelling.

A couple of years later my husband and I adopted our own dog, our beautiful Nacho. We applied everything we'd learned and we indeed had a perfect dog. The bond between us was so strong, we understood each other perfectly. It was a priceless relationship, and I miss him every day.

By then, I was working full time as a Software Engineer for Google, and it was hard to find time to pursue this passion. Then I saw Victoria opened up her own academy. How awesome would it be to actually learn how to be a dog trainer with the very person that opened my eyes to the right way to do this? Everything just clicked perfectly: this is what happens when you take animal cognition and behavior research, combine it with learning theory, apply it on the most incredible animal on Earth, and spread the message through education. 

I made so many mistakes with my own dogs. I always had the best intentions in my heart, but I just didn't know. Now I want to help people go through this same journey, to know how different life with a dog can be when you know what’s the best way to communicate with them, to understand them. I do this because I want to tell you there’s a better way to train them. Safely. Kindly. With trust and empathy. With science!