Author: Annie Phenix, CPDT-KA

Annie Phenix supports her three dogs, six donkeys, and two horses with her writing. Sometimes that means no one eats a very good dinner. Luckily for the animals who share her life, she is also a professional dog trainer. That pays way better than being a writer. She is also married to a man who likes to eat regularly so he stays employed in the area of high tech; at least, that is where he says he goes when he isn’t at home opening doors for the dogs or throwing down hay bales from the barn for the equines. She trains using positive reinforcement and by creating relationships based on trust and scientific knowledge of how animals learn. Full Name: Annie Phenix Location: Durango, Colorado Where You Can Find Me on the Internet: Phenix Dog Training What I Do for a Living: I write and I train animals using positive reinforcement What I Do for Fun: Enjoy Colorado: hiking, skiing, horseback riding, snowshoeing, and more The Furry Members of My Household Are: Dogs: Radar and Echo (sibling Border Collies); Monster (a “country dumped” Texas dog). Horses: Milagro and Dylan. Donkeys: Charity, Molly, Fat Jack, Sparky, Jillkey, and Julie. My Favorite Things to Write About Are: Relationships between dogs and their humans. My Pet Peeves Are: People who lack compassion. My Guilty Pleasures Are: Chocolate and wine. I of course never dip my chocolate IN my wine, as that would be tacky. (Okay, fine -- I have tried it with red wine to keep it classy.) How I Deal with Dog Hair: I go through a lot of Oreck vacuum cleaners. The last time they replaced my hairy one they nearly weren’t going to replace it and told me that I must be beating it up against a wall. No, just vacuuming up a small village worth of dog hair every day! What I Want to Be When I Grow Up: The CEO of a new type of shelter run by positive dog trainers.