About Mana Dogs, LLC
Mana was our Samoyed/White German Shepherd mix that greeted me the moment I arrived home from the hospital as a newborn. At the time we didn’t have a whole lot of interaction, in fact, my mom said he was only allowed to smell one of my toes as a means of introduction.
However, as the years went by, Mana and I (along with our other dog Jackie) became inseparable. He was the perfect dog by any definition, loyal, intelligent, kind, loving, and gentle.
Dogs have literally been a part of my life from the very beginning. I owe a great deal to them as they teach us so much about how to live our lives. They live in the moment, not regretful of the past or fearful of the future. They teach us unconditional love, loyalty, balance, and joy.
Mana, in Polynesian culture, means “power.” A person may gain mana by pono (right actions). To have mana implies influence, authority, and efficacy–the ability to perform in any given situation. I created Mana Dogs because of the dual meaning to me. My mission is to empower people to create balance in their own lives and in the lives of their dogs.
After some soul searching, it was apparent that dogs were what I was most passionate about. Every family deserves their own Mana, so I decided to see how I could help the animal that helped me for all of these years. I started to volunteer at a local animal shelter, walking and training dogs on a weekly basis. One of the inexcapable realities of working in any sort of animal shelter is that you come face to face with many animals that were mistreated or neglected. But I knew that feeling sorry for them wouldn’t be of any help. My ultimate reason for being there was to fix whatever bad experience they had undergone so that they would be adopted into a loving home.
So I began my journey into understanding dog psychology in order to help them to the best of my ability. I read books, watched videos, browsed the internet, looking for anything to help hone my skills. It was a great start, but like learning anything new, it’s only through practice and repetition that you can truly excel. Fortunately, I had at my disposal all the practice I could handle with a seemingly endless amount of dogs coming through the shelter. Dogs of all shapes, sizes, energy levels, you name it.
It was through this interaction with hundreds of dogs that I began to form a technique that worked for me and worked for those I instructed. By this time I knew I had gone about as far as I could go on my own, I needed to learn from the best. So when the opportunity arose, I traveled to the Dog Psychology Center in California to be trained by Cesar Millan aka “The Dog Whisperer.” This transformational experience is now the core upon which my business is built. I had always understood the principals but going through the daily exercises under Cesar’s direct guidance provided many new tools and nuances. It pushed my boundaries, exposed my weaknesses, and ultimately made me a better trainer. It also opened a huge network of other dog trainers that I keep in constant contact with to pitch ideas, offer guidance, and share knowledge.
