1 (970) 397-4388
OUR STORY
Barking Bubz's goal is to develop a business that could provide a modern, well-rounded pet care service. Lexi (pet nutritionist) and Vanessa, our dog trainers, have collectively worked in the pet care industry for over 10 years and developed Barking Bubz from their shared experiences.
LEXI CONNER
Lexi is a Louisiana transplant that has lived in Colorado since 2017. Animal welfare is her passion and she firmly believes in taking a holistic and positive approach with pets.Â
Her first job was as a kennel technician at Lake Area Animal Hospital in Louisiana when she was 15, and she was hooked from there.Â
Her experience working in animal clinics shed some light on the constant struggle of modern medicine to reduce pet allergies, disease, and cancer. When her dog Vector turned 4 years old he lost 30% of his hair in a month. After extensive tests, allergy medications, and topical treatments his hair still hadn’t grown back and the reason for his hair loss was still unknown. As a last resort, Lexi started digging into the ingredients that were in the premium dog food she was feeding at the time and decided that night she would switch her dogs to a raw diet. The changes that she saw after switching their diet were nothing short of miraculous.Â
Lexi found her passion in pet nutrition and earned a Clinical Pet Nutritionist Certification. She is now working towards a Raw Dog Food Certification. She strongly believes that proper nutrition is essential to our beloved fur children’s health and happiness and wants to help improve the nutrition for everyone's four legged family members.Â
After realizing how her pets elevated nutrition affected their lives in a positive way, she decided to build on her nutritional experience and add the the mental and physical experiences dogs crave. She began learning dog training under a trainer in the Fort Collins area, then studied under Vanessa at a pet resort in Northern Denver. Lexi has seen many dogs develop from uneducated, energetic dogs into well-rounded, educated, and obedient professionals. Lexi uses mainly positive training methods when training. Her goal is to provide the most holistic and healthy methods to help dog's grow and develop. When training, Lexi loves working with nervous dogs and watching them blossom into confident and loving dogs who learn to enjoy life instead of being afraid of it.Â
Lexi has over five years of experience working in doggie daycares, boarding facilities, and pet hospitals.
When she is not working with other people’s fur children, you can find Lexi training, hiking, or camping with her own two monsters.
VANESSA STANISLAV
Vanessa specializes in the human animal bond. She strives to keep the dog happy and healthy by going at the dog’s pace and uses positive reinforcement methods when training.
Vanessa has been involved in the dog world her whole life. She studied animal and human behavior and psychology at Colorado State University for 4 years, achieving a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Her coursework included studying under Temple Grandin, a specialist in animal behavior. In conjunction, she volunteered through the Pets Forever Program at CSU where she trained and walked dogs for low income and disabled individuals.
Her professional career started as a kennel technician at a boarding and daycare resort in Texas. She was able to achieve her true passion, training, at a pet resort in Fort Collins, Colorado. After her initiation into the professional dog training world, she wanted more. She was offered an opportunity to develop and manage a training program at a luxury pet resort in North Denver. She has been working professionally with dogs for 5 years and has been involved in training since childhood.
She has advised and supervised the training for several therapy and emotional support dogs. Additionally, she has trained a service dog that has gone on to support her handler to allow her to live a functional life.
Vanessa loves to train basic commands, but her true passion is teaching the harder tricks. Her favorite tricks are asking her dog to get the lights or a tissue. Her mix, Koda, is her forever traveling companion. They love to go hiking, biking, and traveling all over the U.S.