Every Dog Training School: Obedience, Problem Solving, Behavior Modification

From Sandra Sproull-Kowalski, a long-time breeder/handler of Golden Retrievers, and a licensed UKC conformation and obedience judge:

I got to know Shannon White, a trainer for Dulles Gateway Obedience Training Club in Northern Virginia, in 1999. I was so impressed with her ability to read dogs and develop behavioral modification programs to eliminate problem behaviors that I hired her to work for the Dog School of Leesburg.

Shannon has the innate ability to work the most difficult problem dogs and, even more important, communicate to the owners how to work with their dogs and achieve success.

Whether training at a client's home, privately at the dog school or leading a class, Shannon's professionalism and success rate is one of the best I have seen in my 30 years of dog training.

Sandra Sproull-Kowalski
Leesburg, VA

When we got a new Leonberger puppy, Gulliver, I somewhat rashly promised the breeder that we would show him if he had potential. Show handling is something I had never done and did not have much inclination to try.

We had put Gulliver in Puppy K class with Shannon and were impressed with her skills as a trainer and instructor. Several months later, when Gulliver started to look like he might be show quality, I turned to Shannon for help. I wanted her to handle him (she is "lord of the ring"). Instead, she taught me how to do it. Shannon is a skilled teacher and her enthusiasm for all things training related is infectious. With Shannon's guidance show handling quickly went from being something I was doing out of a sense of obligation, to something that seemed not so bad, to something that I now quite enjoy. Four show weekends later our 16 month old puppy has won Best Youth Dog four times, Reserve Winners Dog three times (including the Leonberger National Specialty), and Winners Dog once. I am quite sure that this would not have happened without Shannon's help. She had made show handling fun and effective. If she can teach me to do it, she can teach anyone!

Harry Austin
Dyke, VA

I first contacted Shannon in the summer of 2006 to teach me
how to show my Anatolians that I had purchased. Having had
dogs most of my life I was competent at socializing dogs and teaching basic obedience to them, but I had never shown them. She was able to assess my skill level and immediately go from there. Her training and teamwork has reaped wonderful results. Her common sense approach to training people and dogs is enhanced by her sense of humor. She makes lessons fun for both dog and owner and my dogs are always happy to see her!

Anatolians are a very intelligent and independent breed and sometimes conventional training methods don't work. My male was a very good puppy, learned quickly and had a great recall. However, when he was a little over 6 months old, he decided that he didn't need to come when called. Nothing worked and I didn't want to harm the great relationship between canine and human that we had developed. I called Shannon to see if she had any suggestions. Of course, she did. An E-collar?! I was skeptical at first, but when she taught me how to communicate with it the dog responded immediately and was happy. Having never seen an E-collar properly used before I was amazed.

Shannon is also good at evaluating a puppy for a show dog prospect. I asked her to go along and look at this puppy--mainly to find any faults and talk me out of purchasing it. Long story short, Shannon liked her. I took her home and judging by her debut in the show ring, she will make a wonderful show dog in addition to a great companion. Since I have multiple dogs, Shannon also handles at shows for me. I recommend her highly.

Catherine O'Brien
Maidens, VA