My dad used to always say to my sister and me after failing to keep our room clean “Did you grow up in a barn?” and we would always, “Yes!”

From the age of 6 years old, my sister and I would go to the barn every day and ride our ponies. We would stay there all day and of course we would get bored. We filled our spare time by teaching the dogs and the horses to do tricks that we thought were great. We taught the horses to shake hands and we taught the dogs to ride the horses. Others did not seem to appreciate it much when we taught our ponies to open their stalls and come to us, I guess they started letting themselves and their friends out at night (oops).

I was always around animals and when I graduated from college, I got a job riding horses professionally and bought my first dog, Millie. Millie was my baby and she went everywhere with me. She went to work every day and played with everyone including the barn dogs. I even took her to group dog training classes and she was very well trained. Despite everything that I did she began attacking other dogs. She got to be so bad that I could not take her anyplace except the barn where there were dogs that she had known her whole life. About a year later, I was trampled by a horse and was unable to work. The only other passion that I had was dogs. I met Auburn Leech, he ran a dog training center and rehabilitated aggressive dogs that were about to be put to sleep. I immediately started thinking how great it would be to train dogs.

I started my dog training career at the American K-9 Academy, where I took a six-week course on dog training. I had hands on experience with obedience, agility, personal protection and aggression rehabilitation. I was taught to train dogs using compulsion which is when a negative response is given immediately during or after an unwanted behavior. That type of training is mostly associated with choke chains and force. After graduating from the Academy, I went on to be one of their head trainers. I left there with a tremendous amount of knowledge about aggression and rehabilitating dogs with behavior problems. I just felt as though there was another way to train the dogs, particularly in obedience, that might be less stressful on the dog. I left there after a year and went to another school that never believed in correcting a dog. They used a clicker and lots of treats. I saw so many dogs there that were very well trained and so happy to be working for their owners. The problem there was that since they never believed in correcting a dog some dogs were a bit unruly. After leaving that school a year later, I went into business for myself and started The Exceptional Pet, LLC. I use positive reinforcement to train dogs, meaning, I use food to get the dog to do what I want and then I praise them with a reward. The great thing about my background is that I could think of many different ways to teach a behavior.

In 2004, I teamed up with WAGS Doggie Daycamp and Boarding in Danbury, which is where I do group lessons. Just recently, I have even taken and passed another certification based on training dogs with the latest scientific knowledge. The Certification Council for Pet Dog Trainers has set up this exam that tests dog trainers on Learning/Theory, Instruction Skills, Husbandry, Ethology, and Equipment. With this certification, I am allowed to use CPDT after my name. There are less then a handful of us in Fairfield County. It is quite an honor.

I am also a member of The Association of Pet Dog Trainers which is an organization of dog trainers who are committed to constantly becoming better at training through education.

Besides training other people's dogs, I have also competed with my two dogs. I was one of the first people ever to compete and win the highest title possible at the very first Rally competition. Rally was invented by the Association for Pet Dog Trainers in 2001, which is where I earned a Magnum Cum Laude 1 Title with my dog Mo. As of the beginning of 2005, Rally is an AKC event which has become very popular. I have gotten all of the AKC Rally titles and now I have some clients that are trying to get some titles with there dogs. It's a lot of fun. Just recently, I went to the largest dog show in New England with my two dogs. We won half of all of the classes that we entered.

I look at dog training and my life as something that I will never completely understand. I look forward to learning new ways of dealing with different problems and finding the best possible solution for the situation.

Titles Earned
APDT- MCL Rally 1
AKC - Rally Novice (RN), Rally Advanced (RA), Rally Excellent (RE),
          Companion Dog (CD), Companion Dog Excellence (CDX)

Both of my dogs have passed the Canine Good Citizen Test and are both Therapy Dogs.
I am also an American Kennel Club Certified Canine Good Citizen Evaluator.

Abby Hill, CPDT