Hello, My name is Carrie Silva Wooddell, and I wanted to share my story.

I have been around dogs my entire life. My father was a K9 officer, and he brought his partner home with him every night. I never remember having any boundaries with the dogs. They were just part of the family. At one point, my dad imported a dog once, and he wouldn’t let me go inside his outdoor kennel because he didn’t know much about the dog. Within a few days, I was jumping the fence and sitting for hours petting him.
I now operate a dog training business that I have owned for almost 20 years. My entire life has revolved around dogs and my passion for training them. But something changed for me right before I got pregnant, and now Dogs to Diapers is my new passion. About 6 years ago, I got severely bitten by a dog. I had many bites before, but this bite was different. The intent behind this bite was not anything I had experienced before. It was long overdue for me as a trainer. This bite reminded me that dogs are a different species. I felt betrayed after it happened. How could this be? The animal that I connected with my entire life on so many different levels had just attacked me. It forced me to look at dogs differently. I was enlightened to have an even deeper connection to the genetics of a dog. No book or seminar could ever teach me what this bite did. It made me evolve into the dog trainer I am today, and the dog trainer I continue to strive to become in the future. I base my expression of love for dogs around my respect for who they are as a species. Unfortunately, our world is developing into one where dogs get treated in a way that does not bring out their best. It is now my passion to show you how you can love your dog on the deepest level, and treat them with the utmost respect. In turn, giving them a life they understand and deserve.

Life with dogs is changing, and it is changing fast because of our culture. Kids are not going to have the same relationship I got to have with my dad’s K9 dogs when I was growing up. We enable dogs when we don’t treat them like the amazing species they are. We try to make them little humans. We impose our feelings and emotions on them and even make excuses for times they try to act like the animals they are. We are changing the unique thing we loved about them: the fact that they are dogs! Bite statistics are through the roof with dogs and kids, and you frequently hear in the news about the family dog killing an infant child. How could this be? I am here to tell you why this is happening and what we need to do to change it.
Two and a half years ago, I gave birth to my first daughter. I got pregnant one month after my dog bite. It ignited a desire to educate expecting parents with dogs and advocate for all the dogs out there that want so badly to coexist with humans and get to be the dog they are. Our society is misguided on why our family pets behave as they do and that the cause of this behavior is our perception of fulfilling them. I strive to educate both dog trainers and new parents on ensuring that their dog lives a full, happy life.
This passion for educating dog owners and new parents led me to create the Dogs to Diapers video ourse and create this blog. Many of the Internet resources contain incorrect information, and dog trainers are educating clients with outdated content. The video is the product of someone who is not only a professional dog trainer for almost 20 years but also a dog-loving mom of two young girls. I want to see healthy dogs again. I want our kids to have the experiences I got to have as a kid growing up with dogs.