Trisha Johnson
Owner/Founder
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I'm retired from a career in Law Enforcement after twenty years of service. I've shared my entire life with dogs. I decided soon after retirement to pursue a career working with dogs.
This pursuit first began with a position, for almost two years, at a Canine Board & Train Facility. I then spent a short amount of time working for a Trainer who offered an outward bound type of Dog Daycare. I also spent a great deal of time, during this period, taking dog training & behavioral courses, watching webinars and reading. I've always owned dogs with "issues". I like the challenge they present and set out to really try to better understand the anxieties and fears that seem to plague a lot of these dogs. My research wasn't solely motivated by general curiosity or the dogs I worked with, at the time I had just recently rescued one of these dogs.
Baron is that dog. He is an American Bulldog Cross and he has dog aggression. We rescued Baron in late 2015 when he was 1.5 years old. Our adoption was Baron's fifth, known placement. Baron is the inspiration behind Paws to the Path LLC. His aggression prevented us from taking neighborhood walks. His stress levels were so high and he was almost unmanageable because I could not avoid constantly encountering other dogs, many of which were off-leash. So instead we took to some really remote and hardly traveled trails instead. Baron and I could "disappear" for hours and hours and never see another person or dog. Our relationship flourished during this time. He began to trust that he was safe with me because I wasn't constantly putting him in situations that he'd shown me that he was very uncomfortable with. This is when the idea of helping other dogs like him began to slowly form in my mind.
Now we share our lives with three dogs. I have a beautiful, behaviorally sound, but really quirky Boxer named Stella. I was able to successfully and safely introduce her to Baron when she was just a puppy. In January, 2019 I rescued an Old English Bulldog named Enzo. He struggles with musculoskeletal disorders stemming from birth defects and he has a history of aggression towards both dogs and people. I continue to work towards building a solid foundation for a successful relationship between Baron and Enzo.
This pursuit first began with a position, for almost two years, at a Canine Board & Train Facility. I then spent a short amount of time working for a Trainer who offered an outward bound type of Dog Daycare. I also spent a great deal of time, during this period, taking dog training & behavioral courses, watching webinars and reading. I've always owned dogs with "issues". I like the challenge they present and set out to really try to better understand the anxieties and fears that seem to plague a lot of these dogs. My research wasn't solely motivated by general curiosity or the dogs I worked with, at the time I had just recently rescued one of these dogs.
Baron is that dog. He is an American Bulldog Cross and he has dog aggression. We rescued Baron in late 2015 when he was 1.5 years old. Our adoption was Baron's fifth, known placement. Baron is the inspiration behind Paws to the Path LLC. His aggression prevented us from taking neighborhood walks. His stress levels were so high and he was almost unmanageable because I could not avoid constantly encountering other dogs, many of which were off-leash. So instead we took to some really remote and hardly traveled trails instead. Baron and I could "disappear" for hours and hours and never see another person or dog. Our relationship flourished during this time. He began to trust that he was safe with me because I wasn't constantly putting him in situations that he'd shown me that he was very uncomfortable with. This is when the idea of helping other dogs like him began to slowly form in my mind.
Now we share our lives with three dogs. I have a beautiful, behaviorally sound, but really quirky Boxer named Stella. I was able to successfully and safely introduce her to Baron when she was just a puppy. In January, 2019 I rescued an Old English Bulldog named Enzo. He struggles with musculoskeletal disorders stemming from birth defects and he has a history of aggression towards both dogs and people. I continue to work towards building a solid foundation for a successful relationship between Baron and Enzo.
