Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Blasingame.
Hi Danielle, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
My name is Danielle, I am the owner and trainer of Sunny Days Dog Training, LLC. I started training animals in 2014. I worked for a company called Joel Slaven’s Professional Animals. During my time there I traveled all over the country pulling dogs and cats out of high-kill shelters and then trained and performed alongside them at various theme parks and zoos around the country. I performed at Seaworld, Orlando at the “Pets Ahoy!” And the O Wondrous Night” Show, “Pet Shenanigans” at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, Va. “Campground Critters” at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, and more.
I loved educating the public in a fun and exciting way. I was able to work and train with a wide variety of animals including dogs, cats, pigs, parrots, birds of prey, camels, donkeys, porcupines, and more! It really was a dream job. When covid happened the company closed and all animals found wonderful and loving homes. The next year and a half following I went to a dog training facility where I studied behavior modification, obedience, and my favorite, service dog training. I fell in love with service dogs and knew I wanted it to be my focus. In June of 2022, I opened Sunny Days Dog Training. Eventually, it will have a nonprofit side where I will be able to raise, train and place service dogs with people with disabilities.
Right now, it’s a lot of everything. I am very thankful to be well-rounded in the dog world. I do pet obedience, help owners work through reactivity, anxiety, and aggression, and my favorite, service work. Training service dogs is so rewarding. Dogs can do so much more than people think, and they really love having a job and purpose! I am currently working with about 14 different service dogs in training for such a wide variety of disabilities!
Narcolepsy, POTS, celiac disease, PTSD, she’ll fish allergy and so much more! I absolutely love my job, I love helping people understand their dog. I love helping dogs understand people! I work with a few local rescues in Orlando as well as some vet offices. I’m excited to keep growing and helping more dogs!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I am very thankful to say it has been relatively easy! Learning how to own and run a business was a learning curve, I did a ton of research on how to open an LLC, make a website, do taxes, and more.
But I have a really good support system that’s helped me out along the way. The business itself has been booming! I can’t wait to continue to grow and expand. I have big plans for the company!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
There are many dog trainers in Orlando. There are a million ways to train a dog, I think what sets me apart from the rest is that I’m super relationship based and focus on the dog’s mental state and feelings. If your dog is barking at another dog I don’t address the barking.
I address the “why” why are they feeling the way they feel and how can we get them to feel better. I spend so much time training the owners. Training dogs is so easy, training people is hard. I try to be as hands-off as possible to teach the owners how to train the dog!
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
In this industry, I feel like honesty and clarity are so important. Clients put so much faith in dog trainers and it’s our job to make them feel guided and heard. 99% of people don’t understand their own dog’s past surface-level behavior.
I think a lot of the time small behaviors get swept under the rug but they’re so important. I’m so so open with my clients about everything their dog is thinking and feeling as well as what I’m thinking and feeling about the training Session.
Contact Info:
- Website: Sunnydaysdog.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/sunnydays_dogtraining?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sunnydaysdogtrainingllc?mibextid=LQQJ4d
