Teri

Teri Aslett, one of the owners and operators of the Dog Retreat Center, a lifelong dog lover, grew up in the Magic Valley- Twin Falls and Wendell, ID. As a child her neighbors had 2 well trained boxers that would pull Teri around on her roller skates. She loved being around those dogs, and spent time at their home with them every chance she got! 

Eventually Teri’s family welcomed in a family dog of their own- a small but mighty poodle/terrier mix by the name of Ragmop. Ragmop was found as a stray and was so heavily matted that he looked like a combination of a dirty rag and a mop, hence the name. Ragmop was given to them by a member of the family during a difficult time of Teri’s parent’s divorce. Ragmop served as a bit of a therapy dog and companion for Teri- being the youngest of many kids and without any younger siblings to boss around. 

Teri really enjoyed playing with Ragmop, taking him for walks, and teaching him tricks to perform for his own kibble. She watched a TV program called “That’s My Dog”, where people would compete with their dogs through obstacle courses for prizes. This was quite amusing to her. Inspired by what the dogs could do on the show, Teri would on occasion, bring Ragmop down to the school playground after hours and create obstacle courses for him on the playground equipment. They both found this to be an entertaining activity to do together. 

Little did anybody know that one day Teri would build a career from her special gift of animal communication that she tapped into with Ragmop as a child. The therapeutic bond that was discovered through dog training touched her life and created a ripple effect that began to take shape in her early 20s when she got her first boxer puppy of her own, Tank.

d’Andra

d'Andra grew up in Oklahoma City and since both her sisters were in college by the time she was 4, her playmates were her animals.  The dogs weren’t allowed in the house, so she spent a lot of time outside dressing the dogs in clothes, pushing them in carriages, running with them, and even eating meals with them. The only time the dogs could come in is if the weather was bad and, even then, they had to stay on their ‘rug.’ All d'Andra's mom had to do was look at the dogs and they obeyed! In hindsight, d'Andra now realizes that her mom was definitely the pack leader!

Fast forward to 2011, when d'Andra was living in California with her two dogs, Sherpa and Yeti. Sherpa and Yeti are litter mates and have never been apart and have the strongest bond of any two beings she had experienced. Thinking that all littermates get along like this, and thinking that Sherpa and Yeti would be great teachers for puppies, she made the very uninformed decision to get two more littermate puppies.

All of a sudden, d'Andra's harmonious household and pack turned into chaos! And, for the first time, she found herself searching for dog training help.

d'Andra has been immersed in her own experience of training her dog Teddy Graham since 2011. She still considers herself a really good dog handler, and she has been learning and practicing with dog training.   

When d'Andra moved to Boise, she was working remotely for a company in CA and had enjoyed a 20+ year career that had spanned across management, marketing, sales, and customer experience design. Years ago, d'Andra's dad told her that the only way to really be ‘free’ is to own your own business (he was a business owner). Those words were never far in her memory, and she decided to take the opportunity to move to Boise and join Teri in business ownership. Now she's super excited for our next step of opening the Dog Retreat Center!

You’ll find d'Andra working on more things behind the scenes, but she loves interacting with all the people and their dogs!