About Us, Our School and Our Dogs
About Our Training
In all our classes, we want you and your dog to have fun. We teach important life lessons for your dog through fun. We want your dog to see you as the most important and valuable resource in the dog’s life. You earn that recognition through effective training.
For our basic classes (Puppy Kindergarten, Level 1 and Level 1+) the primary instruction are weekly class meetings. In the meetings, we review and preview the homework assignments and discuss other training issues.
We invite those enrolled to use these other communications channels to enrich their experience from the weekly sessions.
One-on-One Coaching
- We invite you to schedule periodic sessions with your training coach to deal with specific training issues and review your progress on the exercises.
24/7 Video Tutorials
- The tutorials present video examples of training exercises and some non-graded quizzes to reinforce your understanding of the principles and techniques.
Homework Assignments
- We propose weekly assignments.
Download Files
- We have downloadable summaries of the assignments and supplemental information.
Video Submissions
- We invite students to take videos of their own training. Send the videos, and we provide a critique and suggestions.
Contact Us
- We continue to use this email tool on our website to respond individually to questions students raise.
Phone Consultation
- We welcome calls to discuss specific training issues. (573 443-0716)
About Ann
Ann Gafke has been training dogs for 60 years. For most of that time, she has been helping others train their dogs. Her program has won national recognition for 4H. Her students' work has been published by National Geographic in the books Dogs on Duty and Pets and the Elderly. Her therapy work has been honored by Missouri mental health organizations.
The American Kennel Club used its German Shepherd dogs in its educational slide show on the German Shepherd Standard to represent the ideal shepherd temperament.
Ann's interest in Border Collies began at about age 10, as she recalls. “My great uncle, who was born, raised, and lived in Scotland, had a "rent-a-dog and shepherd" business where he rented Border Collies and a shepherd herdsman to farmers to round up and bring in their flocks for lambing, shearing, shots, market – just whatever they needed. He brought over here one of his Border Collies who had a litter of puppies on the way on a Sunday morning in the main train depot in Kansas City, Missouri. They were pictured on the front page of the Kansas City Star. People from all over the country wanted one of those puppies. I was just a kid, about 10 years old, but I got one who stayed at my grandparent's house at Sni-A-Bar Farms.”
About Our School
We help families solve dog issues, such as housebreaking, digging, chewing, and household problems, help them achieve their goals for their dog(s), and prepare them for therapy work and other important jobs, including being great family companions.
We believe that dog training is a teaching assignment. We believe teaching is best done in the context of making teaching and learning fun for both you and your dog.
We have been helping Central Missouri families and their dogs for more than 50 years.
About Our Facilities
Our facilities are dedicated exclusively to dog training and puppy training activities. They include 27 acres, a 3,200-square-foot dog training building, a 18.600 square-foot fenced training yard, and a 10-acre wooded dog park.
We have a full array of obedience and agility dog training equipment. We have facilities for outdoor dog training.
About Our Dogs
As German Shepherd dog breeders, our interest was the total dog — beautiful, level-headed, intelligent, stable, trainable, and healthy. We pride ourselves on having dogs with strong OFA background, sound temperament, structure and health, strong pigment, and most of all, loyal, loving companionship in our German Shepherds.
Our association with Border Collies began as a request from a friend in Scotland to take a puppy after the puppy’s owner died. Miste arrived as our ‘first footer’ on January 1, 2010.
