About Us!
We are a husband (Charlie) and wife (Heather) team located in Big Stone Gap, VA and take pride in the quality of care that we bring to dogs, the level of education that we bring to you (their humans), and the honesty that we provide about how to change your dog's behavior.
We are blessed to be able to provide this service to people from our area when they previously had to drive to TN or KY to obtain dog training. And even then, it was from a big box store or a franchise. We have worked hard to bring a family atmosphere to you and your dog as we teach obedience and work on behavioral issues. We are also pleased to provide other services such as boarding (only available to dogs we have trained), service dog training, and fun activities for you and your dog like nose work.
**We do not provide protection training, guard dog training, or anything similar**
Our previous career in the [human] behavioral health field before this awesome journey with dogs, also comes in handy when teaching the human part of the team.
Like most of you, we had that dog that we decided fairly early on that we might need some help with. We immersed ourselves in reading, watching videos, and working with trainers in person. That was it… we were hooked! We learned from taking courses and classes in obedience and behavior, as well as from the dogs that we fostered (around 70 or so), and from our own pack.
Dogs are our best teachers. No two are exactly alike and all of them provide us with more knowledge than we once had.
Since then, Heather has learned under some world renowned trainers to hone her skills and bring back that information to help the handlers and dogs in our community.
These are some of those:
-In 2018 she spent a week with the champion Labrador Retriever breeder/Service Dog trainer/and all around amazing dog genius, Debby Kay, owner and founder of Chilbrook Kennels and Diabetic Alert Dog Super Sniffer Program.
-In 2019 she attended a seminar to learn from Blake Rodriguez of Dream Come True K9. He runs a successful training facility in Manhattan, NY and Florida.
-In 2020 she attended a workshop by Nelson Hodges, the Director at Canine-Human Relationship Institute and the Founder/Canine Behaviorist/Ethologist at IACP, CDT, CDTA, PDTI, CIS and is on the board of directors at Canine Content.
-A seminar was also scheduled for Training Between The Ears, hosted by Mark & Stephanie McCabe which focuses on a dog’s mindset and relaxation techniques went virtual due to Covid.
-Heather has also completed an online remote collar course by Tyler Muto of K9 Connection in Buffalo, NY since Covid has lasted longer than anticipated.
We hope that all of this continuing education brings more than one tool to the issues that many dogs face in our community and helps to keep dogs in their homes vs being surrendered to our already overflowing shelters.
Contact us by sending a message to our Facebook page www.facebook.com/Thegoodshepherddogtraining/
or by emailing us at gsdogtraining@yahoo.com!
Our Pack
