Ember Eye Canine

Day train is going well today. Love seeing all this focus!

“It’s just a rescue.”

I’ve heard that phrase from hundreds of clients. Sometimes it’s used to explain behavior. Sometimes it’s used to lower expectations. Sometimes it sounds almost like an apology.

Here’s the thing: I don’t care that your dog is a rescue.

If you got your dog at ten weeks old, they’re now eight years old, and they have some bad habits, the rescue probably didn’t cause all of them. You let some of that happen. That’s okay. I’m a dog trainer and my own dogs have habits I don’t bother fixing. You don’t need to feel guilty, but you also don’t need to keep using “rescue” as the explanation.

The other side of this is even more important.

I have an Australian Cattle Dog, Border Collie, German Shepherd, Husky mix with more letters behind his name than Stephen Hawking, most of them earned through PhD-level nonsense. He has competed, passed working evaluations, earned titles, and proven himself over and over again. He is one of the most intense, talented, ridiculously fun dogs I’ve ever worked with. If I’m being honest, he is more intense than my Malinois.

He was also the dog who made me become a dog trainer.

I had no idea what I was doing. I showed up with a thousand wrong ideas and announced that my “German Shepherd” was going to do bite work. People looked at him and basically said, “That is not a German Shepherd, and he probably can’t do it.”

I was told he was horrible. I was told he was trash. I was told to put him down.

You have a thousand people in this world telling you that you can’t do things. Stop helping them. Your dog can, and you can, and you should.

The road was not easy. He was not magically suited for everything I wanted to do. We struggled, learned, failed, adjusted, and kept going.

And we did it.

Rescue dogs are doing search and rescue, detection work, obedience, dog sports, service work, and everything else people assume requires a perfectly bred puppy with an impressive pedigree.

Your dog may have limitations. Every dog does. But being a rescue is not automatically one of them.

Stop apologizing for your rescue. Start showing off your rescue.

🚨 Looking for 8 Dogs 🚨

A while back, I ran a day training program.

The dogs did great.

The humans... not so much. And honestly, that's on me.

The biggest lesson I learned is that training doesn't magically transfer from trainer to owner. Your dog can learn to sit, down, heel, place, recall, and leave it for me all day long, but if you never understand how practice, it won't matter when the leash is in your hands.

So we're bringing Day Training back, but with a much bigger focus on owner education and follow-through.

🐾 6 Week Program
🐾 Fridays Only
🐾 Drop-Off: 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
🐾 Pick-Up: 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
🐾 $360 Total

This is not daycare.

Over six weeks, we'll work on:

✅ Recall
✅ Leave It
✅ Sit
✅ Down
✅ Place Bed
✅ Heel
✅ Working Around Distractions
✅ Real-World Manners

Every time you pick up your dog, you'll get a short lesson on exactly what we worked on that day.

Every week, you'll receive a video of your dog performing the skills, along with instructions on how to get the same results at home.

No guessing.

No wondering what happened during training.

No "my dog only listens to the trainer."

Just clear communication, simple homework, and steady progress.

This program is designed for dogs that need a solid foundation, whether they're young, wild, distracted, or just a little rough around the edges.

Maybe your dog drags you down the sidewalk.

Maybe they ignore you when something interesting appears.

Maybe they think every distraction is more important than you.

Let's fix that.

I'm looking for 8 dogs for the next group.

One day a week.

Six weeks.

You bring the dog to our Springfield training barn, we'll put in the work, and then show you how to get the same results at home.

A better dog, and the skills to keep it that way.

⚠️ Fair warning: your dog won't be the only one getting homework at pickup time.

Send me a message if you'd like one of the eight spots.

Okay, enough of you have asked, so here it is:
Felicia’s online store is live with Ember Eye Canine merch, plus her own dog-related designs for the dog people who know exactly how weird they are and have decided to accessorize accordingly 😂

Check it out, grab something fun, and fuel the chaos.

Three Dog Circus Welcome to Three Dog Circus

Adventure Hikes have become one of our favorite services to offer... and apparently one of your favorites too! A rare spot has opened up for Mondays or Wednesdays; pick one or both!
If your dog could use more structured exercise, better social experiences, and a day full of adventure, send us a message before it's gone.

We pick up, we drop off, and your dog gets to spend the day being a dog with carefully matched hiking buddies and a focus on safe socialization and exercise.

Know someone whose dog would love this? Tag them below!

Some days, dogs are exhausting. Some days, they are a complete pain in my butt. Some days, I genuinely question my own sanity and wonder why I built a life around creatures who seem personally committed to testing every ounce of patience I have.

And then there are days like today.

Today, Cricket — Mr. “I Hate Every New Dog I’ve Ever Met” — helped me train a reactive dog. He wasn’t perfect because perfect is not really his brand, but he showed up, did the work, and helped another dog figure things out. Yesterday, Ohana did the same.

That part gets me sometimes. Because it is hard to work your own dogs through their stuff. It is hard to be patient when you are the one living with the chaos, the setbacks, the management, the feelings, and all the little pieces that nobody else sees. It is hard to love a dog through the parts that are inconvenient, frustrating, messy, or just plain exhausting.

But then Cricket looks at me like I am the best thing that has ever happened to him. I can leave the room for thirty seconds and come back, and he acts like, “Oh my God, Dad, you’re here. This is incredible. I have waited my whole life for this moment.” And somehow that ridiculous little face makes a lot of the hard stuff feel smaller.

And Ohana, for all her own nonsense, curls up with me at night like she has never wanted anything more than to be close. These dogs try so damn hard. They do not always know how to be easy. They do not always know how to be calm, appropriate, social, or convenient. But most dogs really do want to get it right. They want to make us happy. They want to be good. There are very few dogs I have met who truly do not care at all.

That is the thing about dogs. They bring mess, noise, frustration, trouble, heartache, and plenty of “what the hell are you doing?” moments. But then they give you these little moments of brilliance. A dog who used to struggle helps another dog through it. A dog who makes your life harder also reminds you exactly why you keep showing up.

And somehow, those moments outweigh all the BS.