Shepherds K9 Services

Our past experiences with Jack Russell Terriers have been rewarding, but after receiving our new puppy, Finn, finding Stephanie Shepherd Ezzo and Shepherd K9 has truly been a game changer. JRTs are highly intelligent, joyful dogs with boundless energy—to the degree that it’s very unusual to meet one off-lead except in a rural setting. When Finn finished his four weeks of intensive training with Shepherd K9, he was a changed puppy, in all the right ways. Finn knows multiple commands and he heeds every one of them. He is a very happy dog, very full of life—but he is very content to stay by our side and to comply with our command. Finn is confident that we will keep him safe and fulfilled every doggy day of his life. If you want your dog to have the best training in the business, look no further than Shepherd K9! Keith Ball & Nathan Hoffman Charlotte, NC

Stephanie is amazing. I brought my 1 year old husky to be trained as my service dog for PTSD. I appreciated the fact that she required a doctor's note before she would train him. She trained him for 6 weeks straight and then trained me. I needed remedial training after about 2 months and she met me in a busy public place and worked with me and my dog. Taz has now been my service dog for over a year and is doing great. He goes with me everywhere and no issues. Huskies are not known for being service dogs because of their high prey drive and stubborn personalities. Taz is doing fantastic and it is because of Stephanie

We had tossed around the idea of in kennel training before and had visited another facility and said absolutely, not, BUT I knew I wanted my puppy trained for therapy because I thought it would be a huge asset to my Media Center and school. When we had our evaluation with Stephanie and learned how knowledgeable she was and how AMAZINGLY CLEAN her facility is, I knew I could send our puppy. I am AMAZED at the outcome when we picked our puppy up. We receive compliments about how well behaved and how great he listens for his age. He attends school with me and the students are wild about him. He still has his quirky, fun personality, but he immediately knows when I put his collar on or get his leash that he is working and he completely changes. I have texted Stephanie multiple times since Graduation and she always is quick to give me tips and advice. If you are on the fence about training, go visit Shepherds K9 and I promise you will decide it is the right thing to do.

Stephanie is the best! There are not sufficient words to express how excellent she is and how grateful my family is for truly turning our dog around. We were having big issues with our adorable rescue puppy. She was wild, stubborn and anxious in a combination that meant we had almost no normal interactions with her, and we could barely have her out of her crate. It seems odd to say about a dog, when they typically have such love for their “people”, but we even felt like she didn’t like us. At six months in and after a lot of work, we were so sad and worried and constantly agonizing about what to do. At this lowest point a good friend gave me Stephanie’s name. One night when I couldn’t sleep worrying about the situation I started reading Stephanie’s reviews, and for the first time in a while I had hope. Her reviews were just glowing, and they spoke to me. I was so worried about spending that kind of money and being in the same situation after training, and I saw a review that said something like - “If you are worried about spending that kind of money, don’t. It’s worth it all.” At that point we decided to do board and train with Stephanie, and it was the best decision ever. Stephanie is SO knowledgeable, skilled, professional, organized and capable. She has to be at the top of her field. Our dog was with Stephanie for six weeks. When we picked her up Stephanie trained our whole family, and we tentatively left not knowing how it would go without Stephanie by our side. Thanks to Stephanie’s work with our dog (and us!) everything has turned around. The best way to say it is the week we returned home with our dog my husband said at some point, “We have a normal dog now.” She knows her commands and listens to them, she is loving with us now and interacts with us as any sweet dog does, she’s out of her crate nearly all of the time enjoying the house, she’s calm and well-mannered in our home, and we love her so. While we always loved her, before meeting Stephanie we were very unsure if we could handle our dog going forward, and thanks to Stephanie we can. What a gift Stephanie has, and we so much appreciate the difference she made for our family! We will definitely use Stephanie for boarding whenever we can to get some “refresher” lessons in. This family highly recommends Stephanie. She exceeded our expectations and impacted our life in such a positive way.