Our Mission

At GRDT, our goal is to assist the dog owning community in enhancing their relationships with their dogs. We believe that by teaching people how dogs learn and what motivates them, we can help improve communication between both species and strengthen the human-animal bond.

Using positive and dog-friendly training techniques, we teach people how to train their dogs while having fun and building a lifelong, mutually rewarding relationship based on trust and understanding.

Our Instructors

Patty Worthington is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer and Graduate of the DOGS! Course at Purdue University's Animal Behavior Clinic. Patty also works at Earlysville Animal Hospital, where she works on dog behavior problems on a daily basis. Two of Patty's dogs, Sadie, a Lab-mix, and Chance, a Beagle are certified Therapy Dogs. Chance and Patty are currently competing in the sport of agility where they have attained multiple titles. Patty is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and the Society for Veterinary Behavior Technicians.

Stacy Sties has been training dogs as well as some exotic animals for over 20 years. She has experience competing in both obedience and agility and has been teaching agility for 6 years. Most of her training has been with dogs, but she has trained pigeons, chickens, parrots, cats, monkeys, and a few dolphins and sea lions. She is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and has earned certificates in exotic animal training as well. Stacy also designs and makes rehabilitation products for small animals.