Testimonials

Higgins has joined our family and we love having the benefit of having him with us.

It’s kind of surprising how this came about.

When my husband Andy, decided to take our 9 month German Shepherd to Ken Shilling’s dog training classes, I casually asked Ken about Service dogs.

I have felt for several years that I could benefit from an Assist dog, but this became more pronounced in the last year, after many significant surgeries that affected my mobility. Being with Higgins gives me so much pleasure and confidence.  I feel blessed that Higgins had already been trained by Ken for another person that was unable to keep him, so this beautiful dog was returned to the Shilling’s kennels.

My blessing!  That I was in the right place, at the right time.

I have been working with Higgins and Ken for several weeks now, so that we have a smooth transition into our home, and mostly that Higgins and I will have a great relationship.

My heartfelt thanks to Ken, Lynn, Courtney, and especially to Higgins!

Sincerely,

Mary & Andy Dalglish

Rebecca and Joel Say:

"Prior to adopting Luna, our family had set out on a mission to find a
family pet. When my husband first proposed the idea of a German Shepherd, I have to say that I wasn't thrilled. However, one evening he called me into our home office, not knowing he was baiting me, I responded. It was love at first site! Ken had a picture of Luna on his website and she was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. It was not 24 hours before we had met Luna for the first time. Shortly thereafter, we took her home to be with our family forever. She is in every way our best friend. She provides amusement, companionship, and protection. She accompanies us where ever she can and we miss her when she can't. I can honestly say that I can't imagine our lives without her."

Jan Say's

"My beloved Tucker almost didn’t make it. At one year old, he was disobedient and aggressive towards humans and other dogs. Even though our family had raised two other German Shepherds before, Tucker was definitely different. Besides not listening to me, he barred his teeth at me, lunged and growled at other dogs and humans on walks, and soon I realized I was afraid of him.

I was desperate for help and brought him to Ken Schilling. Tucker was out of control during his evaluation. He barked, growled, and pulled at his leash. I signedup for 10 weeks of obedience classes. Tucker had to be muzzled since he lunged at everything that moved in class. I heard other students say to stay away from the “mean dog.” I wanted the ground to open up and swallow both of us, but I know I had to stick with the training or Tucker was going to be given way. After my third class, Tucker bit me. My husband was adamant about getting rid of Tucker and I argued for one more chance. I was determined to make Tucker compliant and I signed up for a year of obedience and hopefully protection training. After we began protection training, his obedience seemed to improve. We continued to train.

Fast forward to today. Tucker and I have entered our fifth year of training. We both just love it and hardly ever miss a class. After 2 years of training, Tucker and I took second place in the intermediate level of the SOKS Challenge, a competition the Schillings hold annually at their country home. The following year, we placed second again.

10 months later, with Ken’s encouragement, Tucker and I went to CA to compete in the first annual World K9 Gladiators competition. We took second place in the semi professional level and came home with not only a trophy, but with a purse of $ as well!

This year at the Schillings’ annual SOKS Challenge, Tucker and I took first place in the advanced level. Tucker rocked!

It’s been an amazing transformation. From a dog who would bare his teeth at me and growl, to a best friend who kisses my face. I will be forever grateful to Ken and Lynn for all their training, support, and encouragement and I am honored to be a student of Ken Schilling, an incredibly talented and gifted trainer."

My husband and I brought Sammie home at 8 weeks old, he rode in my lap all the way and we have been inseparable ever since. Sam is our third German Shepherd so we had experience with his breed and wanted to give him the chance to reach his full potential. I spent all of my free time touching, playing, loving and teaching him the obedience we had learned with our other German Shepherd’s and my husband took Sam everywhere he went and socialized him every chance he got. At a year and a half Sam was a well rounded dog, he was great with people and dogs alike and we had done the best with him we knew how, but it was time to get professional help. A friend told us about Schilling’s Northwest Law Dogs and after checking out the website we agreed this was just what we were looking for.

We made an appointment to meet with Ken and the first thing he said to me after meeting Sam was “You spoil this dog don’t you”. He had us both pegged from the very beginning. One of my biggest problems with Sam was heeling and I was constantly struggling with who was walking who. Within the first few minutes Ken was with Sam he had him heeling like he had always done it. There was no pulling or struggling for control. He made it look so easy I couldn’t believe this was my Sam. Ken has such a way about him he is all about the dogs, the training he provides is more for the people. That morning Ken spent more time teaching me how to heel than he did with Sam.

There is so much more to this training course than we expected. Ken’s family, Lynn and Courtney, are also professional dog trainers and in addition to helping Ken with training made themselves available to provide their support and knowledge when needed. This has been such a great experience for both Sam and us, it has been rewarding watching the changes we have all gone through. Soon we will be coming to the end of the 16 week obedience and protection classes and we plan to continue “our” training with the annual classes offered.

Thank you Ken, Lynn & Courtney for everything.

– Vonnie, Daniel & Sam Christensen