Meet The Trainer

April with Maggie and Dana

Hi! I’m April, and these are my two kids Dana and Maggie. I am the owner and head trainer of A Plus A Leash K9, LLC. If you’re anything like me, you probably give your dog the ‘best’ of everything. The best food, toys, backyard…but you may not get the best behavior in return! Well, you’ve come to the right place! Let me tell you a little bit about myself…

Like many dog trainers, I started developing my skills with my own dogs several years ago. It started with Brandy, a beagle mix I adopted when I was finally ready to be a dog owner. She showed me the ropes more than any human could! Unconditional love, amidst some challenges, was our daily life together. At the time, I didn’t realize what I was ‘on to.’ I didn’t know why Brandy was so well behaved after only a few weeks of living with me…she just was.

Soon, friends were asking me to help train their dogs. In time, I was getting phone calls from their friends asking for help! I began to put the pieces together and, like a jigsaw puzzle, the pieces finally fit! I was treating Brandy like a dog!

Brandy

You see, my training style has always been ‘dogs are dogs and humans are humans.’ Simply put, humans and dogs speak two different languages! Once I learned to teach human to communicate with dog, things started to click!

When Brandy died of cancer, I adopted a pitbull mix named Dana. What a contrast to sweet, loving Brandy! Dana was scared, skittish, fear aggressive, and incredibly unhappy. She became my ‘experiment’ and what a test she was! Well, I’ve had Dana for four years now. She is an AKC Canine Good Citizen, and a wonderful visitor in nursing homes! Dana taught me that patience, calmness, assertiveness, and unconditional love can turn almost any dog in to the balanced, well behaved pooch we humans want.

I owe Brandy, Dana, Maggie, and my numerous fosters a big ‘Paws Up!’ for convincing me to branch out in to the exciting world of dog training. Thanks to them, I am happy to offer in home dog training sessions based on my philosophy…

“Creating Balanced Canine Behavior through Positive Reinforcement”