LEAH GANGELHOFF, CPDT-KA, CBCC-KA, CNWI,

Senior Faculty Member with the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW™)

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Leah Gangelhoff owns & operates Flint Hill K-9 Training, LLC serving the Greater Birmingham, AL area and beyond. She is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA), a Certified Behavior Consultant Canine-Knowledge Assessed (CBCC-KA), a Senior Faculty Member at the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW™), an NACSW™ Trial Judge and Trial Certifying Official, a Certified Nose Work Instructor (CNWI), and an avid K9 Nose Work® competitor herself. She has developed and presented over 30 workshops/seminars nationally and internationally on a variety of topics in K9 Nose Work®. Leah has owned and operated her own canine training and behavior business since 2002. During that time she has developed thousands of private comprehensive education courses for dogs and their owners for puppy, obedience, and serious behavior issues of all kinds, including fear and aggression.

 

Leah currently specializes in teaching K9 Nose Work® Competitive Coaching Groups, clinics, workshops, and seminars nationally and internationally. She also has a limited number of students locally. 

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Full Bio: 

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• Leah completed her formal education in Canine Training and Behavior at Triple Crown School for dog trainers in 2001-2002. Her formal education in dog training and behavior has continued every year since via formal certifications and continuing education. She also holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) majoring in Psychology. 

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• Leah is Certified both as a Professional Dog Trainer and as a Canine Behavior Consultant through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT). The CCPDT, established in 2001, is the leading independent certifying organization for the dog training profession. The CCPDT is the leader in the development of rigorous exams to demonstrate mastery of humane, science-based dog training practices. Thousands of dog training professionals worldwide maintain the CCPDT’s certifications as a mark of high professional distinction. CCPDT is the only independently administered, statistically validated testing for dog training professionals in the U.S. In an unregulated industry, sitting for the exam is voluntary. Certificants must demonstrate advanced knowledge through formal testing in applied behavior analysis, ethology, body language, consulting skills and best practices, life stages, anatomy and physiology.​

 

• Leah has over 1000 hours of professional narcotics detection training with a large group of dogs prior to the birth of nose work as a pet dog sport, with mentors Ron Gaunt, Amy Herot, and Rodney Spicer from 2004-2006.  Amy and Ron are Co-founders of the National Association of Canine Scent Work, NACSW™, and the sport of K9 Nose Work® and Rodney Spicer is the President and Training Director of Gold Coast K9. Leah has extensive experience with high drive toy reward dogs if you are looking for assistance with that with your nose work dog :). 

 

• She has personally passed professional detection certifications (both written and search tests) in narcotics detection (POST standards) with Evolution K9 in northern California and with the Oxnard Police Department separately with two different dogs (German Shepherd and Papillon, probably the first and only in narcotics detection).​

 

• Leah is a Certifying Official (C.O.) and Judge for all levels up to Summit, for National Association of Canine Scent Work™ K9 Nose Work® Trials - 2011 to present. 

 

• She is a NACSW™ Senior Faculty Member and has collaborated with Founders and Faculty to create and teach Continuing Education courses for Certified Nose Work Instructors. She has currently developed and is teaching a NACSW™ continuing education webinar series for Certified Nose Work Instructors.  

 

• She has developed and presented over 30 seminars/workshops nationally and internationally in K9 Nose Work® since 2011. She has also developed and presented webinars in K9 Nose Work hosted by NACSW™'s Education Department for Certified Nose Work Instructors and by Dogs of Course. Click here to see what others have to say about attending a seminar with Leah​.

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• She has been on the faculty of over 25 different K9 Nose Work® Training Camps since 2011 - invited by the Camp Director and Founders, teaching daily training sessions and giving presentations/talks/webinars. Approximately 100-120 dogs and owners attend each camp and the instructors each teach 3 sessions a day with different groups each day for four days each Camp.

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• Leah has much trial experience as a Competitor. She has trained and trialed 4 of her own dogs in K9 Nose Work® and is grateful to have co-founder, Amy Herot, as her mentor. Leah's sport nose work journey began with her late German Shepherd, Konner, in K9 Nose Work® in 2011 and together, they trialed all the way up through to the NACSW™ Summit Division for Elite Champion teams. Leah and Konner trialed in a total of five Summit Trials, achieving the highest title possible in K9 Nose Work®, a Summit title, placing 2nd Overall with pronounced designations and first and second placements in many Summit trial searches. Leah earned an NW3 Elite title with her Belgian "Tervinois", Zephyr, placing First Overall twice and 2nd Overall once, with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd placements in each of the elements. She is currently trialing with her 11 lb terrier mix shelter dog, Bruno Mars, and has earned their NW3 Elite, placing 2nd overall for that trial. Leah also has a young Cattle Dog mix, Butterbean, and recently earned an ORT title with her.

 

• Since 2015, Leah has been teaching full day-long nose work coaching days to participants from all over the region monthly.

 

• She has been teaching K9 Nose Work® classes and private sessions weekly every year since 2010.

 

• She has attended four of the NACSW™ Instructor certification courses in total since 2011 (only one is required), to increase her own learning, and completed all certification requirements in March of 2011. She accrues yearly CEUs to maintain this certification. 

 

• She has attended 17 different in-person seminars in K9 Nose Work taught by the founders of NACSW™ and a variety of webinars by many different nose work instructors for her own learning.​

 

• Leah has attended a multitude of training and behavior seminars, webinars, workshops, read books, etc. with the top names in behavior every year since 2001. (Patricia McConnell, Sue Sternberg, Ian Dunbar, John Rogerson, Leslie DeFusco, Nicole Wilde, Pia Silvani, Roger Abrantes, Kathy Sdao, Dr. Sophia Yin, Jean Donaldson, Karen Overall, Karen Pryor, Stanley Coren, Alexandra Horowitz, Brenda Aloff, Nicholas Dodman, Melena DeMartini-Price, Ray Coppinger, James O'Heare, Terry Ryan, Ken Ramirez, Suzanne Clothier, Mary Burch, and more).