About Me
FOUNDER & HEAD TRAINER MINDY CLARKE
Hi everyone! My name is Mindy Clarke and I am the founder/head trainer of Baxter’s Bootcamp, LLC. I’m a Florida native and was born and raised in sunny South Florida. I moved to Central Florida for college and ended up staying after I graduated because I loved the area so much. I currently have a 26 year old horse named Bailey and a 5 year old hound mix named Baxter. My fascination with animals, specifically dogs, started at the young age of 2.5 years old. My mom caught me one evening after bath time running outside to pet a dog I saw through the window. I’ve been obsessed with them ever since then. Growing up, I was also passionate about horses and started riding them at 7 years old. When I was a teenager, I became a camp counselor and trainer for horse camp. I taught children everything from riding to horse care/equestrian fundamentals. During this time, my parents bought our first family dog, Teddy, who was a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. He was the best boy and lived to be almost 15 years old!
GO KNIGHTS!
I attended the University of Central Florida and graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Hospitality Management. It was there that I was chosen for a position of a lifetime—the UCF Knight mascot! I rode the University’s mascot horse, Pegasus, in full knight armor at all home football games and was even featured on ESPN. This position was an excellent way to learn more about animal training because Pegasus was trained to perform tricks. I had to master this new style of riding and do it while wearing an armored costume where my movement was very restricted. I was the last student rider and was honored to represent UCF for 2 years in this unique way.
BAXTER
Four years ago I adopted my first dog, Baxter. When I met Baxter for the first time, it was apparent that he needed me. He lived outside 24/7 and was sleeping under a trailer on rocks when I pulled up to the property to meet him. He was already a year old and never left the property he grew up on. That, mixed with his insecure personality, made him an extremely fear reactive dog to humans. He would bark and growl at everyone and would run away if you got too close. He even did that when he met me for the first time. When you would hook a leash on him, he would collapse and wouldn’t budge because he was never taught how to properly walk on one. He required a lot of consistency, balanced training, confidence building, and socialization to get him to the point where he is today and I couldn’t be more proud of him. Everyone who meets him now is surprised to learn that he once had bad behavioral issues. Baxter ignited my passion for dog training and is the reason I pursued a career in dog training full-time. He is a true testament of my successful balanced training methods. It was only natural that he would be the inspiration behind the company name as he will forever be my canine soulmate and the dog that changed it all.