Tina Ferner

I started my professional career many years ago as a registered dietitian working at Mercy St. Vincent specializing in nutrition for cancer patients. I went on to become a Massage Therapist, Reiki Master and Yoga Instructor. I developed the Integrative Medicine Program at Mercy Cancer Centers that provided these services for cancer survivors to help ease the suffering caused by this disease.The teaching and holistic experiences were wonderful building blocks that helped pave the way back to the desires of my heart. Since I was a child, I was an animal lover, and always wanted to become an animal trainer. My first and best dog, Clifford, inspired me to pursue this dream and become a Certified Professional Dog Trainer. My other red dogs with issues, Callie and Gracie were also catalysts to continue my education and training of dogs with behavioral problems. Living with 3 reactive dogs became extremely stressful and trying to solve these problems led to sampling most of the training techniques used in the Toledo area (they were not all positive!). I ultimately realized how switching from punishment and force to positive reinforcement changed my relationship with my dogs. Instead of reacting to their response, I started to create a different way of responding: pairing treats with various upsetting stimuli. This helped change their behavior and ultimately our relationship. I organized a local seminar with a national training expert and author, Ali Brown, who inspired me to continue working and training in a positive, force free way with my own reactive dogs. I used the knowledge gained from this seminar to create Canine Karma's own Reactive Dog Protocol. Over 200 teams have gone through this protocol! I have felt pain, sadness, and sometimes overwhelming stress living with reactive dogs and have a deep desire to help relieve the suffering of others dealing with the same issues. My training concentrates on helping pet parents envision a different way of life with their dog. I provide training skills to accomplish this based on science. I also offer something different by using the mind-body connection to create a new way of managing and relating with your canine companionTina teaches a variety of classes at Canine Karma from puppy preschool to Canine Good Citizen to Reactive Dog Classes She is a certified Canine Good Citizen (CGC) evaluator through the American Kennel Club (AKC) which allows her to administer tests for STAR Puppy, CGC and AKC Community Canine. She is also a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT) which requires continuing education and positive, force free training methods from their members.