After 14 years living in the US, I returned to Japan with my Pug and Boston Terrier, whom I loved deeply. I was so busy with work every day that it didn’t allow me to spend the quality time I wanted to with them. When I lost my Pug to acute pneumonia, I regretted not being with her, so I decided to leave the company and start anew on my own. Additionally, my Boston Terrier had congenital heart disease and I was learning so much about nutritional supplements imported from US that would help his condition. The knowledge I gained inspired me to open an online pet supplement store since Japan was lacking in pet supplements at that time. Moreover, this would allow me to work in the quiet countryside with my old time buddy at my side 24 hours a day. Several months after he passed away, I expanded my business and opened a small pet supply store in Ichinomiya–hiring an energetic retriever puppy as my business partner! This led me to become involved in training dogs and everything grew like crazy.

It was 2013 when I first learned about Do as I Do training. It was revolutionary to me, and I was instantly drawn to this new teaching approach. Since then, it became my mission to spread the idea of social learning in dogs to the public. I feel privileged to be working with Dr. Claudia Fugazza, the creator of Do as I Do, and to be part of this team of expert members.

In the US, I earned Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration with a focus in Organizational Behavior. I am a certified canine behavior consultant from IAABC and CCPDT. I am also a Certified Therapy Dog Evaluator and Educator of Animal Assisted Education from ASAET where I teach online courses in approaches to animal-assisted education as well as animal behavior.

As the Founder and Director of Ichinomiya Animal Assisted Education Dog Club, we work to raise awareness and to teach children about dog behavior, dog emotions, humane approach to living with them, and integrating dogs into our society as valuable social facilitators.