About Us

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We accomplish real and lasting results and behavior change through customized training plans that build skills and deepen the relationship between humans and the dogs they share their lives with.  

With a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Field Biology and over 15 years working in the canine industry, Shelby has both the academic knowledge and physical know-how to adeptly asses and address a variety of behavioral challenges in pet and working/performance dogs. Shelby's approach is creative and highly customized to each individual dog and handler with a focus on improving canine mental and behavioral health and enhancing understanding of the other for both the dog and human.  Shelby is fascinated by perceptions and the experiences of animals and loves to alway sbe learning and considering these topics.  She will happily "geek-out" and loves to explain not just the "how" but the "why" for her training decisions.  She is particularly gifted with using analogies to make complex concepts relatable for her human learners.  At the same time, Shelby has a ton of hands-on skill and is an extremely well versed as a handler and trainer, and is comfortable and experienced with dogs of all ages, sizes, types, and backgrounds.  

Fun fact: before becoming a dog trainer, Shelby worked with a variety of other animals including horses and primates!  Shelby has years of experience in doggy daycare play groups, boarding/husbandry, caring for shelter dogs, creating and teaching group training classes, and even spent 3 winters working as a musher with a team of Siberian Huskies in the mountains of Vermont.  She founded Smiles and Wags was in 2018, and has been helping people solve complex behavioral challenges with their canine companions ever since.  

Leash walking skills and leash reactivity (barking or lunging at other dogs or people while leashed)

Off-leash reliability and recall (coming when called)

Resource guarding (aggression involving posesion or proximity to food, bones, toys, etc)

Preparing dogs for the arrival of a new baby or child

Dog-to-dog aggression/conflict

We use clickers or reward markers, food/treats, toys, and ourselves to reward desired behaviors.  We use carefully planned management plans to prevent the occurrence of problem behaviors while we work together to build skills in both dog and handler. Rather than punishing or suppressing undesirable behaviors, we focus on teaching the dog what TO do to be successful in each situation.