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Erik Gray has been surrounded by highly trained dogs his entire life. Having grown up with a father in the K9 police force, then serving in the military alongside four-legged soldiers himself, his perspective of what makes our furry friends tick is uniquely deep and multi-faceted.
In 2018, work for the Fed transferred Gray and his wife to Roanoke, but it didn't take long for them to realize that nearby Smith Mountain Lake actually felt a bit more like home. In 2020, they came across property with the kind of potential they were looking for and made the move out here to Franklin County.
Fast forward a few years, and retirement appeared on the horizon. In preparation, Gray began adding nationally recognized training certifications to his lifetime of hands-on experience. Now, having completed basic and advanced certs with Catch K9, he offers one-on-one sessions along with a diverse line-up of group classes part-time. This fall, 9-5 retirement will allow him to realize his dream of running Bootlegger K9 full time.
The name of his business is a nod to the storied past of this area, and one thing that makes it unique is that Bootlegger doesn't just specialize in one or two disciplines. Instead, Gray can help you make heads or tails of a myriad of training needs (read: inappropriate behavior) in order to help your dog shine. Whether it be Puppy Kindergarten, socialization (a huge need after coming through the isolation of COVID), aggression therapy, or advanced obedience, he absolutely loves helping humans better understand their pups, and helping pups better understand what is expected of them.
Over the coming months, you'll find several socialization and basic behavior group classes on his schedule, and I was particularly interested in a boat familiarization class he plans to offer a little closer to the warmer months.
He and his faithful sidekicks, Sarge and Loki, wished that more people realized how empowering it is to ask for help! Furthermore, the vast majority of unpleasant behaviors can be reversed with the right conditioning. I mean, who wouldn't want to have the best possible relationship with the canine companions in our life?!
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