I am excited to have you and your dog join the Clever Dog Family!
The Clever Dog Family
Jennifer Masters, MA, MS, RVT, KPA CTP
Saying I love dogs is an understatement! They are my life and my love. My second love is to help other people build amazing relationships with their dogs. I have set up my life to build the knowledge, skills, and abilities to hep both sides of the leash learn to be clever together! I love it when people learn to see the cleverness in their dogs that I already see in them!! I look forward to meeting you and your dogs! I cannot wait until I can guide you both on your training journey to becoming clever together. I hope you enjoy meeting the rest of The Clever Dog Family! They are the love and joy of my life and have taught me more than all of my human teachers combined, which is a lot since my human teachers have taught me so much, also!!
Darby
The Queen Bee! She is a nice balance of joyfulness and grumpiness in one small package! She is a Brussels Griffon. She loves to go exploring and posing for photographs! Most of the photos you see her in are spots she picked out herself! She could be a professional model! She is my son’s first dog. It was so neat to see their relationship develop. She helped him learn to sleep peacefully at night. She taught me the joys of little dogs! She is so fun to train with. She might be small, but she is a go dog that loves to engage with me during training. I think her goal in life is to outlive all the other dogs, even though she is the oldest one now at 8 years of age!
Rainy
Rainy is a delight! I often say to him, “What A Dog” as there are simply no other words for how cool he is! He is a 7 year old Labrador Retriever. We have fun exploring the lakes in Kansas! He has some anxieties, which include hiking through trees, so because of this he taught me the importance of play to help dogs overcome fears and anxieties. He will hike through the trees some now, but he has taught me flexibility in what a hike is and I have learned to embrace the wonderful joy of lakeshore hikes with him and the other dogs! He especially loves a good lakeshore hike on a windy day retrieving into the largest waves!! He was my training partner for the KPA professional dog trainer program. I must say he pulled out all the stops and made me look good! His only job now is to to keep enjoying his life swimming and retrieving on our plentiful lakeshore hikes!!
Miles
Miles is a German Wirehaired Pointer and his registered name is Miles to Go to honor my love of hiking and to acknowledge the fact that I still have miles to go in my quest to learn to communicate with dogs in the best way possible. He is so joyful that I often call him Miles of Smiles!! He loves his job of picking all the dog food bowls up when they are all done eating! He also has the coolest roo when he talks to me. He has taught me a lot about how to train with a dog that is environmentally focused when on our walkabouts (I still have a lot more to learn ;) ) He also LOVES to swim!!
Luna
My Luna Love! She, like Darby, are my son’s dogs. A Great Dane was never on my radar, but I am so thankful that my son wanted her. She has taught me to be open to great things even when they are not planned. I didn’t do a lot with her at first because I wanted her to connect with my son. Her and I slowly built our own relationship to the point it is today. She is my 185 pound Lovebug that loves to go on walks and car rides. Her and I worked to overcome her fear of water through play and she will now wade along the shore line when on our walks. She still isn’t fond of baths and forget the rain as she is convinced it will cause her to melt! ;) Don’t tell Darby, but Luna is the true Queen Bee! The other dogs do what she tells them with just a glance. She will turn 5 in December and is having some health challenges now. Even though life with a Dane might be short on time, it is never short on love!! I am grateful for everyday I get to spend with her!
Darwin
Darwin is a cheeky 10 pound Jack Russell/Chihuahua mix that believes he should be King of the world! His royal name is Darwinian Alabaster the 3rd. He struggles with fear aggression. I wish everyone would get to see the delightful little dude he truly is, but he would be fine if it was just him, Luna, and I. He is completely in love with Luna, they are so cute together and are the epitome of the odd couple. He has taught me the challenge of training with a little dog with an often poor appetite, although he could have a sign that reads, “will always work for smoked chicken”!
Dove
My Lovie Dovie! She is a sweet, joyful, fun dog that loves to retrieve and play find it! She has some anxiety also, but because of what Rainy taught me, I have consistently used play to help her overcome it. She has taught me the value of scent work to help with anxieties, also. Using her nose helps soothe her worries and puts a sparkle in her eyes. She was the original beta tester for my puppy curriculum that I started during my designing curriculum class for my Master’s degree in Adult Learning. I owe my A in that class to her wonderful and willing help!!
Shine
Shine has brought such a bright shining light to our house! It is like he has always been here! He is spunky and a go dog that is a joy! I love the song from the Croods’ movie called, “Shine Your Way”. I know he will shine in his own way and because of that I look forward to the lessons he has to teach me!! He is also one of the beta testers for my puppy curriculum.
Finley and Gina
Finley is a delightful red Golden Retriever puppy that I gave to my mom as a gift. She has always supported me and been the one to tell me I could do this dog training thing that so many other people doubted. I am honored and lucky to have them as beta testers for my puppy curriculum, also! It has been so wonderful watching their relationship bloom! I am excited to continue seeing how they grow together!!
Happy Annie Rose
Annie joined our family when she was almost 9 years of age. She passed away at 13.5 years of age not long before I launched The Clever Dog School. She was a sweet dog that taught me about accepting dogs for who they are. It is not always easy to bring an elderly dog into a home, but I would say the rewards for both people and dogs outweighs any of the challenges of building a relationship later in life. She will be forever honored and memorialized in The Clever Dog School logo. Rest in peace, my sweet happy baby girl.