(cheerful music)
- [Husband] Do you want to put some cheese in your eggs?
- [Chrissy] Oh yeah, go ahead!
- [Husband] Grab a big O'handful.
- [Chrissy] ] Hands in the bag.
- [Husband] Oh yeah!
- [Chrissy] You are so silly.
I am Chrissy Joy and I am a dog trainer.
Animals were a huge part of my life since I was a child.
I was always animal crazy.
My first dog was a young dog named Angie, who's a beagle.
And as a child with a lot of anxiety,
the one outlet I had was animals.
I have suffered from anxiety
and depression practically my whole life.
And when I reached a point where my life was really taking
a turn and I wasn't able to kind of find myself,
I realized in that time in my heart and soul, I was like,
I wanna go back to working with animals.
When Beasley came into my life it was
like the stars just started to align.
When I got Beasley he was a nine week old puppy and I said,
I wanna get to training.
I wanna do this.
And so Beasley joined classes.
It must've been right around 13 weeks old.
We were kind of blowing through the classes
and what we had to do.
Somebody approached me after class and said,
"You know, you'd be a pretty good dog trainer.
Have you ever thought about that?
We have an intern program."
I had never considered it but I said,
You know, I'd love this.
And if I could do this more with my dog
and impact other people's lives to maybe discover
what I've discovered and it's so life changing.
It was becoming something bigger than I expected.
So we are going to the place that started it all for me.
We are on our way to BFF Pet Services,
which is in Brandywine, Maryland.
And BFF has been a family for me for many, many years.
And we can do all different types of dog training
for all different people and all different dogs.
There's no limit to what someone can bring forward that
will either problem solve or do something really fun
as far as treating their dog.
And I'm so grateful to be a part of that.
Boys, let's go!
Good boys, yeah, come on boy, let's go to work!
- [Jane] Chrissy as a trainer is totally amazing.
She is so passionate about developing the bond between
the dog and the human, it's infectious.
The bond that you develop from working with your dog,
I can't even describe the impact that
it makes on the dog and the person.
I can only say it changed Marley and my life.
- [Chrissy] ] Come on Marley - [Jane] Come in Mar!
Yay, sit down! - [Chrissy] Good job, Marley.
- [Jane] Good girl, yes!
The difference it made in Marley's life
is it made her a very confident dog.
And I became more confident
and it changed my outlook on life.
- We're gonna work on
some confidence building activities today.
So you can start by walking her over
the (indistinct) with a sit look.
- Okay. - Okay.
Tell her over. - Over.
- [Client] Yes, what a good girl!
Look at me, yes!
And I love your voice inflection, get her excited, right?
Do you think she's ready to try the bounce right there?
- Let's try it.
- [Chrissy] Okay, so take that treat and lure her up.
- Yes! - [Chrissy] Good girl!
The most rewarding part about this job is not only seeing
the people flourish but also seeing the dogs change
and transition and become something better
than they ever were.
And then seeing those two entities have such a strong bond.
Yes, it might be rocky the first couple of times you try it.
But as soon as you get those tools
we find what works for you and your dog and your family,
you're gonna start to see a change.
It's those moments when you realize that, okay,
I'm a trainer and it's a client but at the end of
the day we're all people and we all have our own struggles.
It has helped my life so much learning how
to function like with high anxiety.
I think if you can start to relate on that level
a little bit more it's just that much
more exponentially gratifying when you do get
to achieve something together.
And change their life.
You're changing their lives, not just learning sit
and stay and heel.
You're causing a ripple effect.
That's changing the dog's life, that person's life
but also maybe everything that person
does moving on from there.
We're only on this planet for so long,
you only have like your one shot.
I want to make a difference.