Our Trainers
Andrew Richards
Head Trainer, Owner
ABCDT
Andrew is a certified dog trainer through the Animal Behaviour Collage with years of
experience with all breeds of dogs through working with various shelters, rescues and his
own rescue foster dogs. Andrew is truly passionate about his work with dogs, and it shows!
Andrew will not only be your dog’s trainer, he will quickly become your dog’s best friend. His
goal is to create a fun and enjoyable experience for you and your dog. Training should be
something that your dog looks forward to! Further, he aims to strengthen the bond between
owner and dog by creating a clear form of communication between the two. Through
Andrew’s mentorship with Shelagh Begg of Dizine Canine, he developed a love to working
with behavioural issues and reactive dogs. Andrew is Good Hound’s go to for all our
reactive dogs both private and our very popular Reactive Dog Class. It is so easy for
owners to turn to harsh corrective tools like prong collars and e collars to ‘help’ reactive or
aggressive dogs. While these tools aim to suppress emotions, Andrew will show you how to
get to the root of the issue in order to change these emotions for lasting results. No band
aid fixes around here!
Education is our foundation. Andrew is always learning by attending seminars and through
constant readings and research. Andrew is also a member of Association of Professional
Dog Trainers, Canadian Association of Professional Dog Trainers and the International
Boarding and Pet Services Association and certified in Walks n Wags Pet First Aid.
When Andrew is not here training dogs, working with dogs and training handlers in our
daycare you can see him at home playing with his own dogs Blue (rottweiler/doberman
mix), Storm (pit bull) and Odin (malamute x) and his daughter, Abbygail!
Char Sonnex
ABCDT
Meet Trainer Char! Char has been with us since 2018. Char has had a lifelong fascination and love for all animals. Growing up on Vancouver Island, involved in animal rescue from day one. Over the years, she has cared for a variety of pets, from cats and dogs to snakes and raccoons. Though it wasn’t until she got her own puppy Charlie in 2012, that she discovered her passion for dog training. Since then she has dedicated herself to the study of dog behaviour and training. There were bumps along the road but moving to Ladner in 2018, meeting Head Trainer Andrew, he helped her find her passion for positive reinforcement training! Along with her dogs Diesel, Charlie and Spring, she studied through the Animal Behaviour College, graduating in 2019, training with us ever since! Char is particularly interested in behaviour and communication
and how a knowledge of these can forge partnerships that are rewarding, fulfilling and fun for both people and their dogs. Currently Char teaches majority of our Puppy Classes, Obedience Classes and leads the Ladner Paw Club. Char is also available for private sessions.
Rachel Kilbrai
Meet Apprenticing Trainer Rachel! Rachel has been with Good Hound for 3years. In those 3 years, Rachel has accomplished a lot. She was hired as a daycare handler, promoted to supervisor, became a Walks n Wags Pet First Aid Instructor and has been mentoring under Andrew for over a year. As an apprenticing trainer Rachel has over 400 solo and assisting hours. Rachel’s passion lies with behavioural modification. In addition to her shadowing and learning from Andrew, Rachel has also completed Michael Shikashio’s Master Course in Aggression of Dogs. Rachel’s natural affinity with dogs, her calm, cool demeanor and passion for R+ training makes her an asset to our Good Hound Training Team. Rachel will soon be taking her CCPDT certification and we cannot wait until she is a fully certified trainer! When Rachel is not training you can find her having fun with our daycare dogs, hanging with her senior lab or playing soccer!
