Meet the Keswick Dog Trainer!

Hi, I’m Jess. I’m a professional dog trainer and I train many family dogs in Keswick, Virginia—in fact, family dogs are my specialty! I am passionate about helping family dogs remain in their homes (safely and happily), and helping families incorporate their beloved dog into more of family life.

My focus on family dogs comes from my experience with my own family dog, Sadie. When we adopted Sadie, she was young and ill. As we nursed her back to health, we started to see some concerning behaviors emerge. When she bit a guest in our home, I knew I was in over my head and it was time to get help.

I hired every dog trainer I could find, but no one got us closer to a safer Sadie. I have a family and my kids were young at the time, so I knew there was no way I could continue to keep an aggressive dog in my home. Thankfully, I found balanced training and I learned how to change Sadie’s behavior myself.

Today, Sadie is still with us. She is a happy, healthy and SAFE member of our family, and she is the inspiration behind Sadie’s Rules K9 Training. Whether your dog is aggressive or just needs better manners, I’d be honored to help you, too.

Click here to watch a 1-minute video that explains more about balanced training and how Sadie’s Rules came to be:

Professional Dog Training in a Home Environment

All dogs are trained right here in my home alongside my dogs and my family. Dogs are more comfortable in a home environment rather than a facility and most importantly, training right here in my home allows me to teach each dog the same skills and patterns they’ll use to behave better once they return home.

All trainees learn how to be calm in a home environment and around other dogs. Safety is our top priority, of course, so rest assured that if your dog has issues with people or other dogs, we’ll take all safety precautions to keep everyone safe.

Everyone sleeps here in my home, too—not in a separate facility. Each dog has their own crate and all trainees learn how to be comfortably crated in a home environment, even while activity goes on around them.

We’re located in Nellysford, Virginia, which is a short drive from Keswick. Many of our trainees hail from Keswick and the Glenmore community and we’d be delighted to welcome others! While your dog is here with us, they’ll enjoy several acres of hiking trails on our property, our fenced and unfenced yards, and field trips to nearby towns like Crozet and Charlottesville.

Hear from some of our happy clients!

We’d love to help your beloved dog develop the behavior, manners and skills they need to be a safe and happy member of the family!

We offer three dog training options:

board & train

This program teaches your dog everything they need to know to become a well mannered family dog! This program is a good fit for dogs who need behavior modification as well as those who just need manners.

private lessons

This is a good option for motivated owners who have the time and desire to learn how to train their dog. Private lessons are for dogs who don’t have any significant behavioral issues but need to learn obedience.

Puppy training

Set a solid foundation for your puppy with our puppy training programs! Our 10-day puppy program is appropriate for puppies ages 12-16 weeks. It teaches basic puppy skills and manners and it teaches you how to build on that!