Check our page for upcoming classes or contact us directly for private classes. Bess Walmsley is the owner of K9 Best Manners LLC, a positive, family-friendly dog training business. She has been an instructor for the Greater Venice Dog Club since they began offering classes more than ten years ago. There she teaches a variety of classes, including Obedience, AKC Scent Work, Pet Therapy, Fungility
(a combination of obedience and agility,) AKC Star Puppy, and Canine Good Citizen. She also conducts dog classes sponsored by Suncoast Humane Society and provides in-home private lessons to pets and their guardians. She is a certified AKC Good Citizen Evaluator, a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, The Pet Professional Guild, and a supporting member of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. Bess has formerly taught Advanced Obedience for the Peace River Dog Fanciers, Canine Good Citizen classes for Peace River Search and Rescue and has served as State Coordinator for American Brittany Rescue. One of her proudest accomplishments was teaching inmates at the Charlotte County Correctional Facility to work with Suncoast Humane Society shelter dogs. She says of that experience, “I was fortunate enough to be allowed to coach inmates on training these dogs to become more adoptable. It was a learning process for everyone involved, and gratifying to see the men become vested in the betterment and welfare of these dogs.”
To improve her skills and stay current on the latest information available in the field of dog training, Bess travels the country attending workshops, seminars, and conferences to learn from the most highly regarded trainers and behavior scientists in the world. This is the knowledge she brings back to share with her students. Bess has trained hundreds of dogs and the people who love them and finds that she learns new things every day. She says of her work, “I love seeing a shy, timid dog blossom and bond with their new guardians after a few classes, or a dog that is reactive and unsettled learn to trust, relax, and enjoy life. I love to show people how to read their dogs and learn how to teach them to become happy family members. Dogs are wonderful beings and I am passionate about teaching people how to realize the potential in their pets.”
Bess’s current canine family consists of Roxxy, a three-legged Brittany, O’Henry, a three-legged Golden Receiver, and Shamus, the only four-legged of the group, a senior Brittany.
