Our Trainer

Ash Rose, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA

They/she

I decided to become a trainer after I brought home my dog Clark in 2009 who turned out to have a high propensity for aggression. She is my inspiration; she set me on a mission to help dogs like her. My intense experiences with Clark made this life path a deeply personal investment for me.

Qualifications, Education, and Experience

Dog Rescue and Foster, Various Organizations, Detroit 2011-2014, 2017-present

Founder of Puppin' Around - Detroit Dog Walkers and Trainers Collective, Detroit 2012-2020

Dog Training Apprenticeship, On the Wings of Angels Rescue, Odessa FL 2014

Dog Trainer, On the Wings of Angels Rescue, Odessa FL 2014-2017

Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA), Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, 2017

Animal Behavior College Dog Trainer (ABCDT), Animal Behavior College, 2017

Dog Trainer, Fido Personal Dog Training, Ferndale MI 2018-2020

Dog Trainer, My Sidekick Dog Training, Detroit MI 2017-present

Certificate of Completion - Aggression in Dogs Master Course, Michael Shikashio, 2020

Certified Behavior Consultant Canine - Knowledge Assessed (CBCC-KA), Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, 2023

President, Humane Training Alliance, 2024

My background with aversive training methods provides me with a certainty that reward-based training is absolutely the most effective approach. I constantly pursue continuing education so you can feel confident that your individualized training program uses the latest scientifically proven methods.

Dogs are my life, but I also enjoy nature, music, working on my home in Detroit, protesting for social justice, building queer community, and spending time with my partners, friends and family. I am proudly neurodivergent, and the continuous effort I make to manage my depression, anxiety, and ADHD helps me also work to be better able to accommodate the needs of my neurodivergent clients. I foster dogs and I volunteer with several shelters and rescues, as well as animal welfare programs for the community and spay & neuter programs. I have a passion for education and offer free apprenticeship programs for BIPOC aspiring dog trainers, just asking that in exchange they volunteer at the shelter. I have two personal dogs; Parker, an 9 year old American Pit Bull Terrier, and Lily, a 4 year old Pit Bull mix.

Ash’s Dogs

Clark

Clark was found in Clark Park in Philadelphia in the fall of 2009. A park resident said she’s been tied up to the fence for three days, so I took this happy young dog back to Detroit with the intention of finding someone to adopt her. It quickly became apparent that she had some serious behavior problems - resource guarding, dog aggression, handling sensitivity, and anxiety. Not being able to find someone who could take on a dog with these issues, I kept her. Clark unfortunately went through a lot of trainers and training methods - scolding, punishment, extreme exercise, dominance rolls, choke collar, prong collar, and electric collar. It took me a long time to be steered towards reward-based training. Popular culture at the time led me to believe that aggression needed to be met with intimidation and a heavy hand. I wish that I had started out right. I know now how easy is to set dogs up for success and dole out food rewards. But I was doing the best I could for her with what I was presented at the time. She was the love of my life and my best friend. Incredibly intelligent, emotional, loyal, and adventurous. People who met her in her later years didn’t believe that she’d been really aggressive. She knew high level obedience, heelwork and tricks, and loved to show it off. She was one of the most well behaved dogs I knew, and was able to go on all kinds of adventures with me. If it weren’t for Clark, I wouldn’t be a dog trainer. Clark died in March of 2022 of hemangiosarcoma. She is deeply missed.

Parker

Parker came in as a stray to the county shelter where I volunteered in Florida. He was quickly put on the euthanasia list for behavior. I pulled him along with many other dogs who I fostered, trained and adopted out. Parker got incredibly few adoption inquiries, and they were never a good fit for such a strong, high energy, high drive dog. I still hadn’t found him a home by the time I was moving back to Detroit, so I brought him along to continue searching for his perfect forever home. After two years, I realized I was in love and couldn’t bear to part with him. He makes me laugh every day and fills my heart with joy and love. He’s 80 lbs of pure muscle and happiness. He’s got an amazing overbite. Parker helped me a lot on my journey crossing over from old school compulsion training. I started him on a choke collar, but he helped me learn how much more fun, kind, and effective it is to do reward-based training. He loves practicing obedience and tricks, but mostly he just plays with his toys, climbs all over me and woowooowoooooos at me. He’s perfect and I love him.

Lily

Lily came into a shelter as an owner surrender. The very next day, Lily gave birth to a litter of puppies. Lily was very aggressive and was going to be euthanized so I stepped up to foster her and the pups. It took a significant amount of training to deal with her reactivity. When someone was finally able to be in close proximity to her, Lily started showing appeasement behavior. Appeasement can be a very dangerous behavior, because the dog can “quickly flip” from appearing friendly and affectionate to showing aggression. After fostering her for a year and assessing the risk of adopting her out, I decided to keep her. Thanks to Lil, I now have a huge passion for spreading awareness about appeasement behavior. Lily and her litter also gave me valuable first hand experience with the heritability of fear and aggression. Despite socialization efforts, the majority of the puppies she produced ended up having pretty severe genetic behavior issues. I’m so glad that I decided to adopt Lily. She’s so adorable and loves to carry around and show off her stuffed animals. She provides me with a tremendous amount of emotional support in a way that no other dog ever has.