As originally published by Texas Border Business newsprint edition January 2018
Dog training goes beyond teaching pets how to behave, dog training according to Marty Vielma, certified Master K9 Trainer and owner of the RGV K9 Training Centre, is helping dogs train people.
“The RGV K9 Training Centre is a dog training school where we train the dogs and we also train their owners,” he said.
The RGV K9 Training Centre (K9TC) is going on its fourth year of opening in the Valley, and its headed by certified master dog trainers, Marty Vielma and Leslie Garbutt Vielma.
“We offer different types of training packages for our clients; such as basic obedience, advanced obedience, competitive obedience, protection sport, dog diving – in which the dog learns to dive,” said Marty Vielma. “We also do ability training, so anything that the person wants their dog to learn we give them those options.”
Located in Edinburg, the RGV K9 Centre trains dogs in all areas of training, from service dogs to law enforcement dogs, to pet dogs. The K9TC facility holds a doggie daycare called the K9 Club and K9s On Patrol Services LLC (KOPS) which is a specialized training for law enforcement dogs.
“The RGV K9 Training Centre is the name of the school. Any government, any specialized training, that we do is through K9s On Patrol Services, KOPS for short,” said Vielma. “We are licensed by the state of Texas and by the Drug and Enforcement Administration (DEA). We are not just your typical training, we really specialized in all areas of training.”
Marty Vielma has 17 years of dog training experience, plus experience as a retired police officer that he includes to the mix. His wife, Leslie Garbutt Vielma, originally from Canada, is a certified master dog trainer and worked with the Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association (CARDA). With the KOPS training, Vielma said that they have partnered with some school districts to help them with their law enforcement classes.
“We are working together with some school districts, in their law enforcement classes, to prepare their students for any career in the security business and the law enforcement business,” Vielma said.
The dog training school is constantly helping out the community, they work closely with the humane society and local rescues to save dogs from being put down. They care about the dogs they train, especially those who need a second chance.
“We do a lot of free work and free training for the humane society or local rescues, where we are training their staff on how to read a dog’s body language, to make sure that we give dogs a good start on their forever homes,” said Vielma. “This is why we offer the services to them at no cost because we want to help the dogs, we want to have fewer dogs in the shelters. This is what our company does.”
The K9TC have opened their doors to the public on Saturdays at 11 AM, they do a free demonstration class at 4501 Rio Grande Care Road Edinburg, TX, 78541, where people can go and learn about their training methods.
“It’s a free informative class, where people come and do not have to bring their dogs, we give them an hour explanation of the methods that we use, so at least they can leave with some information on what suits them and how they would like their dog to be trained,” Vielma explained. “We do this at no commitment, as an effort to serve and educate the Valley.”
