Welcome to Canine Culture!

My name is Renee Jetter, and I’m a professional dog trainer and co-owner of in Urbandale. We’re the only facility in the Des Moines metro offering dog training, daycare, boarding and events. Everything we do is designed to help people experience the fun and joy that having a dog can bring!

Not surprisingly, my passion for dogs began as a little girl walking and training neighborhood dogs. By the age of nine I was volunteering at the local shelter and loved it so much that I continued until I turned 18. (My parents tease that when most teenage girls were drooling over boys, I was obsessed with dogs!)

After graduating from Animal Behavior College (ABC) in 2006, I joined Canine Craze as a daycare manager and class instructor. This experience helped me develop the full-fledged daycare training program we have today, where dogs can socialize and play – AND learn valuable skills such as recalls, sits, downs, stays and more! Teaching these basic manners in puppyhood lays a positive behavior foundation that lasts a lifetime.

Besides the hundreds of dogs I see on a weekly basis, we have five canines of our own! Our family includes three German shepherds, a border collie and an Australian Kelpie – all obedience trained and skilled in various performance sports.

In the past few years I’ve also gotten personally involved as a puppy-raiser, trainer and evaluator with Paws & Effect – a non-profit service dog organization. Playing a key role in the development and placement of service dogs has been one of the most gratifying experiences of my professional career!

I’m proud to report my first service puppy – a yellow lab named Velo – has been successfully placed with an MS patient suffering mobility impairments. I also had the privilege of handling service dogs in Paws & Effect’s award-winning Public Service Announcement campaign “We Serve with Honor.” And I recently spent two weeks with Paws & Effect teaching a group of military veterans at Camp Dodge about the service dogs being placed with them.

Seeing the impact a dog can make in an individual’s life – whether service dog or family pet – inspires me every day. That is why I am so excited about this blog! Does your “baby” enjoy jumping on guests? Digging trenches in your yard? Or running the OTHER way when you call?! (Sorry – there’s not an app for that … but we can help!)

Oftentimes solutions to puzzling puppy problems like these lies in understanding how canines think, learn and communicate. So please post your dog questions – I look forward to answering them and helping you create a happy, harmonious “Canine Culture” in your home!

www.CanineCraze.com