Miriam Hughes has been training dogs formally for the past ten years. She has run her own training service and has conducted dog training classes at PetSmart. She studied canine behavior through the Companion Animal Sciences Institute, and her training style is influenced by Ian Dunbar, Pat Miller and other forefathers and mothers of the positive reinforcement method of training.

Her primary goal is to have everyone communicating with the dog and one another on the most common level possible, avoiding confusion, resentment and misplaced anger and acting out from any family member. A secondary goal is to educate and inform as many people as possible so that more dogs get to stay home with the family that first adopted them, be it a new puppy or older dog, and not end up in rescue centers.