We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Birgit Stutz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Birgit below.

Birgit , appreciate you joining us today. When you were first starting out, did you join a firm or start your own?

Together with my husband, 11 horses, 7 cats and a border collie, I live on a remote horse ranch in northeastern British Columbia, at the foot of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, surrounded by farmland, pastures and endless wilderness,
I’ve been a professional horse trainer, riding coach and clinicians for almost 20 years.
A few years ago I started experiencing more and more dizziness, to the point where I had a hundred dizzy spells a day on some days, making it almost impossible to function, and very dangerous to be around horses.
I had already trained my farm dog Skidboot, a now 4-year-old border collie, to be my service dog to help with agoraphobia, which I have been struggling with for most of my life, but had gotten worse over the past few years (at that time I didn’t make the connection that my dizziness issues aggravated my agoraphobia – I was diagnosed with three vestibular disorders a couple of years ago).
Working with Skidboot on a daily basis, with the support of Krista Levar, head trainer at Caring K9 Institute, made me realize how much I enjoyed training dogs. I also realized how much safer training dogs is compared to working with 1200-1500 lb. horses, even more so for somebody with dizziness!
I talked to Krista about apprenticing with her, and she was more than happy to welcome me on board.
During my apprenticeship, I started working with client dogs on a one by one basis to build up my confidence and improve my skills. A year later I taught my first ever puppy class and soon after added obedience classes as well as service dog training to my services.
This spring I completed my apprenticeship with Caring K9, and I continue to offer private dog training sessions as well as classes at my home base, Falling Star Ranch in Dunster, British Columbia, as part of the Caring K9 team. I look forward to expanding my services to also include trick training classes. Upon request, I also travel to clients for private sessions.

Birgit , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I think I answered many of those questions under the previous question already lol.

I have a passion for herding breeds and service dog training, and I love helping clients bring out the best in their own dogs. Dogs have so much potential! My goal is to help as many people and dogs as possible so they can have a happy, positive, fun relationship.
My horse training philosophy is based on Irwin Insights’ (Chris Irwin) methodology of non-resistance training, so it comes as no surprise that I use positive reinforcement/reinforcement-based choice learning and games to train my own as well as client dogs.
I continue to further my knowledge and I am currently enrolled in three of Susan Garrett’s (Dogs That) online programs. I am also a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Dog Trainers (CAPDT) and I am currently the chair of the CAPDT Service Dog Committee.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

As a long-time horse trainer and riding coach, I already enjoyed a good reputation in the region.
Several of my equine clients have now become canine clients as well!
Word of mouth has been an important part of building my reputation as a dog trainer.
As well, people see me out and about with my service dog Skidboot and I often receive compliments on his training, which sometimes leads to inquiries about training for their own dog.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

Not a close call/near death moment for my business, but for myself.
Despite my health issues, I continued to train horses alongside the start-up of my dog training business,
even though it was getting more and more challenging.
I just wasn’t ready to let go of something that I felt was a part of me, something I had been doing for many, many years and loved doing. Horses weren’t just a job for me, horses are a lifestyle. My lifestyle.
However, after having several close-calls when I lost my balance and fell and almost got trampled by young training horses, I slowly started to accept the fact that working with horses while struggling with vestibular issues is a recipe for disaster.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fallingstarranch.ca/; https://k9s.ca/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skidbootthefarmdog/; https://www.instagram.com/fallingstarranch/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FallingStarRanchDunster
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/birgit-stutz-5291622a/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwRpxPsdag2k5-syZYEAh9A (@FallingStarRanch); https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrmDNjEiJWH-iCpcMrEthcA (@servicedogskidboot)

Image Credits

Photos submitted by Falling Star Ranch