The Dog Doula

09/16/2025

Let's continue with a little more about me and my qualifications!

🟣 1st and foremost - I'm a mom...human + dog mom + foster dog mom. I've been raising my kids with a variety of dogs of all ages, needs and breeds. My kiddos are 3 years old and 5 months old.

🟣 Working with dogs and understanding them at a deeper level has been my passion since I was a little girl. Almost 8 years of fostering dogs and working in rescue has given me so much rewarding experience.

🟣 I am a Ceritifed Family Dog Mediator. I use the L.E.G.S. Model (Learning, Environment, Genetics, Self) to truly break down what makes each dog themselves and how they would best thrive in order to strengthen the relationship between dog + human. I wholeheartedly believe that the better we know our dogs on a deeper level, the better that relationship will be. The better our relationship is with our dog(s), the easier we can handle life's big changes like starting a family.

🟣 Lastly, because I'm such a dog nerd 🤓, I work at an enrichment-based dog daycare, training, boarding, and grooming facility where I continue to get to work with dogs of every type!

09/15/2025

Let me reintroduce myself 😊 Hi, I'm Ashley, owner/creator of The Dog Doula!

What led me to creating this business?

♡ I've been very involved in the dog rescue world for going on 8 years now fostering over 70 dogs in my home with my own animal crew + kids. Throughout that time I've seen many dogs get surrendered due to the overwhelm new parents feel trying to raise babies with pets in the home as well, and seeing/hearing of unsafe but completely preventable situations that led to a dog's surrender.

♡ Having my own kids and experiencing what a traumatic birth experience can do to your mental health and struggling through postpartum.

♡ Watching and trying to help a very close friend struggle after their own birth experience/difficult postpartum period. The family dog was a big trigger during that period.

These experiences have led me to a deeper understanding of why families struggle, but also helped me realize the lack of education out there to help. I'm ready to change that! Peep photos of my little family below as well as just some of the amazing pups we've had in our lives.

09/13/2025

Hi friends 👋 Your local Dog Doula is still here and working away on things in the background. We welcomed our daughter in April, and life has certainly been busy adjusting to #2, but we've also been dealing with the loss of three of our dogs in the last 14 months. It's been a lot.

If you or someone you know needs some assistance adjusting to life with a baby/kids and dogs, please reach out. I am always here to provide guidance to help you maintain a safe and happy balance 🩷

How to reach me-
Email: thedogdouladsm@gmail.com
DM on FB
Website: www.thedogdoula.org via contact form

You'll start seeing more of me again soon!

01/23/2025

A huge influence behind my "Why" of creating The Dog Doula is maternal mental health. I have seen SO many women impacted by perinatal mood disorders, I am one of them 🙋‍♀️.

Not only do I care about preparing your dog for your new arrival, I care about how YOU are doing too. Preparing you for the changes ahead and how sometimes pets in the home can exasperate all the challenges that can come along with the post-partum period. Your mental health matters, too.

01/13/2025

I captured a moment the other day that made me SO happy, and was SO rewarding as a parent raising a toddler with dogs.

Brody, our German Shorthair, approached our son on his own, and tucked his head under his arm for a really sweet moment of some pets. Our dogs do really well with our son. They don't love him..yet LOL. However, this showed me all the work, consistency, and repetition with our son is paying off in forming a respectful and safe relationship between him and our pets. It may have only lasted 90 seconds, but it was amazing.

Our son is 2.5 years old. That is 2.5 years of managing life with our first child and our pets to get to a moment like this. It doesn't happen overnight. Children go through so many different developmental stages, that, especially in these young years you will always be navigating/managing something when it comes to their relationship with your pets.

01/10/2025

Management tools are SO helpful in not only multi-dog households, but households with dogs and kids too!

Let's get real for a second.

The world often paints a picture that dogs who live together are best friends and do everything together.

This is just not true. Many many many multidog household utilize management in different situations to allow dogs personal space to enjoy things such as:

- feeding time
- chew time
- play time
- attention time

This. Is. Normal.

Just because someone utilizes management, doesn't mean their dogs don't enjoy each other's company or have fun together. It just means that there are certain activities that they prefer to do on their own.

And I will tell you firsthand that implementing safe space zones and time apart can be so beneficial to the relationship between two dogs.

Think about it-- do you enjoy doing every single activity that you do at home with your spouse, family, or sibling RIGHT there? I don't think so.

So let's normalize management between dogs who live together!!

Do you want to work on your dogs' relationship and/or interactions? Go to my website here to schedule a private consult: perkedears.com/private-training-sessions

01/02/2025

The 5 foster pups that we had the pleasure of meeting in 2024! The 2 on the right are still with us searching for their forever homes.

For almost 7 years now, we have been fostering anywhere from 5 to 15 dogs in a year. Welcoming them into our home. Learning who they are. Helping them adjust. Working through any fears, anxieties, behavioral or health concerns. It is incredibly rewarding and has given me the best hands-on experience with dogs that I could ever hope for. I get to live with and fully experience each foster as a whole. As we grow our human family ( #2 coming in April), I've had the privilege of doing it from a whole different perspective, too! As a parent -currently in the toddler stage lol!

I found my first passion in fostering rescue dogs. I've grown that passion into wanting to help others navigate life with kids and dogs 🩶

12/11/2024

What does being a Certified Family Dog Mediator mean? Almost exactly how it sounds! I can help mediate the relationship between you and your dog by helping you understand who your dog is based on a variety of factors such as their genetics, individual self, how they have adapted to the environment you have provided for them (or identify struggles they may be having in their own environment), and how your dog learns.

I truly believe that if we all took the time to understand our dogs for the unique, biological animals they are, the relationships we have with them would be exponentially better. Better understanding = less stress/frustration for you both.

How does this translate into life with kiddos? By taking the time to understand your dog on a higher level, you will feel much more confident in sharing a life with your dog and helping them through changes as you grow your family. As well as how to develop a respectful, meaningful, and safe relationship with your dog and child.

10/31/2024

Happy Halloween from our gremlin foster boy, Deebo! The autumn leaves are his favorite. Feel free to share any cute pics of your kiddos or pets dressed up this month 🎃

10/06/2024

While this can seem cute, it is unsafe. Your dog should never have the ability to climb into anything your baby might be inside of.

If choosing a bassinet to have your child close by for those first few months, I recommend not using a style that attaches to your bed (of you have dogs), and making sure there is a safe distance where your dog cannot access the bassinet from the bed.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/yDaHy5geMveXNiQV/

10/05/2024

Empowered.

I just finished working with an amazing couple expecting their first child this month, and this was the word they used to describe how they felt after our sessions 🥹.

Honestly, I could not have picked a better word myself to describe my hope for how my clients will feel after working together. My hope is you'll feel more confident, empowered, and knowledgeable in raising a baby and your pets together!

10/04/2024

I just discussed trigger stacking with some clients this week! Super important to recognize and understand. This can apply to dogs AND humans.