About Us

Shea was born and raised in the rural outskirts of Spokane, Washington, and in the mountainous Libby, Montana. He has always been a dog person. Shea was first introduced to dogs at a young age by his grandparents, who bred red, smooth-coated mini-Dachshunds for twenty-five years. He grew up training and showing their dogs and his own, being given his first pup to train and show at 8 years old. He has accumulated 17 years of experience with raising a variety of dog breeds from puppyhood to adulthood. 

After high school, Shea attended college at Washington State University and the University of Washington for a B.A. in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, and spent several years employed in the legal field after receiving his degree. For those years, he dedicated his ambitions to personal and professional development, and he was content. It wasn’t until the Spring of 2018 that Shea found himself facing a new challenge that would dramatically shift his professional direction: the rescue of a Black and Tan Coonhound puppy.

Shea had never worked with a cold scent hound before, so he began training under Joan Fetty and Rosemary (Mitzi) Jorgenson. He came to realize the nature of his true passion: building rewarding relationships between pets and their owners. When Joan Fetty closed her dog training school in mid-2019, Mitzi and Shea re-opened the school to continue the wonderful dog training work that occurs at Pawsitive Dog Training School.

After the pandemic occurred, Shea decided to perfect his craft. He attended and graduated from the Starmark School for Professional Dog Trainers Master Course. Upon completion of the course Shea and his husband Tyler returned to the PNW.  In 2023, they fell in love with the community of Bellingham and purchased a small 9 acre farm that they have begun to refurbish into Whatcom County's premier dog training facility.

Jess is a born and raised Washintonian. She was raised around her grandparents' horse ranch in Wenatchee. Her passion for horses switched over time to dogs when she saw how well trained her grandparent’s Labrador Retriever “Buzz”. She was so impressed by his impulse control and obedience that ever since then, she knew she wanted to work with dogs. 

Once Jess graduated high school the hunt for a gig with dogs began. She stumbled upon The Academy of Canine Behavior located in Bothell, Washington. Because Jessica lacked the required experience to become a trainer, she started out in reception. As she began learning more about balanced dog training and behavior modification, she was hooked! The science behind how dogs learn and what work goes into it satisfied her. After working as a receptionist for 3 months, she started her apprenticeship program through AOCB and became an official dog trainer as of October 2021. She was very drawn to dogs specifically with aggression issues. The reward of helping a dog become more comfortable with the world was like no other feeling. She was successfully able to rehabilitate an extreme case of aggression with a German Shepherd and eventually got her own! 

Jessica soon became the training supervisor and AOCB and led a team of trainers passing down the knowledge she had gained to future trainers. She even got to compete in Rally with one of Colleen McDaniel’s Irish Water Spaniels “Finn” and gave him his first two legs, winning first place her first day! 

Jessica became a trainer at Pawsitive Dog Training School in June of 2024. She was drawn to working with Shea in order to expand her training skills and knowledge with the intent to become a Master Trainer and Handler in AKC Performance Sports. 

She looks forward to meeting you and your pup and can’t wait to see what she can do to help you!