Training dogs
and the people who
Live with them,
Work with them,
and Love them,
for over 20 years.
I’m Amanda Hudson, proud and humble owner of Via Canines.
I created my company to provide a path towards improved cooperation, connection and communication for dogs and the people that Live with them, Work with them and Love them.
My Story
I have been working professionally with dogs and their human counterparts for over 20 years. However, my love for working with dogs began when I was very young, training my first dog when I was 7 years old.
Many years later, while receiving my degree in the Psychology of Learning, I assisted with and conducted published research - designed to evaluate adult dogs in animal shelters - to assess the likelihood that a dog would bite once placed in a new home. I was involved in several research projects to improve adoption rates at animal shelters through training of both cats and dogs, shelter design, staff and volunteer training, and matching the lifestyle and personalities of potential adopters to the most compatible canines.
I worked several years as a veterinarian technician and behavior consultant at a full-service animal hospital as well as an obedience and canine behavior consultant at a large training and boarding facility. Throughout these professions, I was also a Lieutenant for a Search and Rescue unit. The unit provided canines trained and certified in tracking and trailing, disaster live search, wilderness area search and human remains recovery.
I then moved to Alabama after accepting an offer from Auburn University’s Canine Detection Training Center as a Working Dog Handler Instructor and Canine Trainer. There, I trained dogs for narcotics or explosive detection, instructed classes of new handlers in law enforcement and the Federal Protective Service, and in the military, as well as assisted in the training and development of K9 Department Supervisor courses. I was also one of two trainers selected for the research grant pilot study for the Improvised Explosive Device Detection Dogs program. We designed a program where dogs were cross trained between hunting retriever training and explosives odor detection training. The ground-breaking project was so successful that The U.S. Federal Government put an order out for hundreds more of these specially trained dogs to be ready for deployment. The “Think Tank” group that was involved in the creation of this training program was impressive, to say the least. This experience provided me the opportunity to work side-by-side with some of the most highly regarded experts in the Dog Training Industry.
In addition to training detection dogs and handlers to deploy across the world, I have also been a handler myself. I have had the honor and privilege of working with VWK9, home of Vapor Wake Detection Dogs, where dogs are trained to detect and locate the odor of explosives that are worn on the body or carried. This allows for handlers and dogs to effectively scan a large, ever shifting crowd, in a short time frame, with little to no disruption to the flow of foot traffic. I have performed security services for the world’s largest conference (the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas), a range of NFL games, and even for Apple headquarters, just to name a few.
Throughout my years of working-dog experiences, I fell in love with high-drive Belgian Malinois and Dutch Shepherds. Working side-by-side with them is poetry in motion. Living with them however, is an experience like none other. Keeping these types of dogs busy is KEY to doing it right! I did this in part through the wonderful sport of Mondioring; a competitive sport that evaluates a dog and handler team in the areas of obedience, agility and bite work. My dogs and I have also trained for Barn Hunt, Nosework and many other fun training challenges.
Coming full circle, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with people and their pets as well as stepping into my “working dog” shoes when the phone rings. My wide-reaching experiences have allowed me the opportunity to work with a huge range of different breeds, temperaments and dogs with all kinds of different life experiences. I love to help people connect and communicate effectively with the fur covered family members in their homes. Watching these relationships strengthen while increasing the cooperation in the home brings me a tremendous amount of joy.
In short, I love working with people and their canine counterparts to help them reach their goals. Whether it be getting a new puppy and owner off on the right foot, improving the performance and fitness of a world class sport competition dog, or contracting with the industry leading detection canine companies tasked with keeping America safe. I love what I do, everyday!