A better dog to live with, and a happier one
Trailing, tracking, training and solo walks, from a former Search and Rescue K9 Handler
About The Good Dog School
What I Do
Dogs aren't "bad". Generally they're bored, under stimulated, or never taught what to do with themselves, and it comes out as pulling, ignoring you, climbing the walls at home or being hard work on a walk.
This is about giving your dog something better to do.
I teach trailing and tracking, the scent work that lets a dog switch its nose on and actually use it. I do everyday training that makes a dog easier to live with, recall that holds, manners at home and on the lead, the engagement that ties it together. And I take dogs that can't go out with others for one to one walks, the reactive, the elderly, the ones other walkers turn down.
I won't promise you an overnight fix, and I'll never lie to you about what's possible. What I will do is look honestly at what your dog needs, tell you the truth about it, and give you a plan built around your dog and your life, not a generic obedience script.
Whatever you came here for, a dog with a job, a dog that listens, or a safe pair of hands to walk the one nobody else will, that is what I'm here for.
Book a session and let's get started.
Meet Sam and Boomer
Sam
I'm Sam, a qualified Professional Dog Training Instructor with The Guild of Dog Trainers and a member of the International Association of Canine Professionals (IACP). My background spans almost a decade in the dog food industry, years shadowing respected trainers, and hands on work with dogs of every breed and temperament, including the ones most people struggle with.
I'm also a former Search and Rescue Dog Handler, and a Trailing Instructor trained with Trailing K9. Handling a working search dog teaches you how scent, drive and focus actually work, in the kind of high pressure conditions where most dogs come apart. That sits underneath everything I do, and my trailing and tracking I then trained in formally, so you get both sides. The feel for working dogs that only comes from doing it for real, and proper qualification in the exact discipline I'm teaching you and your dog.
That's the difference. Anyone can run a dog through a drill in a quiet room. Building a dog that works its nose properly, listens when it counts, and stays steady with everything going on around it is a different job, and it's the one I'm built for. The same clear, honest, results focused principles run through all of it, whether I'm teaching your dog to trail, sorting out its manners, or walking the one nobody else will take.
Boomer
Meet Boomer, my Scott type American Bulldog and retired Search Dog.
I adopted him at eight months old, after he'd been abused and then abandoned. He was exactly the kind of dog people give up on, a difficult start, a bull breed, a reputation to overcome. There was nothing quick about bringing him through it, just consistent training, clear structure and a lot of patience. He came through it into a confident, capable dog, and then went further than anyone expected. Boomer made history as the first American Bulldog in the world to qualify as a fully certified Search Dog, and the two of us searched for vulnerable missing people alongside the police before we both retired.
A retired working dog needs a job as much as a working one does, and keeping his nose busy is how I keep him content. These days that's tracking and trailing, with a side of scentwork, because he's a sniffing machine who loves to use his nose. He still comes into sessions with me too, settling excitable young dogs, giving nervous ones the confidence to be braver, and keeping older dogs social and engaged. His steady temperament makes him a dog the others learn from, and many of them come on faster with him there than they would with me alone.
Boomer is the whole idea in one dog. Give a dog a purpose and let it do the thing it was made for, and you get the best out of it. That is what I want for yours.
