About

Conscious Paws has been providing top-quality pet care services for twenty-seven years now. Mainly serving Montgomery County, Southern Howard County and surrounding areas with special consideration.

Wendy's work with well-known pioneering holistic and integrative veterinarian Dr. Monique Maniet, in Bethesda Maryland, began in 1999 after becoming a client in her clinic.  In addition to providing massage there Wendy became her assistant in patient visits, performing dental cleanings, providing nutritional guidance and education, offering grief support and assistance during euthanasia, filling prescriptions (conventional and holistic) and running labs, along with providing flower essence consultations for pet behavioral and energetic imbalances via remedy formulations.  Eventually she also acted as office manager, running the clinic and facilities.  

Five years prior to working for Dr. Maniet, Wendy went to massage school (Potomac Massage Therapy Institute in Washington DC) and became Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork, 1995. Her professional practice specialized in the healing arts: relaxation massage, deep-tissue massage and energy-work, Process Oriented Bodywork (Trauma-Informed Recovery using guided imagery, dialogue-processing, educated touch, energy work) where therapist and client work specifically on dissociative body-memory patterns.  From there her skills and gifts in intuitive energy healing grew.  Wendy is also a certified Pilates and Qi Gong Instructor.

Under Dr. Maniet's tutelage, Wendy learned about flower essences, homeopathy and the power of energy medicine with animals.  And how acupuncture coupled with massage, whole-food nutrition and supplementation, and good quality water brought most animals around from what ailed them (along with individualized veterinary care).  Wendy additionally provided in-home care visits for clinic patients helping with extreme cat cases (feral), providing overnight stays, home medical support (sub-Q fluids, meds, etc), as well as in-home therapeutic massage and energy healing sessions.  

Working closely with Dr. Mainet's and Dr. Carol Lundquist's (chiropractic vet) animal patients, Wendy provided energywork + communication and educated-touch with dogs in PTSD trauma-related patterns, drug-induced paralysis, arthritis, sprains and strains, general health malaise, and aches and pains from aging/illness with cats, dogs, and horses.  After several years practicing massage at VHC, she became certified in Canine Massage through Integrated Touch Therapy, in Ohio.  

These skills coupled with her passion for animals led to specialized individualized care for special needs pets, whether it be providing fluids, walking disabled dogs, working with feral cats, and assisting newly adopted pets (puppies, kittens, and rescues adjust to their new lives and environment), in addition to offering distance healing and animal communication to thousands of pets over these many decades.

From 2008-2012 she worked as Senior Sales Associate for The Big Bad Woof, where customers and fellow staff deemed her a, "trusted local resource".  She managed the supplement section and assisted customers with wellness choices and nutritional education.  From there Conscious Paws pet-sitting grew significantly and became what it is today.  

In addition to her offerings her Embodiment Training Packages (although not an official certified dog trainer ) offers tools and practices to clients as a means to teach presence, calm, and mindfulness on walks and in daily interactions with pets, thus creating empowered relationships. True empowerment and trust comes with presence, alignment, balance and well-being, including top nutrition.  Animals need our calm presence and empowered hearts to thrive.  Not perfection per se, as we are all human, though surely we can offer boundaries, embodiment, wellness and mindfulness.  

Wendy is educated and certified in numerous healing arts modalities, including Reiki Master.  She holds an M.A. from Maryland University of Integrative Health in Health Coaching with a specialization in Integrative Nutrition with further certification in Herbal Studies.  Additionally, Wendy has certifications through DM University: Pet Nutrition, Raw Food Specialist, and Homeopathy for Dogs and Cats.  Wendy has been offering well-being to people and pets for decades, and is a big fan of Dr. Becker and her Forever Dog book.  Pets deserve health and wellness, just as we do.  Wendy promotes all that she has learned.  

Wendy also works with local agility dog groups, offering massage and healing services.  Please contact her directly for scheduling. 

Conscious Paws provides Meet & Greets in your home for a fee (can be applied to your first service visit) to ensure we are the best fit for your needs. Scheduling is done through a client portal system.  During our meet and greet we review procedures, agreements, liability, and care needs.  

We are committed to providing clients peace of mind and assurance, and are fully prepared to care for your pets and your home while you are away.