About Me:

My name is Whitney Weston and I am the owner and operator of Flatlands Kennels. Ever since I was a very small child I was raised with and was learning about animals. I was fortunate enough to grow up on a beef farm, show cattle all over Canada professionally with some very big winners, as well as participate in 4H Beef and Veterinary projects.

My grandad also raised Thoroughbred race horses and I was so grateful to spend time on his farm learning about nutrition and exercise of performance animals without even knowing it! I could be found as a kid training our farm dog, or out with the livestock.

I acquired my first personal dog when I was 17 years old. He was an American Pit Bull Terrier that fell into my lap by accident. I named him Kade and he taught me a ton about dog behavior and management in our travels. He passed away in 2007, the same day my daughter was born and I couldn’t be without a dog for long so I imported another American Pit Bull Terrier from Virginia in early 2008.

My daughter was such an easy child, she made it easy for me to get more dogs, as by then, the show and competition bug had hit me! I completed some college and moved to BC with all of my dogs in 2010. I took a job there managing a 200 dog capacity boarding and training facility, and was far more able to compete being closer to the maximum sports offered for my breed. I also was half owner of Seeing Red Kennel at that point for another 8 years in my “spare time” haha! We began dock diving, of course more weight pull, and formal obedience.

At this time I also began working with Shelly Korobanik of Pooch Partners in Vernon. I was able to show her the foundations of the weight pull program she still runs this day and we had an amazing time! This included a small study done on the positive effects of weight pull in dogs with hip dysplasia.

I was fortunate enough through all this time to breed and raise some amazing dogs who started setting sport and breed records in various competitions and health testing, which I still heavily advocate to this day!

In 2011 my son was born and didn’t miss a beat getting involved in the dogs with me from day one - including attending a dog show and weight pull at 3 months old! In 2013 I moved back to be near family in Saskatchewan again, and after a lot of effort time and money we built our very own kennel in our yard. In 2016 we added in-home boarding and we began equipment rental, which I have added to consistently since then to expand our sport repertoire to provide to clients.

My kids continue to be involved with the dogs learning more about behavior and showing in junior handlers and competing in sports with their own dogs, a longdog and a chihuahua. We continue to raise and evaluate litters for other breeders and ourselves and pride ourselves in the support we can provide people and information we can provide. We look so forward to meeting you and your pets, thank you so much for your visit to our site!

Whitney, Tori & Alex

Experience & Qualifications

• FLK is a registered Kennel with the Canadian Kennel Club

• I am, and continue to be an active member of the Pet Professionals Guild, have graduated several classes of the Karen Pryor Academy, and I log over 300 hours of continuing education annually, including being an active participant in annual seminars held by such presenters as: Dr. Susan Freidman, Grisha Stewart, Dr. Gayle Watkins, some of the top level scent detection competitors and real life scent detection handlers in law enforcement and private sectors alike

• I have also completed several online courses through the University of Edinburgh, Duke University and others on animal cognition, animal behavior, welfare, genetics, epigenetics and biology.

• I consistently stay up-to-date on Canine nutrition, development, immunology and other critical areas that affect breeders and pet owners.

• I am a weight-pull judge for the American Dog Breeders Association (ADBA), IronDog, UPF (United Pulling Federation), American Pulling Alliance (APA) (Senior judge status and Canadian Representative for APA), and the International Weight Pull Association (IWPA)

• I am a sanctioned NADD Judge

• I am a certified Stop The 77 Presenter and continue to do presentations at schools and visits on Canine Safety With Children

• United Kennel Club (UKC) SPOT and UKC SPOT ON evaluator

• Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) Canine Good Neighbor (CGN) Evaluator

• Canada’s first and only ADBA SafeDog Level 1 and 2 tester

• Test Development and Evaluator for the Lloydminster Pawsitive Misfits Therapy Dog Club

• I continue to teach group classes outdoors and at our facility in Lloydminster in addition to private home consultations for behavior, traveling for judging and evaluations of various kinds

• We are members of the Canadian Association of Professional Dog Trainers (CAPDT)

• We are members in good standing of the IAACB

• A few of our case studies have been published in a book written by Diane Garrod of Canine Transformations Learning Center called Canine Emotional Detox and you can purchase this book here: https://www.dogwise.com/stress-release-for-dogs-the-canine-emotional-detox/

• A podcast interview we did with Darrell Billesberger - catch it on Spotify episode 28 on Lost Signals

Autumn Kopeck

Hello, I’m Autumn! I’m a full time dog trainer here at Flatlands. I have always had a passion for training animals since I was little. I have a background in training horses as well as dogs. I currently own two Belgian Malinois and a Sheltie.

I got my first dog Harley Quinn my sheltie who introduced me to agility and rally obedience. Zinzie my oldest Malinois who sparked my passion and love with of high drive dogs competes with me in a number of things like agility, wall climb, rally obedience, dock diving, slatmill racing, weightpull etc and soon PSA. 

Zooula my youngest Malnois is my first working line dog she has taught me the most as a trainer as she has not been an easy one. I plan on competing in PSA, scent detection, dock diving, wall climb, etc. 

My experience and qualifications:

• I have been helping groom dogs since I was little. 

• I managed and ran a 60+ dog kennel for four years.  

• Worked for another training company for 8 months in another part of SK. 

• I have always taken friends, family and past clients for training. 

• I currently have a number of certifications in the works with PPG, Ian Dunbar, Michael Shikashio, and more! I am involved in continued learning in seminar form always too. 

I like to specialize in high drive breeds and working dogs, As well as behavioural modification. I always strive to continue my education and experience getting my hands on any dog that is offered to me. I have been lucky enough to work with so many incredible dog people and learn from them all. I want my clients to have a relationship with their dogs like they never have before.