meet the team

Stephanie (OWner and groomer)

Stephanie has spent the last 10 years devoting a large portion of her time to local shelters in Manitowoc County. From bottle feeding kittens and puppies, to fostering nursing mothers with puppies, to caring for kittens with ring worm, to grooming our local shelter dogs; she has a huge passion for helping animals in need and providing them with the most gentle humane care possible.

She worked at Petco as a dog trainer and companion animal specialist. After having her son, she began grooming at Pet Nirvana. Early Childhood was no longer Stephanie’s passion, rather, she wanted to pursue a life long career helping animals. She turned that dream into a reality when she purchased Pet Nirvana, which is now know as Lucky Paws Pet Boutique.

She specializes in the more difficult cases whether it be more aggressive dogs or just pets that are scared of human touch and need to learn to trust humans – it warms her heart being able to see their transition. She has also recently started taking care of senior hospice dogs.

calub (LEAD DOG HANDLER)

Calub has worked as a dog handler for several years. He has been working our doggy daycare since September 2023. He thrives with all dogs big and small. He has extra special patience for the dogs needing a little extra help with socialization and behavioral issues. Calubs bubbly personality helps to keep the dogs energy levels positive in our daycare environment.

ARIEL (GROOMER)

Ariel has 2 pups, Mara (blonde) and Jane (black). Jane is the girl who sparked her desire to become a dog trainer. Her fiancé and Ariel adopted her in 2018 from a shelter in Colorado. While working through her extreme reactivity towards other dogs she realized how much she loved learning everything about behavior.

She has been working with shelter dogs on a volunteer basis since 2007,Ariel is a graduate of Animal Behavior College, a Certified Family Dog Mediator, and completed The Michael Shikashio Aggression in Dogs Master Course.

She know how challenging it can be to live with a dog that has behaviors that limit your freedom and make you feel on edge, so this year she decided to start Mischief Management with the goal to help people build stronger and more peaceful relationships with their dogs. Her persistent personality welcomes a good challenge! Ariel has been grooming with us since 2023.

Marina- manager & animal enrichment specialist

Marina began her Lucky Paws journey in December 2024. Marina quickly earned the title of animal enrichment specialist by embracing and engaging with each dog that walks through our doors. He main job is to be sure all pets in our care are coming into a safe healthy environment along with engaging in enrichment activities with them while they are here. Marina is a mother of two young kiddos and has 2 pups herself! In her free time she enjoys spending time with her family and being the best mom she can be to her 2 and 4 legged kids!

Jolynn (FRONT END ASSOCIATE)

Jolynn has been an active member of our team since January 2022. You can typically find Jolynn’s smiling face behind the front desk, doing laundry, or cleaning the shop. Jolynn has always had a love for animals. She currently has 2 cats and 2 dogs. When one of our frequent boarding dogs owner passed away Jolynn happily stepped up to give Leo a home!

jeremy (mANAGER AND GROOMER)

Jeremy made the move to Lucky Paws in 2020, after leaving H&H. He said it was the best decision he made in a long time.

He’s the front desk coordinator and groomer-in-training.

Don’t let that big beard fool you, Jeremy is an absolute sweet heart. He loves working with animals (even the tough ones) and is proud to be a part of the Lucky Paws family.