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About Us
Gold Country K9 services provides a variety of services including boarding and training services for both pet and working dogs through Gold Country Pet Resort & Training Center, Inc.
OUR MISSION is to provide world class, loving, 24 hour professional, on-site care for our guests. Surrounded by acres of fenced countryside for a safe, secure fun for your furry family members Gold Country Pet Resort & Training Center is just the place for you.
A little background
Gold Country K9 Services is owned and operated by Mike and Cherie Flores. Mike and Cherie searched for years for just the right piece of property for their pet resort. The opened the pet resort because they were often called away for Search and Rescue missions and they struggled to find the type of kennel where they felt comfortable leaving their young up-and-coming search dogs. So, they decided to create one themselves.
After over seven years of searching they finally found the almost-perfect piece of land on which to build their facility. Situated on 135 acres in the Sierra Foothills between Jackson and Ione, California, they have plenty of space to provide their guests lots of privacy and room to run! Check out the accommodations to see more of their facility. Dogs do not have to be bunched together as there is lots of room. There are stunning views from our training field. While we do have a 1/2-mile long, dirt road leading into our facility, it is this space, with its stunning scenery, that allows us to better serve our both our dog and human clients.
Cherie has been training dogs for over thirty years. She started out mentoring under another trainer while she pursued her “first career”. Then she spent many years training Search and Rescue dogs before she became involved in the sport of Schutzhund (now IPO/IGP). Cherie has enjoyed much success in all the venues. She is a National and International Competitor in the sport. Cherie considers herself a lifelong learning which is awesome for you because she is always seeking to learn new things that she brings to the facility.
In addition, Cherie is now the Executive Director for Infinite PawsAbilities, a 501©(3) that rescues dogs from the shelter and teaches inmates at Mule Creek State Prison to train them. Appropriate dogs may be trained for service work, search and rescue or as a facility dog. For more about Cherie’s philosophy and experience, click here to read about “Our story”.
Cherie is now focusing on mentoring the next generation of trainers as she has started the Pro-Trainer Academy here on our exclusive grounds. She feels strongly that new trainers need to have significant hands-on experience on a variety of dogs. So often, programs don’t always offer the ability for new trainers to get hands-on with many different dogs. Having the school nestled here at our facility allows our students exposure to “All. Things. Dog.”
In 1997, Cherie got involved in Search and Rescue. She chose the German Shepherd as her breed and got and trained her first search dog, Marco from 8 weeks old to certification. She fell in love with Search and Rescue. After a full career with Marco, she then trained her second dog, Rio and certified in area, avalanche and human remains detection. She and her partners have responded all over Northern California and Western Nevada on many many searches.
She met Mike in Search and Rescue, who had begun his pursuit of training a canine, eventually certifying with “Jag” in 2004. Cherie and Mike are both currently training their next search partners. In addition to Search and Rescue, Cherie began competing in dog sport, specifically Schutzhund (IPO), which is a triathlon for dogs, consisting of tracking, obedience, and protection routines which must be successfully completed at a single trial. She took her first dog, Hexe, to National Competition in 2008. She has put titles on four different dogs (one to an IPO2, and three to IPO 3’s) in the past seven years.
Facility
While Cherie has been and continues to be busy with training, Mike has almost single handedly built this entire facility! It is getting more and more difficult to find places to play with your dogs in this ever-changing society. We built a place dedicated to dogs, where dog sports can continue for years to come. From our competition dock diving pool to our Barn Hunt ring, and our upcoming, huge sports field, we have something here for every dog! Our facilities are available for private rentals so that you or your group can practice whatever you need or you can take one of our many classes! Watch for more and more events to be held at the facility as well!
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Upcoming Events
For a calendar of many of our events, please visit the link below
Purebred Walburga
German Shepherds
Walburga German Shepherds is dedicated to preserving the true working heritage of the German Shepherd Dog. We breed moderate to high drive working German Shepherd dogs suitable for Police, Search and Rescue, Service Dogs and the most important, family companions. While our breeding program is directed towards breeding of high drive dog, not every puppy is going to be suitable for that type of work. We have many successful service dogs and family companions. However, it is important to understand that our puppies must be raised well and taught what the expectations are for them in life as they grow up, or they may make different choices!
If you're interested in one of these very special animals, click the box below.