My Name is Denise Westrum. I grew up on a small farm just East of Watertown, SD. Growing up on a farm put me around different animals my entire life. We always had the cows, the cats, and always a dog. Even as a child, I would've told you that I was going to work with animals when I grew up. My love of all animals may stem back to my childhood, but I have always had a special connection to my dog. I received my GED then graduated from National American University with an Associates degree of Business Administration. My husband and I met in 2008 and married in 2012. During this time we had our beloved Bandit until 2014. He was a German short-haired pointer/St. Bernard, 125 lb. lap dog. We adopted our yellow lab, Grace, as a friend for Bandit and lost her in July 2020 at the ripe age of 15. After Bandit passed, we adopted Jake from our local shelter. He was a very energetic pit bull who's only care in the world was where his squeaker ball was. I only wish I knew half of what I know now since he had resource aggression and extreme reactivity toward other dogs. Jake passed from a brain tumor in 2019. We found our black lab, Duke, when he was a 75lb, 7 month-old puppy. He is the type of dog that NEEDS a job and absolutely loves to work. We started training him to do a variety of things including hunting pheasants, shut the door, and to pick things up for me when I drop them. I truly enjoyed figuring out how to communicate with him and teach him. I finally realized that I should follow my passion and become a dog trainer. That is when I decided to create My Furry Friends K-9 Training.

I graduated with honors from Animal Behavior College and strive to continue my education with additional certifications and keeping up with the most recent research and developments in dog training. I work with dogs of all size, breed, and age (yes, old dogs can learn new tricks😊). Group classes are available for obedience training, as well as private sessions for obedience, behavior problem-solving, trick training, agility, and more. In addition to assisting owners with their furry friends, I help train local shelter dogs to assist in their adoption to their forever homes. My mission is to help improve the lives of as many dogs as I possibly can.