Laurie has had a love for animals since she was a child. Her dad used to take in stray dogs and make them family pets, they had many dogs named Lucky. The one that made the biggest impact in her life was a German Shepherd named Duke, he was adopted from the local animal shelter. She watched her dad teach him hand signals, search for her brother in a corn field behind the family home, watch over and protect the family, there was nothing that dog would not do. 

As Laurie grew up and had a family of her own, she still had a love for dogs, so she decided to foster German Shepherds for a local rescue organization. When bringing fosters into her home, that brought on a whole new set of challenges. Some dogs had never been in a home, so they had no house manners, some had very minimal interactions with humans or other dogs, so they were very scared and would exhibit aggressive behavior, some were not sure when or if they would get a meal which caused them to want to guard any resource they had. With the safety of her children and resident Lhasa Apso, being her number one priority, she had to figure out a way to keep everyone safe, while rehabilitating these dogs. That is when she realized it takes much more than hugs and treats to really make these dogs adoptable. She connected with a few trainers for some direction and used her own understanding of canine behavior to put together a protocol that made the difference. All dogs learn differently, but with a lot of patience and perseverance, she was able to get many dogs that would otherwise have been unadoptable, ready to go into amazing homes. 

After seeing so many dogs being surrendered to rescues and shelters, she asked herself why. Why are people surrendering their dogs? Why do people just give up? The common denominator seemed to be behavior issues. People feel defeated. That is not 100% of the reason, but a very significant number of dogs surrendered are because the owner does not know how to control the dog, so a logical solution seemed to be training. Why not empower the owners? Give them tools, give them hope, show them how they can have a well-behaved dog as an active part of the family. Laurie's goal is to keep as many dogs at home with their family as possible, the shelters are very overcrowded, and no dog deserves to be abandoned.