Experience

I worked as a kennel technician at an open play doggy daycare from Fall 2009 to Summer 2012. I also acted as Manager and taught their Puppy Socialization Classes during my last year. While there, I learned how to interact with dogs in a group setting, read and understand canine communication, and understand a wide variety of canine behaviors. I also learned a great deal about the care of dogs, including feeding, nutrition, and grooming.
I was mentored by Ryan Gwilliam for a year from 2011-2012, when I monitored training classes he taught at the doggy daycare where I worked. He showed me how to make training fun, upbeat, and like a game for dogs. Because of this, he is able to keep dogs interested in training for 2-3 times longer than any other trainer I've observed. He also taught me some excellent techniques for learning how a particular dog communicates and for building confidence in nervous dogs.
I completed an internship through Animal Behavior College with Stephen Blecher in 2012. Owner of Companion Golden Retriever Rescue, Steve taught me that there is no such thing as a "one size fits all" approach to training - each dog must be treated as an individual. Techniques that work perfectly with one dog may fail with another. He showed me how to step back and analyze each situation to determine which training technique is best for that dog and that behavior. He also taught me his excellent techniques for teaching recall and leash manners that I've found to be effective with nearly every dog I've worked with.

I began offering in-home training sessions when I opened Molli Dogs Training in 2012. Since then, I've worked with hundreds of clients and their dogs, gaining experience in a variety of areas, most particularly in basic obedience, problem solving, and some aggression.
I trained Service Dogs for a National Service Dog Organization for 2 years between March 2013 and March 2015. I learned how to train a variety of Service Dogs and how to perform temperament testing. I volunteered in a number of capacities during this time, including acting as Director of Training and Vice President of Training. I taught numerous group training events for clients and staff. Unfortunately the company shut down in the fall of 2017.


I took a course on TTouch in November, 2013. I am not certified in TTouch, but I am a great proponent of the use of TTouch in building trusting relationships and soothing stressed animals.
I took a nose-work class from Sonja Nordstrom of Sonja's Dog Training in March 2016 to learn about the basics of scent training. Sonja is a UKC nose-work and AKC Scentwork Judge. Her knowledge and experience in search and rescue work and human remains detection is unmatched. She is an absolutely amazing scent trainer and I was super excited to get to learn from her!
I completed Dr. Ian Dunbar's SIRIUS Dog Trainer Academy course in July 2016. Ian Dunbar is one of my favorite trainers in the dog training industry. He is a revolutionary in the dog training world. He designed and taught the first ever off-leash puppy classes. I loved taking this course and learning from him. I plan to take several more of his courses in the future!
I completed the first four courses of the Martha Hoffman Hearing Dog Academy in 2017. She was one of the founders of the Hearing Dog Program in the United States. I have been amazed at how much I've been able to learn, not just about hearing dogs, but about all kinds of service dog training and alerting as well. She has been such a fabulous mentor!
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Brooke and I have attended several workshops taught by Emily Strong (formerly of From Beaks to Barks. Now Pet Harmony Training). She is a behavioral consultant and is one of the most knowledgeable trainers I have ever worked with. I love talking with her and always learn so much every time I do! The knowledge I've been able to gain from her has been invaluable. 
I completed 2 courses from The Collared Scholar on play and engagement in November 2017 and January 2018. These were super fun courses with lots of great games to play with your dogs and information on building focus and engagement in dogs. I started implementing the things that I learned into my training immediately!
Brooke and I took the online service dog puppy raiser course for Retrieving Independence in March of 2019. My favorite takeaway from this course was their explanation about the difference between corrections vs punishments and how these should and should not be used during service dog training.
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In July of 2019 Brooke and I attended Utah Pet Partners Fur-Real Hands-On Handler Practicum. I absolutely loved this full day workshop.  I learned so much about how to keep things safe and enjoyable for everyone in a variety of therapy dog situations. I was really impressed with how much they emphasized the importance of relationship, communication, and teamwork between a dog and handler working team. So much of what I learned from them I felt could easily be applied to both therapy and service dog teams.
 In November of 2019 I had the opportunity to attend a 3 day seminar/workshop by Kay Laurence and Susan Freidman. This seminar focused on the science side of dog training, behavior, learning theory and so much more! It was so fascinating learning about how behavioral science is something that can be applied to all species across the board. From humans, dolphins, dogs, birds, bovines, all the way down to single celled organisms! 
​In March 2021 Kaylee and I watched a webinar by Emily Strong and Allie Bender on how to treat aggression through enrichment. This was an awesome webinar learning about the importance of enrichment in general and learning how much making sure you have a good enrichment plan in place can make a world of difference for all kinds of behavioral problems!
During 2022 and the beginning of 2023, Brooke and I got to work with Rebecca Haacke, owner and trainer of Naga, the Gluten detection dog, to learn how to do gluten detection training. Rebecca's dog, Naga was the 6th gluten detection dog in the United States and only the 3rd to be trained here. Rebecca was truly one of the pioneers of gluten detection training in the United States, so getting to learn directly from her was a real treat!