The wedding engagement is the first of many milestones a new couple has to look forward to. Whether it’s buying a new house, adopting that first dog, or planning your golden anniversary party, it helps to have a reliable team of detail-oriented experts you can trust. We invite you to meet a group of professionals who dedicate a portion of their lives to ensuring your life’s journey is a success.
Meet Misti Fry, owner of Springfield Sidekick Dog Training.
With over ten years professionally training dogs at Springfield Sidekick Dog Training, owner Misti Fry has come to a profound conclusion: “It’s not just dog training, that’s the big secret,” she says. “It’s people training.” She adds that a dog’s behavior often can be a mirror of their owner’s behavior.
As a dog trainer, Misti really enjoys working with couples that may have recently gotten their first dog together, or are combining dogs into a new household. “It can be an interesting dynamic,” she says. “If two dogs don’t get along, how do you fix that so the humans can stay together?”
Through private and group training, Misti has a great track record of helping families with their household companions. “That’s what is exciting for me, watching a dog that’s severely anxious, and then be able to function in a household,” she says. “Once those problems are resolved, a family can enjoy their dog.”
Misti has been training dogs since she was a freshman in highschool, and in college started actively training them for obedience and competitions. She understands the importance of what a dog can be in someone’s life. Her first dog, Honey, a cocker spaniel from the Humane Society, came home with her on Valentine’s Day after a breakup. “She was my best friend,” Misti says, “and why I got into dog training.”
With Honey by her side, Misti adopted positive training techniques into their routine. “Back then, we were learning a lot of training by using corrections,” Misti says, adding that Honey didn’t respond to these methods and wasn’t having fun. After getting an additional dog, Scrappy, Misti started learning more positive training methods, and Honey started having fun again. “She loved getting back into training.” Misti uses these positive training methods in her classes at SKDT, and at home with her own furry family members.
In her rare spare time, Misti takes her dogs out of the training facility and into the woods. “They have their own backpacks,” she says of her two dogs Kyle and Betty. “They’re great hikers.”
