On this episode, Dennis sits down with Founder of Hellak9's, Sharod Johnson.

About Hellak9's:

Sharod Johnson and Tara Khatchi founded HellaK9s as a young couple offering group classes in public parks and dog sitting in their home in Chula Vista, California. While Tara took care of the dogs, Sharod worked as an apprenticing Schutzhund helper, and dog trainer, in addition to being active duty. They simultaneously ran a Belgian Malinois rescue where they integrated group classes with volunteers who stepped up to handle the dogs. It wasn't long before they grew notoriety and needed to move to a larger property in Alpine, California; this is where HellaK9s San Diego continues to operate today. The ranch-like property provides 200-acres of privacy to exercise and train dogs with their growing staff.

After a successful 2 years in Alpine, Tara and Sharod decided it was time to head back east. Sharod and Tara started their second location, HellaK9s Stafford, in Stafford, VA. This is HellaK9s first storefront and new Headquarters. With the help of a few aspiring trainers, two additional East Coast locations have opened; Virginia Beach, where Sharod finished his Naval career, and New Jersey.

Most recently, Sharod began hosting seminars in Anchorage, Alaska for the PSA club, Rheaper K9. This started a great partnership with the owners of 907 Hell Hounds, Kaylynn and Jesse Deans, resulting in the merger and creation of HellaK9s’ 5th location, HellaK9s Alaska.

HellaK9s’ growth has been on the demand of an emergent pet industry needing trainers with a logical approach to conditioning and the insatiable hunger of new handlers stepping into the working dog world. HellaK9s has rapidly grown from 15 to 32 employees in 2022.

What makes HellaK9s unique is we don't solely train pet dogs. We also train rescue dogs, military working dogs, Police K9s, and sport dogs. In 2020, HellaK9s started performing workshops, and seminars, as well as participating in joint training exercises with agencies like the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, Manassas PD, Langley and Keesler AFB K9 units, and Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek K9. HellaK9s’ goal is to better the dog community by providing dog owners access to training that goes deeper than the behavior level but dives into the emotional state of the dog.

Today, Dennis and Sharod discuss the story of how Sharod started Hellak9's, his military career in the NAVY and how he transitioned into the K9 training business, the type of dogs they train and the specialty training that Hellak9's provides.

Find more info on HellaK9's here: https://www.hellak9s.com/

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