Humble Beginnings

Cherie began training dogs back in 1989 after her dog, Amanda, took off after another dog and she watched her get hit by a car. It became clear that she needed to seek training for herself and her beloved companion that she nearly lost.

While attending dog school in a prominent Sacramento facility she quickly excelled with her on leash skills. She became a demo dog handler and an assistant instructor at the dog training school, going to all the classes. Everyone thought she and her dog were quite the team.

However, back in 1989, the primary method of dog training was the old “yank and crank” – put a collar on the dog, corrected for being wrong, and gave praise when they did it right. That was super, and no doubt on leash they were quite the team. But the instructor and Cherie had a bit of a secret, and that was that no matter what techniques they used to get off leash, Amanda would take off every time. On leash her skills were impressive, but off leash was not an option for them.

Graduate School

After three years with this company, Cherie had to take a break to pursue  her graduate studies, but as soon as the Boards were over, nearly 4 years later, Cherie was back on the dog training field.

The change-up in philosophy was astounding. Suddenly we were talking about clickers and dolphins and how Sea World trained dolphins and whales without choke collars and equipment. Instead they used a marker based system and focused on benevolent leadership, not dominance based theories.

Cherie quickly started over in this new program without any equipment but with an ever-growing understanding of promoting what was important to Amanda and having her earn things, not expect them as a matter of right. They quickly began assisting other students as well as working on their own training issues. Within four months she was able to take Amanda off lead after 7.5 years of Amanda taking off every time she was let off lead. What a huge difference in their life! Cherie learned that Amada has previously respected the equipment but had not respected Cherie.

A Change in Philosophy

This insight lead to a philosophical shift in training methodology for Cherie. While equipment can work, it can also mask problems that are best solved through smarter training methods.

In 1997, she got her first working-lines-bred German Shepherd, from Jim and Julie Barnes of Wenatchee German Shepherds, and she began her career training in Search and Rescue.

She certified two different dogs in Search and Rescue. She was certified in Area work, Human Remains Detection, and Avalanche work. She went on numerous searches throughout California and Nevada. She served on the Testing Team as an Evaluator for her Organization as well as the State of California OES certified testers for HRD. She was one of the original teams hand selected for a the formation of a special team of search dogs serving Yosemite National Parks, known as YoDogs.

IPO/IGP Formerly Schutzhund

In 2006 Cherie began competing in the sport of IPO/IGP (formerly Schutzhund). Within 18 months of starting in the sport, she and her dog had earned a Schutzhund 3 with a qualifying score for Nationals – quite an accomplishment in a pretty fast time frame! Since then she has titled 10 other dogs in the sport, four to a BH, one to an IPO2, and five dogs to a Schutzhund 3.

Most recently she has trained her current competition dog, Baxter, to an IPO3, achieving spots on the USA Universal Sieger Team as well as having competed in both 2018 in Belgium and 2019 in England. Cherie and Baxter earned 6th place in England.

What is especially unique about Cherie and Baxter is that Cherie is Baxter’s fifth handler. Baxter moved through multiple homes, yet had not found success until he met her. Baxter is a talented dog but is very strong and had his own agenda. Cherie has worked extremely hard to form a cohesive respectful relationship with Baxter. Baxter thrived (as do most dogs) under this style of training and they flourished as a team!

In addition to running her facility full time, Cherie is now also the Executive Director for Infinite PawsAbilities, a 501©(3) that rescues dogs from the shelter and teaches inmates at Mule Creek State Prison to train them. Appropriate dogs may be trained for service work, search and rescue or as a facility dog. 

Cherie is now focusing on mentoring the next generation of trainers as she has started the Pro-Trainer Academy She feels strongly that new trainers need to have significant hands-on experience on a variety of dogs. So often, programs don’t always offer the ability for new trainers to get hands-on with many different dogs. Having the school allow for online learning and an active facility allows our students exposure to “All. Things. Dog.”