Meet the Trainers!
Hello! My name is Alesha, I am 22 years old- despite looking 14 most days. I grew up in Barry county, where my love for agriculture and the outdoors flourished. The majority of my life has been spent working with animals or in the woods.
Understanding animals has always come easily to me. I was heavily involved in 4-H since I started as a young clover (5 years old). I showed dogs, horses, goats and rabbits between Barry and Kent County fairs. Showmanship was my favorite class with all of my animals. I loved that both my knowledge and partnership was judged. Since aging out, I have continued to follow my passion of training horses and dogs!
In 2005, my family started raising Paws With a Cause service dogs. As a puppy raiser, you are responsible for teaching appropriately 40 commands, socializing and exposing the dog to various environments. We begin when the puppy is about 10 weeks old. By the time they are a year old they go just about everywhere with us (grocery store, restaurants, movie theater, work, etc.). At 18 months old they go back to PAWS for specialized training that we like to call “doggie college”. Our 14th PAWS puppy goes back this fall! Growing up with this program has taught me a lot about training dogs and has been a great character building experience. Giving the dogs back is incredibly hard after the time you spend with them, but knowing the amazing things they do for their client makes it well worth it.
I grew up with a family of dog lovers. Our dogs have always been treated as members of our family. My first dog Cola, a gentle hearted Golden Retriever, was my best friend for 11 years. With her I found my love for conformation, agility, rally, and obedience. Now as an adult myself, my 3 dogs are my kids. My days are based around their needs. Verity, my 7 month old Mal, is currently working on training obedience, scent work, barn hunt and conformation. As she matures we will add FastCat, lure coursing, and dock diving!
Thank you for being a part of Scent Savvy’s journey! I look forward to getting to know you and your fur baby!
Hello! I am so excited to meet you. My name is Laura Doerfner. I have been married to my husband, Joe, for 28 years (and counting), mom to 4 grown children and proud grandma of 3 grandsons. I grew up mostly in Perry, Mi where I was involved in 4H and FFA. In 2003, My husband and I moved our hobby horse farm to a 37 acre property in Henderson. It is definitely our personal Garden of Eden.
I can scarcely remember a time in my life that I didn’t have a dog. They say they are man’s best friend, but I beg to differ. Through the years, my family and I have had many different breeds, purebred and mixed breeds. Currently, I have two German Shepherds. I purchased Liesel (Czech Border Patrol and WGWL lines) as a personal protection dog, but soon discovered my love for showing and dog sports. Liesel unfortunately prefers her duties at home as opposed to the show world. Enter Jaxon, WGSL and WGWL lines. He loves the show world and everyone in it. Our passions so far have been Barnhunt, Nosework, FastCat, Lure Coursing, Conformation and Rally.
Over the last year, Alesha and I had been toying with the idea of opening a training center in our area. Our community has a need for something local, as we are always traveling a distance for training. When Coach Karli, from Michigan Barn Hunt Club approached us with a mentoring opportunity, we jumped on it. We are honored to be learning from one of, if not the best, Barn Hunt Trainer in Michigan.
I hope that you will follow and join in our journey. We have a lot of exciting plans for the future. Please let us know what kinds of classes you would like to see. Our goal is to strengthen the bond with your pet, while helping you to make them a respectable member of the community. Any dream is possible when you and your best friend are a team!
Ready to Train ?