About Daria
I was born in Moscow, and grew up in Toronto. I grew up loving all animals, from the pigs and chickens at my grandparents’ farm, to the budgees and guineapigs we had as pets. When I was 5 years old, I begged my dad to get me a dog. A few days later we picked out a Russo-European Laika (related to the Karelian Bear dog) puppy at the local market, who I named Touman (Fog in English). Touman, not only inspired my love of dogs, but also my passion for outdoor adventures. In the summer, we would go camping on the White Sea near the arctic circle, for weeks at a time (pictured left). Touman was incredibly loyal, intuitive and always up for adventure! The Laika Dog Training logo is based off of the photograph of Touman on the right.
My interest in animals and behavior led me to study neuroscience, doing research on addiction and brain reward systems as an undergraduate at the University of Florida and sensorimotor learning and memory in rats as a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University. I started learning about different dog training systems after adopting my first dog (Misha) in 2014 and subsequently fostering dogs, who had different behavioral problems (eg fear aggression, resource guarding). I soon realized that I find the application of learning theory and behavioral analysis to dog training as well as having the ability to directly help people have more enjoyable lives with their dogs, incredibly rewarding and decided to switch careers.
Since then, I’ve dedicated myself to studying the most effective and humane approaches to training and behaviour modification. In general, I’m a huge dog nerd! and enjoy learning everything I can about topics ranging from the history of dog training, to canine ethology, physiology, nutrition and disease.
Sadly, Misha passed away February 2020. I now have Ella, a German Shepherd Husky mix , who I adopted in 2017, when she was 3 months old and Spotty, a long-coated Siberian Husky, who I adopted in 2021 when he was 10 years old. I spend my free time going on hiking adventures, coming up with new things to teach Ella and Spotty, and making yummy home-cooked or raw meals.
