MARIA VLADIMIROVA

Maria Vladimirova was born and has spent much of her life in Riga, Latvia. She holds a Bachelor degree from Riga Technical University. In spite of living with dogs all of her life, it was not until her late thirties when her admiration for dogs prompted her to abandon her successful business career and turn her hobby into a profession. As the result, she joined an apprenticeship program in the Latvian dog training school Saules Suns where she assisted in dog obedience and protection classes. Later she participated in Saules Suns guide dogs training program helping to train guide dogs for the blind and their owners. On top of that, she completed 1-year canine specialist

course from Latvian Cynology Federation.

Maria considers herself a lifelong working dog student, constantly studying “all things canine” from canine ethology to recent changes in dog anatomy and working drives. Maria started man-trailing in the beginning of 2013 and this is when she became an addict. While figuring out her own way in trailing she tried different trailing methods with different results. Her experience made her a devoted follower of honest trailing and double blind testing. Still, the real Eureka moment happened when she came to her first GAK9 seminar in September 2014 and had a chance to learn from Jeff Schettler and Glenn David Poole. Since then Maria has been training her own

German Shepherds in Accordance with GAK9 philosophy as well as helping other K-9 trailing handlers to improve their skills while staying honest. Maria also teaches dog obedience classes to private citizens.