Our Story

Amy is the founder and co-owner of How 2 speak Dog. At a very young age, Amy fell in love with animals, having parents who allowed her anything she wanted including, bunnies, dogs, cats, rats, gerbils, birds, horses and cows. In grade school, she joined an equine drill team club and started volunteering at a small animal veterinary hospital. By high school, she had shown and trained dogs for confirmation and field trials and worked as a bather in a dog grooming shop. When her friends were at the mall, she was in the field with the dogs, rain or shine.

Amy has been working and volunteering in various animal welfare and training fields since 1980, including rescue groups; as a vet tech, bather and groomer; in stables and racetracks as a hotwalker, groom, exercise and pony rider; as a pet sitter for animals with medical and behavioral special needs; as an equine pharmaceutical and OTC sales rep serving veterinarians and retail stores; as a dog trainer (private, board and train, group classes, remote consults), doggy daycare owner, in-home foster and dog behavior consultant. She also worked for a brief time as a Print Shop Operator, Graphic Designer, Web Developer and Graphic Design/Commercial Art High School Teacher.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Equine Business Administration from the University of Louisville, in Kentucky. Amy is a Mom of two amazing kids who are adults now, but both share her passion for animal welfare. The three of them were a great team with the doggy daycare and fostering while they were growing up. In 2000, they moved to Florida to be closer to family.

Amy has titled dogs in obedience, field trials and confirmation. She became fascinated with dog behavior in 2001 when her Parson Russell Terrier, Cricket was not responding to traditional training methods. When she discovered science-based and R+ training, Cricket became a new dog and Amy never looked back. She had always hated the force methods she was previously taught. In fact was physically unable to do most of them with her Labrador Retrievers due to their large size and her small one. So even then she was doing some R+ without even knowing it.

Despite Cricket being already 5 years old when Amy started applying the concepts, Cricket responded so beautifully (ie her 5 year old son was able to teach Cricket tricks using R+ methods) that Amy realized people needed to know these new ways. Cricket transformed from a grouchy, reactive, runaway to a happy reliable responsive off-leash girl who lived until the age of 17. Because of this transformation and many more transformations with the dogs she was fostering and training, Amy vowed to learn all she could about dog behavior. She has and still does this by continuing her education through, books, seminars, podcasts, industry groups, client dogs and rescue dogs at a local rescue where she volunteers. She has modified the behavior of hundreds of foster dogs that were previously deemed un-adoptable due to behavior.

Amy is passionate about showing people how to communicate with their dogs so that the number of dogs being rehomed for behavior concerns is eventually zero. She has spent considerable time learning the best methods to teach people how to communicate with their dogs and recognize what their dogs are trying to tell them through their behavior. Every family and household, is unique, and a “well-trained dog” can look different for each one. Amy’s approach to behavior modification focuses on what is right for each household. This helps to create expectations and behavior modification plans that work well for the family and the dog(s).

How 2 Speak Dog was born of that passion.

Eryn is the daughter of Amy and is Co-owner of How 2 Speak Dog. Eryn has been crazy about animals pretty much since she was born. (not that she had much choice, but it all turned out wonderfully). At the age of 2 she started with hamsters, in addition to the family dogs. Throughout her short life, she has cared for, learned about, and trained dogs, cats, hamsters, rats, snakes, small parrots and a possum. In middle school, she based her science fair projects on dog behavior, conducting experiments in toy and paw preference and winning awards for her work. She helped her Mom with their doggy daycare and foster dogs when not in school. The day care was completely cage-free and serviced an average of 30 dogs a day, with many of them coming home with the family at night for cage-free, in-home boarding. In high school, she attended a vet tech program in addition to her regular schoolwork. After closing the dog daycare, her family continued to foster behavior modification dogs for local rescues. At one point having 22 dogs that the neighbors nor potential adopters could believe were there because there was no barking!

At the age of 19 Eryn moved from Florida to Texas and worked as a taxi-driver for a doggy daycare. She picked up and took home between 10 and 40 dogs per day, most often when the pet parents weren’t home, so she had access to the homes and keys of several clients who trusted her to pick up their beloved pets and bring them to doggy daycare and back home every day safely. In 2021 at the age of 24, she moved to Virginia Beach, VA and tried several jobs but eventually returned to doggy daycare and behavior consulting.

Her Mom says Eryn has more talent than she does and expects she will do great things in this industry. Even though she is still quite young, her passion for animals has allowed her to experience and learn a lot about their care and behavior in a short time. Eryn’s passion is helping reactive dogs live more comfortably and helping them overcome their fears. She also enjoys helping people see what their dogs are trying to tell them, not that their dogs are just misbehaving.