Meet the PT Family

Heather is the founder of Pawsitive Training Service Dog Solutions. Over the past 23 years, Heather has been a military spouse where she volunteered as a key spouse, key spouse mentor, and supported her husband through his 20 year career while a cumulative of 8 of those years he was TDY or deployed away from home. Heather was a stay-at-home mom to her biological, adopted, and foster children; some who had life-altering special needs. As the military moved her and her family across the nation 10 times in 20 years, she maintained sanity through her love of her dogs and training them to participate in the family's active lives. They enjoyed boating, camping, biking, hiking and swimming. As some of the children needed much more care than any parent could offer, she trained her dogs to help meet her children’s needs as well.

In 2016 Heather fell ill and it became very clear that a service dog could improve her quality of life. She diligently worked through a year-long course on training service dogs. After several surgeries, Heather’s life began to improve, although she will continue to have symptoms that flare up for the rest of her life. With her personal understanding of how a well trained service dog can improve the quality of life for an individual or their family members, Heather decided to pursue her life's passion of helping others through service dog training. In March of 2019, Pawsitive Training Service Dog Solutions went from an idea to a reality. June of the same year Heather enrolled in Karen Pryor Professional Academy to continue her education and pursue her goals of providing the best possible help to her clients. She graduated with distinction in 2020. With a growth mindset and wanting to offer more opportunities for those in her community, Heather hired two trainers who apprenticed with her while they attended Karen Pryor Professional Academy. They both graduated with distinction in 2020. In October 2021 and January 2022, PT service dogs opened training studios in Yorktown, Virginia and Norfolk, Virginia respectively. Heather is an avid believer in community, education and helping others to live their best lives. It is with this passion that Pawsitive Training Service Dogs Solutions has thrived and been able to help the lives of so many.