Ich bin ein Berliner!
The next stage of Lilith’s life took place in Berlin, a city of transformers and constant change. This was the place for Lilith who didn’t live in fear of the unknown, she who changed her hats and names many times before entering the US in 2016 with two suitcases, following her heart’s desire to share life with a man whom she just met 2 month ago at her cafe.
Love, love love
After moving to Oregon in 2016 Lilith found herself alone often while Mateo was traveling with his corporate job. It happened that the neighbor-dog Keena the Husky was similarly alone in a quiet house, while Keena’s handler worked. Soon Lilith and Keena explored the dog parks in her new home-city of Bend, realizing quickly that neither of them particularly enjoyed restricted outdoor adventure. Keena’s recall was not reliable, and she was shy and easily startled when approached, therefore she was supposed to be leashed. Lilith felt it was unnatural to leash a Husky’s wild nature so she started researching dog training techniques. Lilith discovered Karen Pryer who invented clicker training and offered a compelling science-based approach. To learn more please read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clicker_training, and listen: When Things Click: The Power Of Judgment-Free Learning : Hidden Brain
Lilith started applying the techniques of positive and negative reinforcement right away and they worked beautifully! While training Keena daily at the nearby dog park she witnessed a variety of dog characters, play styles and training methods. A fascination was born. Lilith followed this calling, encouraged by her new husband Mateo ♥️🐾♥️ Soon after, a woman at the dog park started a conversation with Lilith. She was very interested in her approach and to Lilith’s surprise offered a job. This woman was the manager of Frogs to Dogs, a company specializing in dog care and training. Following her heart lead Lilith from one love story into the next!
Lilith dove into her new job like into a costume that became second skin. Seeing the dog care business from the inside as an employee was important to Lilith’s development of Buddy and helped her formulate early the quality of care she wanted to offer. Lilith took on all jobs she could in the beginning: from house sitting, dog walks, drop ins and boarding dogs at her own house. She worked with dogs that clearly where neglected from the owners, who never had the freedom to explore and sniff. Or dogs that were humanized in painful ways. They were treated like humans but never for what they were. Their innate needs were neglected and this really pained her. Besides the payment was meager and was reflected in the minimum of service the owners expected. The animals were loosing and something was missing: Real care and love ❤️
Team Buddy
Today Buddy is a team of 6 dedicated individuals who are developing Buddy together with Lilith. Leading a team and serving approximately 200 active clients was not what Lilith visioned in the beginning. Yet Lilith loves growing into a team leader and business operator committed to the uniquely high quality of care and heartfelt dedication from Buddy’s beginning. That is precisely what makes Buddy so special!
Lilith Erlenbusch
Buddy founder, professional dog trainer
The Black Forest
Lilith grew up in the foothills of the Black Forest in the south of Germany. She felt best when far away from home, walking her animal pack through the neighborhood streets of the small village, in a time where kids and animals would freely roam around without constant supervision. Lilith’s caravan was formed of 4 animals. Hansi, a blue budgie sat with trimmed wings on her shoulder greeting everyone with “Guten Morgen” (good morning). Oskar, who was carried carefully in a bag, a Guinea pig who fell prey to the desire of eating electricity cables. Dutifully beside was Hector, the elderly German Shepherd watching her like a hawk. Finally was the black and white cat Peterle, whom Lilith shared her bed, soothed by his purr into sleep. The world seemed unpredictable to Lilith but those creatures were her community who built her safety net. She loved those animals more than anything. The wild south was her home, until she decided one day to leave and go elsewhere.
Mateo entered her vegan cafe “Sunday Burgers” serendipitously. Instantly both connected and they’ve journeyed together ever since. Lilith’s decision to not eat animals 2010 led to her first successful entrepreneurial adventure the “Sunday Burgers”. In 6 years she developed two cafes with 10 people working on her team to offer healthy cruelty-free food. She became an activist in the vegetarian scene in Berlin and she studied the book Animal Liberation by Peter Singer. With her growing awareness of the food industry and the exploitation of animals for profit she started asking herself hard questions regarding pet ownership, responsibilities, and animals as resources for people. Those years formed her understanding of responsible dog ownership, making her an advocate for dogs later in her career as a dog care professional and trainer.
Sunday Burgers watercolor by Lilith's friend, Christian Guenther
Buddy is born
In January 2017 during the biggest winter she ever experienced Mateo and Lilith moved to Truckee. Quietly in the literal ice cave of their Tahoe Donner rental house Lilith developed her business vision and soon found her first clients in the neighborhood and through Rover. Studying animal rights came back in the front of her consciousness and she developed the foundation for her new business Buddy, named after her first solo client that she served independently.
Vision Statement
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Buddy delivers a high standard of excellence in dog care. Our clients can expect a relationship-centered training and dog care approach that is force free, uses positive reinforcement and has the safety, welfare and health of our client dogs at its core.
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Buddy is the dog’s advocate! We give voice to the dog’s needs. Sufficient physical and mental activities like exercise, training, regular interactions with other dogs, love and bonding relationships with humans, access to healthy food, and regular health care are what dogs deserve and need.
Lilith continuously educates herself and develops her training skills through participation in national seminars like the Clicker Expo held by the Karen Pryor Academy. She is specializing and deepening her training skills in workshops with trainers and behaviorist like Ian Dunbar, Ken Ramirez, Dr. Susan G. Friedman, to name just a few. Her training focus of interest is puppy socialization and training to prevent anxiety related behavioral problems and on the other side of the spectrum working with reactivity and anxiety related unwanted behavior.