ABOUT PAM
Hi, I’m Pamela Schmidlin — writer, photographer, health coach, dog obedience instructor and the human behind Doggone Healthy Choices.
But those titles only tell you part of the story.
Dogs have been woven through my life for as long as I can remember. They’ve been my companions, my teachers, my reason to get outside, my motivation to keep moving and, quite often, the reason I’ve connected with another human being I might never have met otherwise.
Today, my sidekick is Freedom.
Freedom and I walk, run, train, exercise and explore together. And somewhere along the way, something became very clear to me: getting healthier doesn’t always have to begin with a gym membership, an intimidating program or trying to completely reinvent your life.
Sometimes it begins by picking up a leash.
That idea is at the heart of Doggone Healthy Choices — helping people discover that the dog already waiting by the door may also be one of the best fitness friends, accountability partners and conversation starters they could ask for.
Where storytelling comes in
Long before Doggone Healthy Choices, I was telling stories.
I earned degrees in photography and communication arts and worked in photojournalism, where I learned that some of the best stories aren’t necessarily the biggest ones. They’re the human ones — the expression on someone’s face, the relationship between two people, or the ordinary moment that suddenly tells you something larger.
That same curiosity shapes the work I create today.
I write and create content about health, wellness, movement, dogs, human connection and everyday life. Sometimes it’s educational. Sometimes it’s personal. Sometimes it’s simply a story that made me stop, smile or think.
But I always want there to be a human being on the other side of it.
And yes, there has been a pack
Freedom is the dog beside me today, but she isn’t the beginning of this story.
I’ve been fortunate to share my life with other deeply loved animals who helped shape who I am and what Doggone Healthy Choices has become. Some of those stories are still difficult for me to tell, so you’ll meet them here when the time feels right.
They are still part of the pack. They are still part of the story.
Where do we go from here?
My hope is pretty simple.
I want Doggone Healthy Choices to be a place where we learn from one another, move a little more, laugh a little more, take better care of ourselves and our dogs, and maybe even get brave enough to say hello to somebody we haven’t met yet.
Because healthier lives aren’t built in one giant transformation.
They’re built one walk, one choice, one conversation, one foot and one paw at a time.
I’m glad you’re here.
— Pam