Meet Liz Palika of Liz Palika (author) and Kindred Spirits Dog Training

Today we’d like to introduce you to Liz Palika.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Liz. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Although I was fascinated by animals as a kid and read all of the classic animal books – Big Red; Lad, a Dog; Black Beauty, all of those books – my dad was in the military and we moved often so the response to my pleas was always, “No dogs.” So I read about them instead.

As an older teenager I certainly didn’t plan on a career in animals; in fact, I was planning on a career in law enforcement. However, after enlisting in the Navy and serving as a military police officer for three years I realized that wasn’t the right career for me. After getting out of the Navy and enrolling in college, I worked as a veterinary technician and found that I really enjoyed working with animals.

After adopting an abandoned German Shepherd puppy, Watachie, and discovering once I got home after work one day that he’d destroyed my sofa; I realized I had no idea how to train or communicate with this smart little being. We enrolled in obedience training and we both loved it. We went on to earn advanced obedience titles, went to the World Frisbee championships, became a certified search and rescue dog team, and accomplished numerous other things. I found that I loved to show him what we could do and to train him to do it. And a number of times he showed me what he could do! Communications goes both ways.

Later, after he passed away far too young, I wrote about his death and found that I also loved to write and that people responded to what I wrote. Watachie’s life introduced me to dog training and his death introduced me to writing. I thank him often.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I prefer to live in today and work towards tomorrow. I don’t focus on the past. However, I firmly believe that we learn more from a bumpy road than we do from a smooth one. Challenges teach us more, including how strong we really are.

Please tell us about Two businesses: Liz Palika, author, and Kindred Spirits Dog Training.
Once I began working with pets I saw how many suffered, failed to thrive, or struggled when their owners didn’t understand what they needed. I wanted to ‘fix’ that. Coming from a family of many teachers, I saw that as a way to fill this need.

As a writer of numerous books, magazine articles, and online articles on pets my goal is to educate and entertain pet owners so that we all (pets and people) can more easily live with one another. Many problems arise from a lack of knowledge as to what the animal actually is, what the animal’s needs are, and how we can best fill those needs. A cat cannot change who she is; she’s always going to be a cat with certain requirements and needs. It’s up to us to fulfill those needs as best we can.

I’ve written about many different aspects of pets and their care but today primarily focus on dogs and cats. Living with dogs, understanding dog behavior, cats and cat behavior, and more.

As to what sets me apart from others who also write about pets; I don’t know. I know many pet writers who are equally passionate about their work and I respect them highly. I think we work together to help animals rather than compete against each other. I’d like to think we are all awesome!

As a dog trainer, with Kindred Spirits Dog Training, I am surrounded by some wonderful, strong women who share my goals. I started Kindred Spirits about 35 years ago here in San Diego North County and shortly thereafter, Petra Burke joined me. Sixteen or seventeen years ago Kate Abbott joined us. The three of us, as business partners, share the goal of helping dog owners understand their dogs. When there is understanding, communication can occur, and then training becomes a cooperative effort between dog and owner. We want the dog to live his life in his home and to not be given up if at all possible.

Joining Petra, Kate and I are six additional trainers: Deb Lee, Sue Dewar, Dawn McMahon, Kei Laliberte, Jo Duffy, and Julie Hernandez. These strong, smart, funny women bring additional skills and levels of experience to our group. All of our varied strengths, skills, and passions allow us to help people and dogs in a most unique way.

Along the way, I’ve been lucky enough to be able to continue to do volunteer work with pets as well as build my professions. Through the years I have fostered orphaned rabbits, ferrets, and lots and lots of kittens. In fact, my three cats today were fostered or adopted from SPOT: Saving Pets One at a Time. I recently began an adoption fund for SPOT; the Black Kitten Scholarship fund to help get black kittens adopted. So often black kittens and cats are overlooked in shelters and rescues due to myths and legends that deserve to go away.

My dogs and I have also been doing therapy dog work for many years. Depending on the dog (as each dog has his own preferences) we have visited nursing homes, skilled nursing, hospice, or other facilities. Presently, my five-year-old English Shepherd, Bones, visits a daycare for special needs children once a week. My two-year-old dog, Hero, also an English Shepherd, will begin visiting shortly. As soon as he matures a bit more.

Contact Info:

• Address: 3343 East Vista Way Vista, CA 92084
• Website: www.kindredspiritsk9.com
• Phone: 760-630-4824
• Facebook: Kindred Spirits Dog Training

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