Dustin Schmidt- DOG TRAINER/ OWNER

I started working with dogs professionally in 2004 when I moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, from California, to learn to drive dog sled teams for a tour operation.  What I thought would be a short hiatus from "what I was supposed to be doing" turned into a passion as I became compelled with the way that the dogs interacted with the world.  I began reading books on dog training and studying dog behavior in my free time.  After three years in Wyoming guiding dogsled trips, and one year racing teams competitively, I wanted to take it a step further- I moved to Alaska for a job guiding dogsled trips on the Juneau Icefield.  Working for Alaska Icefield Expeditions, I lived in a remote camp only accessible by helicopter, twelve miles up the Mendenhall Glacier with about 300 sled dogs and twenty people.  Most of our clients were cruise ship passengers hoping to get a taste of the real Alaska. I spent six years working for Alaska Icefield Expeditions.  During my last few years in Alaska I began to wonder if the extensive experience I'd gained training working dogs was something that I could use to help people in the city with their domestic dogs.  I moved to Seattle in 2013, a city that I'd always loved, to test that theory.  Nine years in, it's going better than I could have ever hoped!  The dogs and people that I work with are like family to me and I don't know what I'd do without them.

My training philosophy stems from living with a huge pack of working dogs and learning from them.  While I believe that there are many great human dog trainers out there,  the best dog trainers are dogs themselves.  I've learned that, while sled dogs and pet dogs can be very different, their basic and most important needs are the same.  One of those needs is to have a job.  I believe that the most fulfilling thing for any dog is to have a job and to work as part of a pack with other dogs. With "Less Talk, More Walk" I aim to be your partner in creating this essential and primal experience for your dog and to put them in touch with their most natural and primal side.