About Us

We serve Northern VA. & offer Private Training as well as small Group Classes.

Welcome to our website and blog!  We hope you like the new look and feel, especially because you can now interact and leave comments for us!

Anne has always enjoyed dogs and says she feels very fortunate to be in the “positive” dog training profession. Anne has worked with dogs for the past 20 plus years along with careers in teaching and in the corporate environment. She is now pursuing her true love full time training dogs and coaching their owners.

Rudy, an English Lab, was adopted in 2000 shortly after starting Anne’s professional dog training career. After successfully working with this very difficult pup it was decided that he had earned the top spot in the company so in 2005 we incorporated and became Rudy’s Friends Dog Training, Inc. In 2003 Cooper, lab/bloodhound, joined the family and then Missie, a black German Shepherd, became part of the group in 2007. In 2015 Missie is an only child for the first time. She misses her brothers but enjoys having all of our attention.

Missie carries on the tradition of helping with training and loves to shop and always attracts attention as she practices her manners in public places. Here she is waiting patiently in Dress Barn at the Rehobeth Outlets while we shop. Her mat indicates her settle location in the store.

Rudy’s Friends has enjoyed volunteering with Canine Companions for Independence and provides training in the N VA area. This service dog group generously gives their highly trained dogs free of charge to people with disabilities. This is Jane working with 2 month old Bishop.

Currently there are 5 dog trainers in addition to Anne who help to make Rudy’s Friends successful: Lee-Ann Tracy,  Jan Sheppard,  Kim Rollen,  Cathy Marros and Susan Robb. They all share the same training style of using positive and gentle techniques. Our philosophy continues to be: Make training fun and happy and your dog will learn that responding to commands can be a great experience.

Lee-Ann has been with Rudy’s Friends since January 2008. She has taught classes for us in Arlington, Bailey’s Crossroads, Fairfax and Vienna.  Lee-Ann went from a very easy friendly dog, Jack, to a difficult rescue named Smokey.  He is a reactive shepherd mix but Lee-Ann has done wonders with her boy. She often uses the focus command to distract Smokey from other dogs. Smokey is not quite ready to be calm in a group of dogs but this picture is a great example of the focus command. It just says pay attention to me.

Jane and Anne have been working together with dogs since 2004. Jane’s  Shiloh, Bodhi, has been awarded the Advanced Community Canine Good Citizen Award from the American Kennel Club so you will find her knowledge with therapy dog work very helpful. Bodhi is practicing being calm while watching ducks during one of our Advanced Field Trip classes. Jane is also very active with Canine Companions for Independence and often dog sits when puppy raisers are on vacation.

Kim has always loved dogs and grew up with them in her home.  She began to learn about positive training methods back in 2013 as a way to manage having three dogs.  Although she only has two dogs now, her interest in dog training has evolved and is now, with the help of Rudy’s Friends,  a professional pursuit. We are very proud of Jewels, Kim’s husky mix, who has earned AKC’s Canine Good Citizen award.

Kim is now teaching training classes and also working with our private clients. Samantha, a 2 year old pug, is one of Kim’s favorites.

Cathy’s bio: “Growing up, I had dogs, cats, horses and even a duck as pets, and I love animals! My interest in professional dog training started when I got my dog Buzz—he was just 8 weeks old—he had a big heart and a lot of energy. I wanted to make sure he would behave when my large extended family came over, so I signed us up for training. That was 10 years ago and the start of my fascination with positive reinforcement training.

In 2013, I began my quest for dog training certification with CATCH Canine Training Academy and recently became certified in dog training and dog training knowledge. Over the course of my CATCH training, I did volunteer work with the Fairfax Animal Shelter and A Forever Home Rescue Foundation and mentored for 6-months with Anne and the other wonderful trainers at Rudy’s Friends.”

Susan Robb first began her dog training career in 2002 when she and her family adopted Bailey, a wonderful yellow lab. She has participated in many training classes with Bailey and later with Allie, Dalmatian, and Koda, a chocolate lab. Susan is very active with lab rescue and also Lu’s Labs rescue and she and her family are now raising Lucy and Buddy Martin, black labs. She also enjoys helping with Canine Companions for Independence and participating in their annual Walk n Roll fund raiser.

Susan is a special ed teacher and applies many of those skills of patience and kindness in her dog training classes. We share the same philosophy of “positive training” so I’m sure you will enjoy her class.

Please let us know if you are interested in a dog training career as we always welcome newcomers.