Dana has had a life-long love for animals – especially dogs! She started her dog training career as a Puppy Start Right Instructor in 2020, providing socialization and training sessions for puppies 8 to 16 weeks of age. In 2023, she graduated from the prestigious Victoria Stilwell Academy for Dog Training & Behavior to become certified, expand her knowledge and provide more force-free, positive reinforcement training resources to the WNC community.

She currently offers private, in-home/virtual training sessions for clients and their pups where she teaches basic behaviors, helps manage and solve common behavior problems, and provides day training to keep pups progressing even when their humans don’t have time. Dana’s favorite training sessions are working with new adopters to teach them about patience, positive reinforcement training, and fun enrichment exercises to build confidence in their new fearful rescue. Seeing that human-animal bond start to flourish in real time because the pup’s new family is showing compassion and kindness, brings so much joy to her life as a certified dog trainer!

Not only is she dedicated to helping pet parents in the Asheville area, but Dana is also committed to giving back to her community - She often volunteers at Animal Haven of Asheville and Brother Wolf Animal Rescue, where she donates her time to aid with each organization’s mission and help rescue animals find their forever homes. When she is not busy transforming dogs into their best selves, Dana loves spending quality time with her amazing husband and their two adorable rescue dogs, Marshall & Josey, who are her best teachers!