If you see a woman with her foot tied to a bush, making duck calls and squeezing a rubber chicken over her head, don't be alarmed. It's just Rachel Moore doing what she does best — getting dogs' attention.
Owner of Touched By a Dog Training and Photography, Moore has many tricks up her sleeve for getting just the right picture for her clients.
"Different breeds respond to certain movements, like something being thrown or a bush rustling — so I tie my foot to it to make that movement — and noises, so I come up with all sorts of tricks that get the dog's attention — entertaining for any onlookers, I'm sure," laughs Moore.
As a second-generation dog trainer, with 20 years of her own experience training dogs and 10 years as a dog photographer, Moore truly hasn't ever really known a life without them.
"Only two of my 42 years have I been without a dog, when I was in college," said Moore.
"I studied interior design and worked in it for a while, but I always knew that someday I was going to have my own dog and compete and show [my dog]. I just hadn't sat down and planned it out, 'This is going to be my career.' It just sort of happened."
Now Moore combines her love of art and design with her love of dogs, as she not only trains and photographs them, but also creates digitalized paintings of them. Moore also loves photographing and doing digital paintings of cats.
"I started doing hand-digital paintings because — other than I enjoy it — I've had so many people that wait too long to get photos of their pet before it passes away so I create a painting for them from their favorite photo or cellphone image."
"I love how my career now utilizes both what I grew up doing and what I went to school for; it's perfect."
As a dog trainer, Moore specializes in behavioral issues, leash reactivity, multi-dog household problems, wellness and early puppy socialization.
She also has experience with dog shows, including receiving a First Breed Champion on Brigs, one of her three border collies.
"A breed champion is similar to showing at the Westminster shows and is based on how they fit the breed standard in looks, personality, how they move. That was a first for me. I'd grown up watching Westminster — never thought I'd have a show dog, but he's so wonderful."
(Started in 1877 in New York, Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is the second-longest continuously held sporting event in the U.S. The show has been nationally televised live since 1948 and is the standard against which the dog show world is compared.)
At Lilac City Dog Training Club, Moore helps out with puppy and dog classes. The North Spokane club is a United Kennel Club (UKC)-affiliated, nonprofit, volunteer dog training and obedience club in North Spokane, and has been operating for 51 years. Moore's roles include determining whether dogs can pass the American Kennel Club (AKC) Canine Good Citizen (CGC) evaluation and being a puppy instructor in the S.T.A.R. (Socialization, Training, Activity, and Responsible owner) program.
"I love volunteering my time teaching classes at the club so that I can help people who need it but can't necessarily afford the training," says Moore. "That's how I started, as that's the club I grew up in. My mom has been a trainer there since before I was born."
And the classes are not just a basic hourlong intro to training.
"They're eight-weeks-long, full-on obedience classes... that are praise-positive, fun and effective, that we hope will get owners interested in continuing to train their dogs, as dog training is lifelong. You never stop training."
While the classes are open to the public, the club's members are AKC judges and experienced handlers that actively compete in dog sports.
"It's more about community than anything else — learning from one another and giving back because we all enjoy helping dog owners," says Moore.
While Moore loves all aspects of her career, one of her biggest rewards is helping owners with their dog's learning or behavioral issues. But Moore says, lovingly, that she's really training the owners more than the dogs.
"We tend to be too uptight, and dogs sense that. So I teach owners to relax their body, their mind, and just take things as they come," says Moore.
"Also, often dog owners find it hard to set boundaries as they feel like they're being mean, not loving enough. But I always tell them, dogs prefer boundaries, because to them, someone is saying, 'I have your back, your environment is safe, I'm watching you so you just watch me.'"
Often, club members will bring in rescue dogs and dogs that are having behavioral issues at local shelters to train them so they're more adoptable. The club also offers training discounts to all the local shelters.
"You get a hard dog, and they will absolutely change your life for the better. I often say to my husband, 'Dogs make the world go around.' They just teach us so much."♦
