Amy's Biography and WHY

I received her professional degree from Utah State University in Mathematics Education and enjoyed the privilege of serving as a full-time teacher for multiple years. Throughout my experience in various capacities, and in working with kids from many diverse backgrounds, I learned how much I truly love helping others realize their full potential no matter the subject material. Teaching has been an amazing opportunity for me to observe that moment when the light turns on for an individual learner and they begin to better understand how to properly connect concepts for optimal outcomes. 

Now as a professional trainer, working with dogs has always been a dream of mine and I am blessed to be able to strategically combine this lifelong passion with my background in both education and curriculum development in order to effectively teach and efficiently train inside the dog world. I have an enthusiasm for working with others, a sincere commitment to excellence and I know first hand the key to successfully impacting the statistics on the number of pets that ultimately remain in loving homes where they belong hinges upon the community of many professionals who work to properly help coach animal owners everywhere how to connect, learn and teach others to live with their animals.

After turning my interest into a profession, families started contacting me to train their dogs for them, which set me on an ongoing adventure of seeking education and professional development in the dog training world. As I enjoyed the books, the classes, the mentors and of course, the teaching and the training time with the animals, I absolutely loved the learning and the implementing of it all by helping others. Through it all, I considered how I could have an even bigger influence for good and wanted to be able to send home resources and materials with every trained dog I worked with in order for the family to continue the training that had been taught and understand more completely the education their puppy received while in my care. I subsequently created the BAXTER & Bella company with hopes of sharing my training knowledge with as many new puppy parents as possible. Today, with a business that is growing and a commitment to continue forward, I am dedicated to providing the most current, up-to-date and impactful resources, tips, tricks, tools and techniques that are as much about teaching family pets how to appropriately act, as they are about coaching pet parents how to effectively train. In fact, here at BAXTER & Bella it's part of our DNA and will always be be who we are... successfully building positive and respective relationships with our animals as we continue to work toward becoming best friends through love and learning!

I have years of experience in the animal training world. In addition to currently training puppies for everyday family life, educating individuals through the use of my online puppy school and working one-on-one with clients in their homes, I have completed a semester of study in Animal Science at Utah State University, spent nine months training puppies at Puppy Steps Training in Northern Utah, apprentice trained for 18 months at Good Dog! Autism Companions and am now a professional service dog trainer for their organization. I have learned so many things through these experiences and love sharing my knowledge with others in ways that will help those around me better puppy parent. I am also an AKC CGC Evaluator, professional member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT) and the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC), committed to using science-based, positive and force-free training methods. I train without the use of force, pain, fear, or intimidation.

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In addition to the things listed above, I strongly believe in life-long learning and am currently enrolled in a Masters training program to enhance methods, improve materials and build better relationships throughout the future!

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Along with being a math educator and puppy trainer, I am very blessed with the title of wife and mother. I am an enthusiastic stay-at-home mom who chooses to spend a portion of my time volunteering in classrooms for my three children, working with puppies, as well as creating educational materials for the everyday puppy owner. My dream is simple - I hope through teaching you how to pick a puppy, in addition to training the basic household manners, instilling the necessary obedience commands and introducing proper socialization skills I will be able to positively impact the number of dogs who will remain living in homes with their families where they belong.