Our Passionate Pack
Carla
Start Date at D101: Founder
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? Yes, 7.
What Made You Want to Work with D101? Although I only spent 7 years there, back “home” has always been northern MN on a farm down the road from my grandparents’ farm where I would ride my bike or a snowcat back and forth nearly every day. Animals were a part of my every day; picking eggs, cleaning the pig pen, building forts for the 25 cats that lived in the loft, and making sure the dogs had a warm place in the barn to sleep. Hanging out with them made me happier than anything else; I dreamed back then of becoming a veterinarian, but dog training? Not even on the radar. During my childhood daydreaming was a ton of doodling…the doodle started Snoopy-ish and evolved quickly into what you know now as Toby, the Doggieology dog. A sweet little whizzpucker of a Saint Bernard named Wrigley swept me off my feet when I was in my 30s; I spoiled that lil one within an inch of his life, and he got a tad naughty around one year old. That’s when this passion I didn’t even know I had begun to unfold. I started the business in 2015, left teaching elementary school after 28 years in 2018, and built our training center in 2021. I didn’t quit teaching; I just switched up WHAT I was teaching. That’s what I love most about this work: teaching people how to improve the relationship with their dog and empowering them with knowledge and skills so they can move forward with confidence towards accomplishing all the goals they have with their dog. LOVE IT! I’m so grateful to be a part of such a wonderful staff that continues to impress me with their drive, work ethic and team spirit!
What Do You Love About Your Job? Everything!
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? Need a good dog book to read? Here are my faves: All the Cesar Millan books, The Monks of New Skete’s Let Dogs Be Dogs and How to Be Your Dog’s Best Friend.
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? My best advice is to be intentional and purposeful with your dog. Know what you want because if you don’t know, your dog certainly doesn’t know. Be calm, be sensitive, respectful, trust the dog and create the pattern to get it.
Aaron
Start Date at D101: 8/21
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? I have one cat, Black Shadow (or Black for short)
What Made You Want to Work with D101? Covid made my previous job more dangerous. Being a night owl and having worked nights before made me a perfect fit to work overnights.
What Do You Love About Your Job? Getting to work with all the different dogs.
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? Garfield. I love seeing Garfield and Odie (the dog) team up.
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? Pet ownership is like raising a kid. You can’t give up on them just because they’re difficult.
Addison
Start Date at D101: 2015
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? 1 Goldendoodle, Ivy
What Made You Want to Work with D101? Carla Moser was my First and Second Grade teacher. I visited her after she retired from teaching, and she started showing me some training techniques, and here I am!
What Do You Love About Your Job? The most fulfilling thing about this job is not only being around dogs all day, but also seeing the finished product of a happier and calmer dog; it’s so rewarding. I am honored to be a part of a mission to create a more harmonious life for people and their four-legged friends.
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? Canine Body Language: A Photographic Guide – Interpreting the Native Language of the Domestic Dog by Brenda Aloff.
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? Trust the process of training, and a calm dog is not a sad dog!
Amaya
Start Date at D101: 8/2021
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? 2, Simba and Simon
What Made You Want to Work with D101? My passion and love for dogs.
What Do You Love About Your Job? How nice everyone is and the family-like environment.
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? Pack of Two by Caroline Knapp.
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? Be a compassionate badass.
Kainan
Start Date at D101: 4/2022
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? 2, Rumi and Graham
What Made You Want to Work with D101? I heard it was amazing, and it definitely is!
What Do You Love About Your Job? I love seeing all the different types of dogs and learning all about them.
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? Clifford, the Big Red Dog
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? Don’t overthink about your dogs, you can confuse them easily.
Kamden
Start Date at D101: 4/2022
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? 2, Rumi and Graham
What Made You Want to Work with D101? A friend of my mom, now co-worker, mentioned Doggieology101 and I figured I would give it a try.
What Do You Love About Your Job? The friendly environment and the constant improvements.
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? Being patient and consistent helps when working with dogs.
Kelsey
Start Date at D101: Summer of 2020
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? 1, Franklin
What Made You Want to Work with D101? Carla came to my house to help with my dogs, and we connected immediately on our love for dogs. I then started working for her the next summer.
What Do You Love About Your Job? Being able to learn and watch the dogs and owners grow together and find balance.
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? The Dogist by Elias Weiss Friedman
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? Stay consistent and look towards the end goal because it’s worth it! Trust the process.
Lauren H
Start Date at D101: 2/2022
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? I have 3 dogs of my own, Miura, Ozzy and Enzo!
What Made You Want to Work with D101? My best friend Addison got me to start working at D101 with her!
What Do You Love About Your Job? The best thing about working at D101 is definitely either the people or the fact that I get to hang out with so many different dogs every time I’m working!
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? My favorite dog book is probably Cesar Millan’s Lesson from the Pack: Stories of the Dogs Who Changed My Life.
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? The best advice I could give to clients is just that consistency is key; dogs need time and repetition.
Lauren T
Start Date at D101: 11/2022
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? Our family currently has 1 dog named Ashlee. She’s a pitbull/boxer mix that we rescued in 2017.
What Made You Want to Work with D101? I had worked with Carla in the past for our dog Ashlee, and through a mutual friend who works here. I thought it would be a good fit for me with having a huge love for animals and outdoors!
What Do You Love About Your Job? The dogs, of course! It’s such an experience to be able to take care of them all! Also, the team! You can feel the passion and care that everyone has for their job.
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? Canine Body Language – A Photographic Guide by Brenda Aloff.
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? Your dog is a reflection of your behavior and energy. As quoted by Cesar Millan, “The dog can only become what’s in your bubble. The dog is imitating the energy that is in your bubble. You are the source, the feast of energy.”
Linda
Start Date at D101: 8/2021
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? I have two dogs of my own: a Boxer and a Shih Tzu, Lyra and Coco
What Made You Want to Work with D101? My interest in D101 began when we got our Boxer. It was a long time since we had a puppy, and our 12-year-old Shih Tzu didn’t welcome her like we imagined. Carla came to our house, taught us about dog psychology and applied techniques that left us with amazing results. We learned so much in such a short time that I had to learn more and began working and training at D101 not long after.
What Do You Love About Your Job? The best thing I like about working at D101 is watching how each dog progresses with training and how amazed the families are with the results.
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? My favorite book is How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through Puppyhood and Beyond by Cesar Millan.
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? The best advice I would give to a client is to apply training techniques with calm, consistent guidance every day. It’s the little things that make the biggest difference – keep it simple and incorporate opportunities to learn into your daily routine. Don’t forget to have fun – playtime is a great reward for a job done well!
Megan
Start Date at D101: 9/2022
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? I have two dogs of my own! Lily and Duke. I also foster dogs, so I’ll have three dogs from time to time.
What Made You Want to Work with D101? What brought me to Doggieology101 is that my rescue group, Placing Paws, does some work with them, plus I saw they were hiring, and I love dogs and love helping!
What Do You Love About Your Job? The best thing about working at Doggieology101 is working with all different types of dogs!
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? I don’t have a favorite book about dogs because I love all books.
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? The best advice I would give my client is don’t let your dog be the boss of you! You’re the boss; you tell them what to do!
Melissa
Start Date at D101: 3/2021
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? 2, Ogi and Dora.
What Made You Want to Work with D101? My desire to help people in a situation I was in a few years ago. I rescued a pretty intense dog that changed my life, Ogi. I was trained, he was trained, but he was still having issues with my other dog Dora. He was either on a muzzle in the house or a leash connected to me to avoid any interactions. It was a challenging time, but I knew I saved my dog from a certain death, and I was not going to give up on him. I came across a post on the D101 Facebook page where Carla posted a video about a dog being on muzzle and getting her off muzzle and around other dogs in 7 days. I contacted her immediately. I came to Carla to help me with the behavior side of the training; obedience was not his issue. Carla helped me get him off the muzzle in the house. It was a long journey, but now Ogi and Dora live freely in the house, no muzzle, no leash, just able to live normal lives.
After seeing the change in him and how it had an impact on my own home life, I wanted to come to Doggieology101 to help people that may find themselves in a similar situation that I was in. My goal is to train dogs and owners to have better relationships and better lives with each other. I love working with all dogs, but I have a soft spot for working with dogs that have more severe behavioral issues (similar to my own dog Ogi), because helping them and their families will hopefully keep them out of shelters and stay with a loving family.
What Do You Love About Your Job? Seeing the transformation in the dogs. Whether it is families seeing their dogs can participate in more of their lives because their dog is now calm or dogs that arrive very timid and leave playing with dogs of different sizes and energy levels.
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? Love Them by Leading Them by Sean O’Shea
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? Just because your dog wants to do something doesn’t mean they should. You’re the decision maker, not them.
Melody
Start Date at D101: 9/2022
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? I have one dog named Sadie.
What Made You Want to Work with D101? My love of animals
What Do You Love About Your Job? I love watching the dogs run and play with each other.
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? I don’t have one.
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? I would say socializing dogs is important to help them and you.
Sam
Start Date at D101: 3/2021
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? I have two dogs, both of which I adopted with the help of Doggieology101. Their names are Bowie and Pepper.
What Made You Want to Work with D101? I brought my family’s dog Luna to Doggieology101 for training, and Carla offered me a job after helping me train my dog.
What Do You Love About Your Job? I love being able to bring my dogs to work; it’s a dream for them! I also enjoy creating videos of the Doggieology101 dogs for everyone to enjoy on social media!
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? My favorite book about dogs is Sit, Stay, Heal: What Dogs Can Teach Us About Living Well by Dr. Renee Alsarraf.
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? The best advice I would give to clients is to be patient and consistent with your training that you learn from our Doggieology101 training crew!
Suzanne
Start Date at D101: 8/2021
Do you have dogs of your own? How many? I have a Border Collie-Newfoundland mix named Shea whom I adopted at 3 months old and Choli — I think she’s a Pitbull-Italian Greyhound mix – that I adopted this past spring from Placing Paws (we were housing her at Doggieology101).
What Made You Want to Work with D101? I had known Carla through my job at a local garden center. One day she was in shopping and noticed my girl Shea (she is off leash and able to roam freely in the space). I called for Shea sometime later, and she came running. Carla asked me if I trained her. “I sure did,” I replied. She had been coming to work with me since she was a puppy and learned the “routine.” She was always nearby and very responsive to mom calling for her if she was out of my sight and vice versa. This apparently impressed Carla. Later in the summer, I was in need of a job and my friend and boss Janet saw a ”looking for help” post from Carla. e a job after helping me train my dog.
What Do You Love About Your Job? It was a new direction for me, but my love of dogs, past experience in teaching and curiosity won out and I called about the job. The rest is unfolding beautifully. I enjoy the different breeds, personalities and issues to help work out with the dogs. Learning to “speak” canine is an ongoing journey that I enjoy immensely.
What Is Your Favorite Book About Dogs? GO Dog GO by Dr Seuss. I used to read it to my daughters ad nauseam.
What Advice Do You Have for Clients? Would you want or let your child run rampant through life without rules and safety in place? These things are extremely important, and even more so for your new or existing dog. They do not have the ability to see this world as we do, therefore their well-being is your responsibility. Give them the tools to be confident, well-mannered dogs and they will in turn be truly happy.
They have helped me with three dogs needing different degrees of training from basic training at home to their three week stay and train program. Excellent training for the dogs and excellent teaching for the owners.
Program: 3 Week Stay-n-Train (Tux)
Melissa gave a great training class for both my dog and myself! She explained the philosophy behind the training and gave practical exercises I can do at home to reinforce and further the training. After a 3 hour session I can already see a difference in my dog’s behavior! I’d recommend this training to anybody who wants to better understand their dog!
Program: One-on-One Session (Jesse)
Love this place!
Program: 3 Week Stay-n-Train (Teddy)
Carla was excellent. I would recommend anyone that is having issues with their pup to call Carla. She is so patient, easy to talk to and very knowledgeable of what dogs are feeling, thinking. I really didn’t think she would be able to help with our Okie, but she did, and I know it was only one session but wow we have a lot to work with now and I believe it will definitely help all of us and Okie.
Thank you so much Carla
Programs: One-on-One (Okie), The Charlotte (Beau)
Beau came back today a different dog – calm, listening & went on walk perfectly.
Program: 2 Week Stay-n-Train (Beau)
We adopted a 10 year old German Shorthair pointer with a few issues. The most severe ones were guarding us from other dogs, dog reactivity. guarding us at night, and recall. After a fight between our neighbor’s dog and our Bella it was time for some major interventions. What we were doing was not working. We talked with our neighbor and he recommend Doggieology 101 to us. We are so thrilled that they did. Melissa, Suzanne, and Carla are amazing. trainers. Bella is now a calm and happy dog who returns when we call. They gave us personal at home instructions while she was at their 2 week training program. We are still in 90 day training period but we determined to not ruin all of Doggieology’s hard work. They are still available to answer questions or to stop by and help if we are losing our way. Expensive program but so worth every penny. Oh and when Bella goes out and the neighbor dog is out they just ignore each other!
Program: 2 Week Stay-n-Train (Lady Bella)
Our 2 dogs went to 3 weeks of the stay-n-train program. They are now at home and we’ve had zero aggression issues, zero peeing/pooping inside (which was a MAOR issue for one of our dogs) and a much orderly house! Now that the dogs are back, we realize how out of control our household was before. Even just going on a walk feels less chaotic.
Melissa was great – she was VERY patient and explained things in a way that all of us (kids, included!) could understand. We appreciated her knowledge and honesty.
We know we’ll go back to Doggieology 101 for boarding and refresher training. We were apprehensive about the cost, but it has been well worth it!
Programs: 3 Week Stay-n-Train (Teddy), 3 Week Stay-n-Train (Bodie)
Carla is a MIRACLE worker and dog genius!
She took my incredibly reactive dog and turned him into a well behaved little guy!
We have work to do implementing all the training but the tools Carla and Doggieology101 provide you with are by far the best training tools and techniques we’ve ever experienced!
Programs: One-on-One (Shadow), The Tilly (Raven), 3 Week Stay-n-Train (Shadow)