Carly Shivers has been training dogs for 18 years, and loves to tell anyone who will listen that she wouldn’t be very good at it if it weren’t for a six year mentorship with nationally-renowned dog trainer, Aimee Sadler.

But we’re getting ahead of our story…

Carly’s path to dog training started serendipitously in Oakland, CA, in 2002, when she witnessed a 7 weeks old puppy tossed from a car. Dirty, bleeding, and scared, that 7 weeks old puppy – whom Carly scooped up immediately and named Pig (that’ll do Pig, that’ll do) and who lived a wonderful and long life until leaving us in 2016 at the age of 14 and a half years – would be the start of it all for Carly’s dog training trajectory. At 14 weeks old, Pig, who had been such a lovely puppy for seven weeks, transformed into a complete terror, reducing the household to tears.

Carly and Pig were lucky enough to start working with a good trainer who quickly helped correct this problem and laid a foundation for Pig to be a better companion with her humans. Carly will never forget what it felt like to have a dog she loved but wasn’t sure she could live with and the difference a trainer with experience and knowledge can make in helping folks reach a balance in living well together with their dogs – and that is what fuels her passion in working with dogs and their people. In the years that followed Carly learned she loved challenging dogs, the more challenging the better, and has become an expert working with the worst of the worst. She absolutely loves helping dogs learn to think on their own, make better choices, and live the best lives with their humans.

Over the years, Carly added a dog, Owen, and then moved to Colorado, where she added another dog, Catie. Then Wyna, Boon, Tex, Dolly, & Doug. It was in the middle of this family growth that she met Aimee Sadler, then Director of Training & Behavior Modification at Longmont Humane Society. Carly still vividly remembers the first time she saw Aimee, out in a play yard with 20-30 shelter dogs, deftly breaking up a dog fight, and then staying out of it, allowing the dogs to learn from each other. Talk about a magical moment! Carly knew without a doubt she was in the presence of dog training greatness, and asked Aimee to teach her everything. Luckily for Carly, Aimee is not only a phenomenal trainer but one willing to teach others all she knows to help more dogs be successful. So began a six year mentorship working to fix egregious behavior issues in dogs. If it weren’t for Aimee, Carly would never know the things she does about dog behavior that help her help so many people, so fast, and where other trainers can’t.

Today, Carly lives in Longmont with her family of seven dogs – Doug, Shiloh, Gracie, Addie, Brownie, Quimby, & Lexi. And of course, always, with the wonderful memories – and so many lessons learned – of pups Pig, Owen, Boon, Tex, Wyna, Catie, & Dolly, and Wally the 3-legged cat.

In 2021 Carly learned she is autistic level 1 (previously known as Asperger’s but now called autism level 1). We find it can be helpful for some neurotypical people to know that. Autism presents differently in each person because we are all individuals (just like dogs!) and for Carly it means she is a direct communicator and will give you the straight up facts about stuff, not often putting a bow on everything in the way most neurotypical people communicate. This is one of the traits that makes her so good at her job, with dogs and with people.

As can be typical for many autistic brains, when a situation is stressful or when Carly's energy is low, she will often communicate even more directly. She's not mad at you, it's just how her brain works. The other wonderful thing about her autistic brain is you can be open and honest with her, she finds that normal, so if you are wondering if she's mad, just ask her, and she'll always tell you the truth. How refreshing!

If you want to learn more about autism level 1 (and Carly encourages it, because we are all now learning that there are A LOT of autistic level 1 people out there and you probably have some in your life and might not even know it), you can of course google it, but know there is misinformation out there, so you can also go to Carly's therapist's resources page to learn more too: https://www.shannonhuntsberry.com/resources-1