My name is Michaela! I’m 24 years old and I’m absolutely obsessed with all animals, especially dogs (and horses). I have 4 dogs (Panda, Nacho, Mable and Petunia), a horse named Winter and a cat named Jelly Bean. While this blog will be primarily about the dogs, Winter and Jelly Bean will most likely make some appearances as well!
I have always wanted a dog, my whole life. I settled for budgie birds, gerbils, hamsters and mice growing up until one day I found a stray cat that followed me home. She ended up being pregnant, of the kittens we kept 2 of them plus Princess (the stray cat). I wanted a dog so badly I spent my time teaching one of the kittens (Cuddles) how to walk on a leash. I’d bring her for walks around the block, she was my dog for a while!
When I was 12 years old, I started walking dogs for free around my neighborhood, eventually a couple of those turned into dog sitting jobs. When I was 13 I got my first puppy, named Tippy! I trained her myself, mostly focusing on fun tricks that we could do together.
Around the same time I started learning to ride horses, and doing barn chores at a couple different barns. I started leasing the sweetest gelding named Chevy when I was 14. I leased him for almost 2 years, I spent so much time riding him, doing groundwork, practicing tack-less riding and teaching him tricks. Eventually due to Chevy being lame off and on, I moved on and leased a horse who was perfect for my confidence because he was basically perfect. I still got to see Chevy while I did barn chores during the lease, and eventually brought my own horse Winter there for boarding. My new lease horse’s name was Tucker, also taught him some tricks, spent a lot of time jumping with him, and got even more comfortable riding tack-less. I only spent 2 months with him before finally getting a horse of my very own!
I finally got my very own horse when I was 16. Winter was a 3 year old, nearly 17hh tall, standardbred mare. She was retired from racing and lived in a pasture for 3 months, but had no other training. I trained this mare entirely by myself, and within a week I was able to back her for the first time. She’s the sweetest mare in the world, I spent every single day at the barn, we had an amazing bond very quickly. Winter is a naturally spooky mare and we definitely had our hiccups in training, but she’s turned into a wonderful mare who will try her heart out for me. 8 years later I still have my gorgeous mare, she’s turning 11 this month (April 2020) and is my heart horse she’ll live with my for the rest of her life. These days we focus on liberty training and groundwork more than anything, but I still ride her from time to time.
I continued dog sitting and dog walking over the years, and after I graduated high school, began word at a dog kennel. I worked there for a couple years before I decided I wanted to be a dog groomer. I took a course for dog grooming and continued to work at that dog kennel both as a groomer, and as a kennel attendant. I worked there for 5 years before deciding to open our own dog sitting business with Hannah! It’s been open for about a year now (April 2020).
Over the last couple years I have been taking training classes with my dogs and learning way more about dog training and different dog sports. Petunia is my new sports puppy, and I couldn’t be more excited to learn even more with my perfect girl!