Rachel Pearson was introduced to the world of dog sports early in life. Raised by a family heavily involved in conformation, obedience, and agility, Rachel began competing as a young child. By her teenage years she was teaching dog training with her local training club. While conformation and obedience were her introductions to the training world, agility soon became Rachel’s grand passion.

As a young adult, Rachel trained dogs semi-professionally for both sport and to address behavioral issues. It was during this time that she started to seek out and study the science of positive reinforcement based training, motivated by her studies in college. In 2010 she obtained a Bachelors of Science in Psychology, having focused heavily on the study of behavior modification and learning theory.

In 2015, while living in San Diego, California Rachel started her own agility training school, Strategic Dog Sports. In 2016, when Rachel moved back to Texas, she took a full time job at a local training facility to teach agility professionally. In 2021, Rachel made Strategic Dog Sports her full time career. Her love for science and her consideration for the feelings of the dogs she works with has continued to motivate Rachel to seek out new and progressive training methods to apply to her agility training. It is this zeal for learning that Rachel attributes to her success with a wide variety of breeds she has personally trained, including Beagles, Belgian Sheepdogs, Catahoula Leopard Dogs, Labrador Retrievers, Border Collies, Chihuahuas, and Belgian Malinios, as well as her ability to help students  and their dogs with issues from behavioral to elite performance.

Rachel is a well respected just for UKI (UK Agility International) and has judged many notable events, including Cups and Classics. Rachel believes watching thousands upon thousands of agility runs has taught her more than she ever would have known it would, and given her a different viewpoint on trialing, competing, and the way dogs move and think.

​In 2020 Rachel launched her first online class, Stimulus Control Games, and soon after was teaching the program as an in-person seminar. Since then, teaching workshops and seminars has become a passion of hers, and has granted Rachel the opportunity to work with thousands of dogs, thus continuing to learn and adapt her own training strategies. Today, Rachel teaches a wide variety of workshops and programs all over the country, as well as works remotely with clients all over the world. 

Accolades

Rachel has competed at the highest levels of UKI, USDAA, AKC (and ISC). Along with numerous Championships in multiple agility organizations and countless podiums and wins at Regional Championships events, Cups, and Classics, Rachel's major accomplishments include:

*7 National Championships (USDAA and UKI)
*5 Vice National Championships (USDAA and UKI)
*Multiple world teams (IFCS and WAO)
*Over 20 UKI Cup and Classic and USDAA Regional Wins
*ISC Cup Overall Wins

For more information about Rachel, visit her website at:

Using the most current, positive reinforcement-based training methods, Liz has held her Certified Pet Dog Trainer credential (CPDT-KA) since 2011, and works regularly with both high level behavior modification and canine sport clientele, both locally in Southern California, and across the country.

Liz competes locally and nationally in agility with her dogs. She and her dogs have won and podiumed at the UKI US Open, the UKI West Coast Open, multiple UKI Cups and Classics, and multiple USDAA Regional events. Liz works with clients in the San Diego, California area, at private facilities across the US, and online. She loves to teach her students the importance of learning theory, how to better observe their dogs, and technical training mechanics.

Liz has also competed with and titled her dogs in AKC agility, AKC obedience, NACSW nosework, and barn hunt.

She also stays informed and educated on the ever-evolving practices of dog training, behavior modification, and behavior analysis. She has attended dozens of lectures and seminars of many of the pre-eminent leaders of the animal training industry, including graduating from Dr. Susan Friedman’s Living and Learning with Animals course, completing a week studying in-person under Ken Ramirez in his Dive Deep; An Advanced Training Course, and spending a week in Mexico observing street dogs with Sue Sternberg. Ongoing, continuing education is critical component of Liz’s work, and she is a lifelong student and learner.

Her true love is being well off the beaten path out in nature with her dogs.

For more information about Liz, please visit her website at;