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
We are the contracted dog catcher for the town of Maidstone SK
