OUR STORY…
In years past her home had a German shepherd they took to obedience school. Gina paid attention to all of the details about obedience and your relationship with your dog. The family’s shepherd was a bully and was a very dominant dog – not good with kids. One day Gretchen, the German shepherd, bit her and her younger sister. At 12 years of age, Gina called the dog trainer and asked her what was happening and how it could be fixed. Enlightened, Gina realized that Gretchen was not aggressive, as her parents thought, but rather needed her role in the “pack” changed. Gina knew then, dogs were something very unique and deserved to be understood and have a strong leader.
Since the age of 14, Gina wanted to pursue a career with canines. Unsure of how to do this or where to start, she read every article and book she could find. Fueling the desire to work with dogs, she watched 4-H dog shows and decided she wanted a border collie. At age 16 she learned that one of her 4-H instructors was a border collie breeder. For her birthday her parents surprised her with her dog, Skye.
When Gina got Skye, she was 17. She applied everything she learned from the trainer and all of those books and articles. Training Skye in basic obedience, grew Skye to be a reliable recall dog, a dog who is completely off a leash in a normal environment and a few tricks. Needless to say Gina loved the process and the evidence of success. She wanted more!
After an 18 month internship with the woman who originally started Gina’s desire to be a dog trainer, her business began. During the internship, Gina began walking dogs, pet sitting dogs, and getting herself into the entrepreneur world. Slowly she has started building a business and watching it grow. Late in 2018, broke off from the trainer and built Alpha Omega Dog Service.
Skye is the reason for all of this. She is almost 8 now and the trainer gave Gina the internship because she had trained a dog to be off a leash!
GINA & SKYE’S TEAM
Gina Mattei-Swank – Owner, Dog Trainer
Currently studying under Fayette Area Dog Training, 2022 – present
Studied under Cathy L. Peters, Hickory Grove Kennels, April 2017 – October 2018
S.T.A.R. Puppy Evaluator
BRIDGET – Dog Walker
BROOKE – Dog Walker
Bob – Dog Walker
SAVANNAH – Pet Sitter
Lisa – Dog Walker
JIM – Dog Trainer, Dog Walker, Special Event Handler
He developed a passion for training dogs after he got his dogs, Lexie and Luna.
Jim’s son is a k9 officer and helped his dad train his two dogs. During this time he fell in love with the profession and took online courses as well. Jim recalls a lot of the training information he learned from taking his son to dog training classes when he was a little boy with their family dogs.
“I’m confident that I could have both of my dogs heel in the perfect position on command, but as I tell people all the time, it’s what you want”
STEPHANIE – Dog Walker