About Blue Ridge Canine

Service dogs and working relationships

Blue Ridge Canine, based on Old Office Road in Culpeper, focuses on the working relationship between service dogs and their handlers. It trains psychiatric, PTSD, allergen detection, seizure response and mobility service dogs, with owner-assisted training options.

Virtual and hybrid programs

A Virtual Service Dog Academy offers step-by-step video courses, starting with foundational training for service dogs, with courses on public access, item retrieval, deep pressure therapy and alerts listed as coming. The hybrid program adds in-person or virtual lessons up to three times a month, group outings and in-person Canine Good Citizen testing. The site notes that the ADA does not require service dog certification.

Other training

The site also lists puppies and therapy dogs among its services. The owner's background includes behavior modification, rescues and aggression cases, and a client review describes work on a dog's prey drive toward cats.

The trainer

The owner lists more than 20 years with animals, a Master of Science in Human-Canine Life Sciences, professional IACP membership and AKC CGC evaluator status. The business also breeds dogs.

What to ask

Ask whether the virtual academy or the hybrid program suits your goals, and what in-person lessons cost.