Scott has been training and working with animals since he was 10 years old. His first job in the dog industry was a dog groomer, where he learned dog handling at a young age. He went on to run a grooming school, and later, he became accredited by the State of Connecticut to teach dog training and grooming.

He eventually left to train police dogs with a business partner before starting his own business, Hop River Shepherds. While running Hop River Shepherds, Scott went back to school to become the Town of Andover Animal Control Officer.

In recent years, he resigned from working in Animal Control to focus full-time on breeding and training at Hop River Shepherds.

Scott is the North American Ring Association eastern zone representative and actively trains and competes in French Ring.

Katherine first became interested in dog training when she found herself with a rescued Alaskan Husky named Glacier, who challenged her existing knowledge of dogs. She began dog training while living in Alaska, before moving to Connecticut.

Once in Connecticut, Katherine decided that she was interested in dog sports, and got a German Shepherd to train and compete with. That’s when she found Hop River Shepherds and Scott.

Katherine was coming to Hop River as a client with her German Shepherd, when both she and Scott realized how passionate and naturally talented she was with dogs.

Shortly after, Katherine began working at Hop River Shepherds alongside of Scott.

She now trains and competes in both French Ring and IGP.