About Hartley's Hounds Dog Training
Hi, my name is Ruthie. Thank you for checking out our website! I'm so excited about offering my dog training services for Leland and surrounding areas as Hartley's Hounds Dog Training. Our family moved here in March of 2022 from the beautiful island of Guam. In summer 2013, my husband and I relocated to this gorgeous island from Texas. Shortly after arriving on the island with our dog, Halyn, her behavior and demeanor received an immense amount of attention. My husband realized there was a big need to help dog owners and their dogs live a more harmonious life together. We got to work and formed Micronesian Muttz Dog Training in September of that same year. We didn't plan on accepting too many clients as we both had full-time jobs at the time, but things were going very well and I was falling more in love with helping dogs and their owners. In 2015, I resigned from my teaching job and started working full-time as a dog trainer. We had an incredible nine years of helping owners and their dogs while our time in Guam!
We loved our life on the island, but unfortunately, our time on the island came to an end after the pandemic. With the change of geography, I decided to change the name to Hartley's Hounds Dog Training. I love what I do and enjoy helping other people live a happy and less stressful life with their dogs. I'm passionate about helping improve the relationship between pet parents and their dogs that goes beyond obedience training. My training programs are build on mutual respect, trust and a modern open-minded approach between the human and their canine.
About Me (Ruthie)
GET TO KNOW ME I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I graduated from the University of Houston-Downtown with a BA in Education in 2007. I taught middle school for 7 years before transitioning to a full-time dog trainer. My husband did most of the training when we opened in 2013, and I filled in the gaps where help was needed. We were busy, so there was lots of areas to fill in. In 2015, I resigned from my teaching career to pursue dog behavior & training full time. Although I loved being a school teacher, my heart was also working with dogs and their owners.
During our time in Guam, we adopted Texas (our GSD) in 2013, Brodi (our "Boonie") in 2016, and our late sweet dog Aiya (Rotty Boonie) in 2019 and helped foster a number of dogs. They were not like Halyn and they were going to require training. My own gang gave me another reason to continue learning more about canine behavior and improving my handling skills to better understand and communicate with them. Our three dogs are different in their own ways and require their own unique approach of training. Patience, creativity and self-reflection from working with my own dogs and my clients has made me the trainer I am today. I enjoy working with spunky dogs who are dragging their owners on the leash, reacting to different stimuli, ignoring recalls, and dogs who like jumping. I'm passionate about helping dogs that are having a difficult time living in the world with us.
I enjoy spending time with family, going to the pool and beach, walking our dogs, yoga, reading books on canine development, listening to worship music and watching awesome 80's movies during the weekend, with a large bowl of popcorn!
QUALIFICATIONS I'm committed to helping dogs and their owners live a happy and more confident life in this wild world that we share with them. I thrive to approve my skills and knowledge to better serve my own dogs and my clients. I continue to approve my skills by enrolling for online self-coaching sessions, seminars and reading books/articles on canine behavior. I've learned a lot from the seminars and online training; however, my real-learning experience has come from working with my clients' dogs and my own pack.
2017 - Heather Beck's Working With Difficult Dogs 3D seminar in Utah
2017 - Shadow student with Colleen Steckloff from LAK9 in Los Angeles
2019 - Blake Rodriguez's Real World Obedience - New Orleans, LA
2021 - Nelson Hodges' Relationship Based Behavior Modification
2021 - Private coaching consultations from Pat Stuart from Operant Canine in Australia
2021 - Private coaching consultations from Victoria Smith from Take the Lead K9 in Florida
2022 - Larry Krohn Work Shop - Jacksonville, NC
About Jon
Jon graduated from Providence College in Rhode Island. It was because of him that we started dog training in Guam. Jon started training dogs in 2011 in Houston, Texas. He now works full-time as a skydiving instructor. Although he no longer works directly work with clients' dogs, he continues to help with my programs when I need a trigger helper, helps with packs walks and group classes and supports the business side of Hartley's Hounds.
The Hartley Pack
My husband and I live in Leland, NC with our 5 year old daughter and three dogs (Halyn, Brodi and Texas). All who are have been a great help with our training programs. We enjoy going to the beach, taking long off-leash walks with our dogs, traveling, good food and exploring the outdoors.
Why Choose
Hartley's Hounds Dog Training
Let's work together!
I work hard to support our clients before, during and after they've worked with me. Training your dog to become a well-mannered pup doesn't happen over night, so I'm here to support you! I'll get you started before we even meet for our first hands on lesson.
I offer support via email, phone messages and our maintenance and pack walks before, during and after your time with me. I ask clients to give 48 hours to respond.
I enjoy receiving updates and reviewing homework videos. I'm ready to give you feedback. I'll respond within 48 hours.
When you email, message or call Hartley's Hounds, I'll be in direct contact with you. Awesome, right!
I love to have fun with our training!
My programs go beyond obedience. I incorporate and cover the importance of structure play, engagement, confident building activities and environmental exposure.
Hartley's Hounds wants to make sure each dog in our programs receives the help they deserve. I limit my enrollment to make sure that every client and their dog receive the time and support they deserve.
We start off with a FREE 25 minute evaluation to help you learn more about about my programs.
I strive to continue growing and improving my skills. I invest in professional development so that I can bring the best to our clients.
I currently offering free pack walks and group classes to my Behavior & Obedience clients. Our Puppy Head Start clients receive a number of pack walks invites as well!
I offer short pop-up walks and training. If I'm taking one of my dogs on a walk or training at a public park, I'll occasionally send out an open invite to join me to my Obedience & Behavior clients.
We are dog owners ourselves and apply our modern open-minded approach and strategies with our own dogs! I understand life can get busy, so we do our best to follow a realistic training plan!
Clients have access to my Facebook coaching videos to review and practice.
Hartley's Hounds is licensed and insured!