Tarheel Canine

Empowering Dog Training Professionals

At Tarheel Canine, dog training is more than just a job or a hobby—it’s a passion.

For over two decades, we have been at the forefront of training dog trainers in private practice, police K9, and the Military. Law enforcement trainers come to us and go home and completely change the training curricula in their large institutional agencies to match our best practices. Pet trainers learn better ways to communicate with their clients and dogs, aligning expectations, and over delivering their services.  Our mission is to empower dog enthusiasts like you and create professionalism by providing comprehensive programs that not only teach you how to train dogs and address behavioral issues but also help you understand the entire dynamic between dog and handler, and how to navigate and succeed in a very competitive industry. 

There is simply no other school in the country where you can put hands on this number of dogs being trained for actual police agencies, or PPDs being trained for actual clients, or be around this many world class instructors and sport competitors in one place. The theory is cutting edge, and the experience you will get in terms of hand on time on dogs is unparalleled. The company you will keep while at Tarheel Canine will affect you for a lifetime. Your student colleagues will become friends for life, and your instructors will be mentors you can turn to throughout your career.

Our school is not for the weak or faint of heart. You will not spend most of your time in a classroom or on a computer, writing papers like you are in college, though you will receive theory lectures and participate in high level discussions about how to approach complex training progressions and problem solving. Our graduates thank us for instilling a work ethic second to none. For 6 months you are up early and training late, attending club training that runs until midnight on Tuesdays, and up early again on Saturday mornings for club training again. School is M-F all day, you are in and out of the bite suit, running tracks all over town in the hot and the cold, on the side of roads, fields and woods, detecting contraband in warehouses and at industrial sites. You will be tired and some days exhausted, you will be wet and dirty. You will take naps in your car when you have a spare 15 minutes. We show you what it takes to be world class.  But when you graduate you will know you’ve done something unique and difficult and you’ve struggled to meet very high expectations. Hit the button below and join an elite group of professionals in the Tarheel Canine family. 

Join us and be part of the worldwide Tarheel Canine community including police k9 instructors, military working dog trainers, pet dog and PPD trainers, and world class PSA competitors and decoys that share your passion for dog training. Our network is unparalleled and stretches across the globe from the US and Canada, Taiwan to Australia, from the UK to South Africa and India to South America. Our graduates are everywhere top quality training is taking place. 

Tarheel Canine’s Training System

Central to our training philosophy is the renowned Tarheel Canine Training System. Developed by our esteemed Training Director, Jerry Bradshaw, this unique system has been refined over the years with the latest research and understanding of behavior and training methods.

When you enroll with us, you will receive the tools of the trade as part of the program. We will not only teach you how to use and apply these tools but also guide you through the application of the Tarheel Canine Training System—an unrivaled approach embraced by our successful graduates in various fields, including private training practice, police work, and military applications.