Laurie Luck

Laurie loves running, dogs, and micro brews — not necessarily in that order. She has raised puppies for a service dog organization since 2001. When her own dogs (service dog dropouts) became older and made it clear they wanted to retire as puppy raisers, she took a few years off to enjoy our seniors and let them live a whippersnapper-free life. Sadly, they lost all their dogs in a short span and happily, they’re back to raising puppies again. Her focus is to prevent problems before they start — for both her pet dog clients, as well as for those service puppies she gets to raise.

She has a predilection for Labradors and Great Danes — the two breeds she raised for service work — but loves dogs of all sizes.

Before founding Smart Dog University, Laurie completed my BA and MA in psychology (in the hopes of being an FBI agent) and, when that didn’t materialize, she spent 18 years in the Federal government (Department of Commerce, not FBI) working in Leadership and Management Development, as well as administrative positions. She served as President of the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT) and was a certified therapy dog team with her yellow Lab (and KPA partner), Tango.

Laurie didn’t set out to be a dog trainer, but her educational background set her up well for this career path. She values strong communication skills and humor as she works with her clients and their dogs.