Today we’d like to introduce you to Camille Pukay ABCCT, ABCDT, RMT.
Camille, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
If I heard that I would have my own dog training business as a certified cat and dog trainer, I would of said ” ONLY IN MY DREAMS!” The journey with Believe (beginning in 2015) as a 11-month old to now (2026) is quite amazing. Believe was surrender labeled as “too rambunctious around toddler” and had been living in the shelter for at least 2 months prior to us coming to the shelter. My daughter wanted to deliver newspapers for the kitties and of course, she asked if we could say “hi” to the dogs. My eyes landed on Believe….time stood still as my heart connected with hers. My critical brain came in….”you are a single mom on a budget adjusting to a full time job, no way, can you afford her”. I asked the universe to make a way and after 3 visits over a month, she continued to show me that she LOVED my 5 year old daughter and could be trusted which was the top criteria prior to adopting a dog. I chose to take a leap of faith. Three days later, her leash was handed over to me. My daughter and Believe always had an awesome connection from the start. From the beginning, Believe and I had a rocky start. She had zero leash skills and was a strong jumper at 60 pounds. I would cry after each walk. Back then in 2015, I did what I knew about…prong collars, but I quickly learned that it made her more aggressive…more jumpy, more mouthy, more pulling so I stopped. It frustrated me cause I had helped hundreds of dogs s an animal communicator prior to adopting her, why was I having such a HARD time? People kept telling me that she’s worth it…you will work it out. After a year of trying, I reached out to a dog trainer who in turned changed my life. She introduced me to positive reinforcement training. I learned the importance of having a person walking me through the steps so I didn’t feel so alone or judged. It wasn’t till a year later….I could BELIEVE that we were a family of three: ME, MY DAUGHTER, and BELIEVE. May 2023 is when I took another leap in faith to start my own business, Divine Paws Training KC providing private training sessions at people’s homes. In the meantime, I have expanded my family to two house bunnies, and added two more dogs. Sadly, Believe died one week shy of her 11th birthday but everything I do related to R+ dog training is Believe as my mentor.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being an introvert, putting myself out there has been challenging.
While I work well with hands-on-learning, computer skills has been an on-going learning process! Learning to use social media, most of my work is word-of-mouth and referrals.
I have had one client from out-of-state so we did zoom meetings! It worked out so well, that I would like to expand that opportunity.
Biggest obstacle was learning the business side of running a business. Little by little I learn and I’m still learning. In reality, I would love to go straight to just working on one to one and not worry about it. I appreciate every single person/family that works with me to reach their goals with their pup(s).
Goals met are potty training, leash skills, jumping to all four paws on the ground, mouthy, chewing, barking, door manners, socializing and more!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I help frustrated pet parents create a fun, full-filling relationships with their pup(s) to help create happy households. My focus to create a customed training plan that includes obedience cues, leash skills, enrichments, and/or management all using positive reinforcement to encourage the dog’s natural tendencies to work with you. What sets me apart is I use my gift as an animal communicator and animal reiki skills to relay what your dog is thinking and wanting as we work on training. My passion is to teach people to bond with their animals on a deeper level. I want people to learn and ask questions.
Another thing that sets me apart is I have 15 years of experience of working with people with developmentally disabilities in private, school, and community so I am used to doing things outside of the box to help foster learning skills and understand the importance of tolerance and compassion. Being deaf myself has been both challenging and welcoming in relating to dogs and people to reach their goals and we often do 99.9% of the time.
Whether it’s introducing people to work from aversive techniques to positive reinforcements with their brand new puppy, adolescents, or senior dogs, I start wherever they are and build the foundation.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Not only do I work at your home, we can go to parks or communities to work on leash skills.
I teach you how to read your dog’s body language so you become more confident.
I provide free phone consultations to make sure we are a good fit prior to commitment in training.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.divinepawstrainingkc.com
- Instagram: #trainingwithcamille
- Facebook: divinepawstrainingkc
