Rise Above Dog Training is owned and operated by Terra Hockett.
We all start somewhere…
As someone who’s lived alongside dogs their entire life I thought I was a pretty dog savvy human. As I stepped out into the world on my own I did not seek out the dog training path, but I did spend my earliest years of general employment working in different grooming shops as a bather and feeding, cleaning, and exercising dogs in kennel environments. I moved on to doggy daycare work in 2010 and I felt like I had met more than my fair share of dogs. That same year I decided to adopt my own dog and that is where the universe decided to drop Toad in my lap.
Toad was some sort of bully mix that I adopted at 3 months of age and by 4 months old he was already exhibiting suspicion of strangers. By 9 months he was getting into fights with other dogs and lunging and snapping at vet techs. I thought I had done everything right. I thought it was all in how you raised them. I thought I was going to lose my dog if he bit someone, so for the next year we hid from the world and things only got worse.
In 2012 I began shadowing to become a dog trainer because I couldn’t afford intensive training, and the road Toad and I went down together with all of the literal blood, sweat, and (SO MANY) tears is what this business was born out of. We sought out the help of so many trainers, some amazing some horrible, and through all of my experiences learning how to advocate for my dog and give him what he needed I got baptized by fire learning what did and didn’t help ME grow into the handler Toad needed.
I lost Toad in 2021 to health related issues, and the work I do with Rise Above I continue on in his memory. My passion in this work is to make the help Toad and I so badly needed for so long accessible to dogs and owners alike so they don’t have to struggle the way we did.
As far as formal education goes…
I have attended numerous seminars over the last 10 years with world renowned trainers and companies such as Ivan Balabanov, Jay Jack, Chad Mackin, Heather Beck, Dogs Playing For Life, etc.
In 2014 I spent 2 weeks living in Fairfield, Ca. and studying at the Michael Ellis School for Dog Trainers. ultimately graduating from the Obedience Intensive Course.
In 2016 I shadowed and studied under behavior modification and pit bull expert Jay Jack, immersing myself in his training styles and methods that focus on using play and positive reinforcement to reach and rehabilitate difficult dogs of all breeds and backgrounds. His work singlehandedly changed the course of Toad’s life opening so many doors to us and this experience heavily influences the approach I take to behavior modification to this day.
In 2018 I spent a year working at Dog’s Playing For Life’s behavior modification facility the National Canine Center in North Central Florida. There I worked hands on with dogs at risk of euthanasia for behavioral issues that were transported from shelters all across the country including a group of dogs rescued from a dog fighting ring in Canada affectionately referred to by their advocates as “the Ontario 21”.
Just like the many trainers I’ve studied under, I am a student for life and will forever pursue a deeper understanding of dogs and the kindest and most effective ways to work with them.