LEAH GANGELHOFF, CPDT-KA, CBCC-KA, CNWI
Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA), Certified Behavior Consultant Canine-Knowledge Assessed (CBCC-KA), and Certified Nose Work Instructor (CNWI), Leah Gangelhoff, owns & operates Flint Hill K-9 Training, LLC serving the Greater Birmingham, AL area. Leah has owned and operated her own canine training and behavior business since 2002, during which time she has developed thousands of private comprehensive education courses for dogs and their owners for puppy, obedience, and serious behavior issues of all kinds, including fear and aggression. While living in Los Angeles, Leah trained in narcotics detection with co-founders Ron Gaunt and Amy Herot from 2004-2006 before the activity and sport of K9 Nose Work® was born. Leah became involved in K9 Nose Work® in 2010 and is a Senior Faculty Member at the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW™), an NACSW™ Trial Judge and Trial Certifying Official, and a Certified Nose Work Instructor (CNWI). She has also developed and presented over 30 workshops/seminars/webinars nationally and internationally on a variety of topics in K9 Nose Work®. As a Senior Faculty Member she has collaborated with Founders and Faculty to create and teach Continuing Education courses for Certified Nose Work Instructors and is currently developing and teaching a Continuing Education webinar series for NACSW™ Certified Nose Work Instructors (CNWI).
Leah has over 1000 hours of professional narcotics detection training with a large group of dogs prior to the birth of nose work as a pet dog sport, with mentors Ron Gaunt and Amy Herot and with Rodney Spicer/Gold Coast K-9 from 2004-2006. Leah has personally passed professional detection certifications (both written and search tests) in narcotics detection (POST standards) with Evolution K9 in northern California and with the Oxnard Police Department separately with two different dogs (German Shepherd and Papillon, probably the first and only in narcotics detection).
Leah trained and trialed her German Shepherd, Konner, in K9 Nose Work® all the way up through the NACSW™ Summit Division for Elite Champion teams. Leah and Konner competed in four Summit Trials before he passed away in 2020 of a brain tumor at 11 yrs old. Leah and Konner achieved the highest title possible in K9 Nose Work®, a Summit title, placing 2nd Overall with pronounced designations and first and second placements in many Summit trial searches. Leah earned an NW3 Elite with her Belgian shepherd, Zephyr, placing First, First, and Second Overall at those trials and has earned an NW2 with her 11 lb terrier mix shelter dog, Bruno Mars. She has just recently begun training her Cattle Dog puppy, Butterbean, also with the K9 Nose Work® methodology.
Leah has had the honor of being invited by the K9 Nose Work Training Camp Director, Dana Crevling, and K9 Nose Work® Founders to teach at a total of 20 Camps since 2011. She currently specializes in teaching K9 Nose Work® classes and privates locally and coaching groups, clinics, and seminars nationally and internationally in the sport of K9 Nose Work®.