Meet the Team
Founder & Snack Leader
Pack Leader
Ke Kahu Hipa ”The Shepherd”
Mōhala Lohi “Late Bloomer”
Animal Behavioral Specialist
Aka “The Nose”
A Legacy of Love
I have had many mesmerizing and amazing moments in life, but nothing can compare to the day I was offered my first dog training position. My father trained many hunting dogs in my life, predominantly of the Labrador retriever breed and my childhood chores involved exercising, caring for, and training dogs. We used balanced methods in those days- everything from steak as rewards to a prong collar when necessary.
Patrick Tarver, Snack Leader
Developing the Passion
My dad believed heavily in working with the dog in front of them. He always said we are not making a robot, we are working with instincts, but need to have control for safety. He trusted his dogs- a trust he fostered in me.
By age 12 I had trained my first complete dog- a golden retriever named Jenny, the last hunting dog to be trained in my childhood home. Jenny could sit, lay down, stay for an undisclosed amount of time, go get it, bring it back, wait mid-motion, drop down- all behaviors needed to ensure she was safe doing her job.
And then came Mya…
Embracing the Challenge
Fresh out of high school and looking for a more challenging breed to train, I landed upon one of the top three stubborn breeds; the Siberian husky. Mya was a beautiful disaster that pushed my abilities as a young trainer every step of the way. For the first time, my dad’s methods didn’t work and I felt defeated. Eventually, Mya matured in many ways, and became known in the community as a dog everyone could love.
All was well that ended well, but my dog training passion almost ended here. In 2018, Mya unfortunately passed away while in the care of a family friend.
And then came Cal…
Facing the Giants
A close friend connected me with a woman who’s life circumstances changed drastically, and she could no longer care for what is still the largest husky I have ever met, Calcifer.
Cal was abused for the first 18 months of his life, and was fresh off of that abuse when I met him. I took him in still licking my wounds from Mya, and he expressed behaviors I had never seen before. It was at this time that a pet store retailer who hired me heard about my history with dogs and asked me if I was interested in training dogs for him. This moment changed the entire trajectory of my life. I began working with purely positive reinforcement and voluntary methods, and I began to see dogs thinking like I never had before and finally seeing a relationship develop with Cal.
Our Hope for the Future
After over 1000 hours of professional training over 4 years, I realized that I had outgrown the basic obedience environment of the retail center I worked for and wanted to both help dogs that were not “conducive” to a group setting like hyper reactive or fear based dogs, but also be able to get out of the store and get back to work on things like hunting that I grew up doing!
It is for this reason that I founded One of the Pack. With our scientific based methods centered in voluntary, positive training, we have established ourselves as one of the most potent and effective dog training programs in Northern Colorado. Be sure to check out the rest of our website for what we have to offer, and I hope to see you and your pup soon!
Calcifer Tarver, Pack Leader
The Tragedy
Calcifer Bear Tarver, the Bringer of Heat is a five year old Siberian husky, and one of the largest purebreds I have ever met! The first 18 months of Cal’s life were more than anyone should ever endure. Including but not limited to banging pots and pans on his kennel for whining to potty, Cal’s previous dad was atrocious. This caused a multitude of issues including fear of men, kennel claustrophobia, self security issues, high anxiety, and overall emotional turmoil. The first three months of having him, he wanted little to nothing to do with me, but would absolutely panic anytime I or his sibling left his vicinity. hese problems then created more problems, such as aggression towards other dogs, self harm, coat mutilation, and emotional self control anywhere in public.
The Rescue
The only thing he did enjoy was going for a ride in the car, oddly enough. The first week home with me he barely slept a wink, nodding off occasionally due to pure exhaustion. The first time he allowed me to pet him was one of the happiest moments of my life. As mentioned before, around this time I had made the decision to use pure positive based voluntary training with every dog I met with.
Once Cal began to see the power of his decisions, it was like light switches began to go off in his brain. At that point in my life, these industry leading standards felt like magic at work.
On to victory!
The Victory
Today, Cal is an exceptional dog. His favorite thing to do is skate-fjor, where he pulls me around town on a longboard, keeping us safe and out of traffic. He is a wonderful older brother to Jett the German Shorthair Pointer, whom he corrects with his body and voice while we are not in the home. He sleeps without worry, eats his fill, and grows to learn more and more about what it means to lead the pack.
Makela Riordan, The Shepherd
Ke Kahu Hipa
Howdy! I was born and raised on the island of O’ahu in Hawai’i which is where my dog training background all began. Growing up I was surrounded by animals on a daily basis, including dogs, chickens, cattle, horses, cats, you name it. From day one, I always had a great connection with animals knowing that when I got older I wanted my future career in any field related to working with animals. Well, fast forward a decade or so and I am about to graduate from CSU with my bachelors in Animal Science and Agricultural Business.
A Trainer is Born
Throughout my time in Colorado, I became a certified Dog Trainer through Petco’s Positive Training and ended up working there for a year. I wouldn’t have been driven towards this profession or even chosen to attend college however, if it wasn’t for my dog, Hila. Growing up I had many “family” dogs but Hila was the first ever dog that was truly all mine yet, it was one of those he chose me type of situations rather than the other way around. He came to me as a gift from my dad but also as a favor for one of my dad’s friends who raised hunter dogs as he was looking for someone to take him. We didn’t know much about his background other than that but we quickly found out just how under socialized and insecure he seemed to be as he was terrified of being near anyone or allowing anyone to handle him. From that day on, I made it a point to go out to his dog pen everyday and just sit away from him minding my own business. After about a month of doing this, a miracle happened and Hila had initiated a tiny bit of trust towards me and allowed me to pet him. It was at that moment where I felt the urge and sudden interest in all things dog behavior and was motivated to earn a degree in Animal Science.
My time at Petco consisted of everything from puppy socialization and manners, all the way up to private sessions for either unwanted barking or dog reactivity. During this time I also interned on a sheep & goat farm learning about proper sheep husbandry along with sheep herding using German Shepherds. It was after this experience that led me to my interest in ranch working dogs and herding skills. My goal is to embrace my passion for training and continue learning all that I can about dog behavior but most importantly I want to educate and help others establish that unbreakable bond between a human and their dog.Hila taught me the true meaning of a dog and human bond yet, he also made me realize just how important and crucial voluntary and positive based training is from the moment a dog is born.
Hila Riordan, Late Bloomer
Mōhala Lohi
Hila, short for Hilahila which means shy in Hawaiian, truly is my “late bloomer” type of dog. I chose his name and his “tag name” for very specific reasons. Mōhala in Hawaiian can mean many things yet, all meanings are founded upon blossoming or opening up while lohi directly translates to late. You will understand why I chose to describe him as this shortly after getting to know his story.
Hila had a rough start to life for sure. Being bred and born as a hunter dog can look like many things. Since I don’t know the exact past of Hila’s before we owned him, I can’t speculate what he went through or how he was raised specifically. Yet, the mere fact that he came to us very shy, scared and untrusting of others, leads me to believe he didn’t have a proper or adequate socialization period growing up. Nonetheless, after I got Hila to trust me enough to handle him he chose to listen only to me and quite frankly I became the only person that was able to touch and even go near Hila. Not an ideal situation indeed and this made me needing to leave for college 2 years later absolutely heartbreaking. Luckily, Hila learned to trust my family members a tad more than he used to (still wouldn’t let anyone else touch him but he would take treats if they tossed to him and wouldn’t mind being in the same vicinity as them). He currently has bonded with my dad while I have been away from home and all it took was a bit of time, patience and a mutual activity they both love doing: going out for long walks on the ranch. Hence, the tag line ;). Seeing that I left for college shortly after getting Hila, I didn’t have the proper knowledge yet to train him the way I wanted; however, with my visits home I have noticed his fascination and love for herding cattle. Thus, my entire reason for becoming a dog trainer was so that I could return to Hila with the knowledge and experience to finally work on his behaviors and to sharpen his herding skills. He has always been my motivation through hard times and I can’t wait to see the hard work put to good use and for it to all come full circle.
Maddy Stauder
Animal Behavior Specialist
My passion lies in psychology, behavior, and compassion of and for all beings on earth. The list of animals I have trained include dogs, rabbits, cats, and parakeets. I spent a summer studying the wildlife in the Amazon. I have been a zookeeper for terrestrial arthropods. Also, I have pet a weird amount of squirrels…
A Love for All Animals
After earning my bachelors in Zoology, my dog training journey began working at a doggy daycare and later for a balanced dog training company in Fort Collins. This two year journey ended when my heart and soul could not take the harsh business of the balanced dog training world any longer. I took a three year hiatus from professional dog training and just focused on being with my two dogs. Lo and behold, after letting go of some of the balanced training techniques I was using with my dogs, our bond started to grow stronger. I no longer felt like I had to be so strict and controlling with them. Our lives fell into a rhythm that felt good and natural. I realized how much my own mental and emotional state was affecting them. After finding my center and getting back to my roots, I am back in the training game with One of the Pack. I feel really good about the things I am teaching people and their best friends now. Training is really fun again and I get to see people's relationship with their dog blossom and grow.
My experience includes a range of animals because I love them all.
As a kid, I taught the family dog how to do tricks and I trained my very unsocialized petco parakeets to sit on my finger and enjoy being loved on. I clicker trained my rabbit to fetch in college. I was a zookeeper for terrestrial arthropods for an internship. I participated in a titi monkey survey and designed and built a macaw nesting box in the amazon rainforest.
Jojo came with a lot of acknowledgement waivers proving that I knew he had heartworm, was massively obese, and had a bad record of getting sent back to the shelter. He was food aggressive and his hound nose knew where every morsel of food, or food like substance, was at all times.
He was…. a lot.
But diligent work, a strong love bond, and 5 years later we are to a point where I trust this dog to keep his cool when he can’t have the trash loot he has found. I can leave him with my mom for the weekend and he no longer screams bloody murder at anybody threatening to take away what's in his mouth.
