Breeding & Training
Dogs for Lives of
Significance & Service® since 1977
OUR DOGS DO STUFF®
About Us
Cher Car Kennels in St. Johns, Michigan has been breeding and training dogs for lives of significance and service® since 1977. Our breeding program specializes in German Shepherds, Dutch Shepherds and Belgian Malinois and strives to produce the naturally protective and loving family dog you remember from childhood.
Our success is attributed to knowledge gained through years of experience. We select our breedings to emphasize physical soundness, intelligence and temperament, and we carefully match each individual puppy to its new family based on your stated activity needs and desires. We only utilize x-ray cleared dogs (hips and elbows) in our breeding program, with OFA certification obtained at the appropriate age. We treat our dogs like athletes; feeding the finest natural foods to produce maximum healthy growth and proper nutrition. Our feeding regimen consists of a mix of organic dog food comprised of human-grade ingredients without dyes, additives or synthetic preservatives combined with poultry, beef, venison or moose.
Our 20 acre country farm with boarding kennel facility provides the perfect setting for active socialization of our puppies by exposing them to farm animals (goats, donkeys, cows) along with other dogs, boarding and training clients, and lots of friends…ensuring a well rounded development.
Although many of our dogs have been involved in formal service such as Search & Rescue, Police K-9 Service, Competitive Dogsports, Conformation, Personal Protection, Therapy and Handicap Assistance, Theatrical Productions, Television and Film; the vast majority of our dogs have served as loving and loyal family pets and protectors.
We offer an extensive variety of dog training programs to assist your puppy in growing and learning in a safe, stimulating and fun environment.
Our 20 acre country farm with boarding kennel facility provides the perfect setting for active socialization of our puppies by exposing them to farm animals (goats, donkeys, cows) along with other dogs, boarding and training clients, and lots of friends…ensuring a well rounded development.
Although many of our dogs have been involved in formal service such as Search & Rescue, Police K-9 Service, Competitive Dogsports, Conformation, Personal Protection, Therapy and Handicap Assistance, Theatrical Productions, Television and Film; the vast majority of our dogs have served as loving and loyal family pets and protectors.
We offer an extensive variety of dog training programs to assist your puppy in growing and learning in a safe, stimulating and fun environment.
Cher Car Kennels specializes in ALL breed training for the family pet, along with advanced training for sport, protection and police. Our combined training programs have graduated over 20,000 dogs since 1977.
The combined experience of founder Cheryl Carlson along with business partners Lori Webster and Carole Field creates a truly unique team offering expertise in nearly every facet of dog training.
We specialize in preventing dog behavior problems by educating dog owners through personalized private home visits, group classes or in-kennel "boarding school" training, using positive, praising methods of dog obedience instruction. We provide the knowledge, understanding and expertise necessary to teach your dog "good behavior" rather than simply punishing what you might perceive as "bad behavior".
The overall well-being of the dog is then achieved through a special balance of loving attention, exercise and a sense of purpose derived through training. Cheryl Carlson and Cher Car Kennels have also been awarded special recognition repeatedly for service to our customers and community, and we have achieved high industry benchmarks for product quality and ethical business practices. Our philosophy of offering the very best breeding and training possible works to ensure each puppy buyer is happy with their Cher Car Kennels dog, and for it to be a loved member of the family for its lifetime.
The combined experience of founder Cheryl Carlson along with business partners Lori Webster and Carole Field creates a truly unique team offering expertise in nearly every facet of dog training.
We specialize in preventing dog behavior problems by educating dog owners through personalized private home visits, group classes or in-kennel "boarding school" training, using positive, praising methods of dog obedience instruction. We provide the knowledge, understanding and expertise necessary to teach your dog "good behavior" rather than simply punishing what you might perceive as "bad behavior".
The overall well-being of the dog is then achieved through a special balance of loving attention, exercise and a sense of purpose derived through training. Cheryl Carlson and Cher Car Kennels have also been awarded special recognition repeatedly for service to our customers and community, and we have achieved high industry benchmarks for product quality and ethical business practices. Our philosophy of offering the very best breeding and training possible works to ensure each puppy buyer is happy with their Cher Car Kennels dog, and for it to be a loved member of the family for its lifetime.
Lori Webster, Cheryl Carlson and Carole Field
Founder Cheryl Carlson
Cheryl Carlson has been training dogs professionally since 1977, providing guard dog service, teaching family companion dogs (manners, problem solving and behavior modification), personal protection, training Police Service K-9s along with physical/emotional assistance dogs. She has rehabilitated and placed countless rescue dogs and conducted hundreds of DOG BITE PREVENTION seminars throughout the country. Cheryl is a paid consultant teaching dog bite prevention techniques to various organizations including the United States Postal Service, GTE, FIA, Consumers Energy, UPS, the Visiting Nurses Association and many more. She frequently provides expert witness testimony throughout the state of Michigan in regards to training of police dogs, dog attacks, and dog behavior and is also a certified E.M.S. instructor in the field of Environmental Emergencies.
Cheryl and PD1 Grand Champion "Hazard", the only UKC Grand Champion Police Dog (Handler/owner trained)
Cher Car Kennels' breeding program has produced more than 350 dogs (German, Belgian and Dutch Shepherds) that have gone on to certify as Police, Sheriff and Government Department K-9s (US Department of Defense, US Department of State, US Department of Homeland Security, US Drug Enforcement Administration, USAF Security Forces). In addition, more than 100 dogs have certified in Search and Rescue applications (wilderness, disaster, cadaver, avalanche and drowning rescue or recovery) along with dozens of privately owned service dogs providing mobility, alert, emotional or physical assistance in a variety of forms, such as Brace and Mobility (BMSD) dogs, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) service dogs, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) service Dogs, Medical Alert service dogs, Emotional Assistance (EA) service dogs and Listening Ear (hearing alert) dogs.
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Cheryl enjoys competition with her own dogs, and has titled in conformation, obedience, agility, rally obedience, herding, nosework, terrier racing, barn hunt, lure coursing, dock jumping, Schutzhund, French Ring Sport, Campagne and UKC Dog Sport. She has judged countless personal protection trials throughout the US and Canada, is the ONLY woman in North America to ever receive certification as a Campagne decoy (a French sport consisting of bitework, agility, obedience and tracking), is one of the founders and past President of NARA (North American Ring Association) and is also a UKC Performance Sport judge licensed for Family Obedience, Dog Sport and Nosework.
Cheryl has trained and certified over 100 police K-9's to date, with teams trained in patrol, narcotics, explosive and accelerant detection. She has also trained and certified many other dog trainers in police work (narcotics detection training and police K-9 decoy training).
Cheryl is one of the best known experts in the industry and is truly unique among trainers for her vast knowledge, years of experience and unmatched expertise in every area of dog training. To put it simply, she has done it all!
Lori Webster
Lori has a long history of service to the dog fancy which began as a child raising puppies for "Leader Dogs for the Blind" when she was nine years old. She has been an award-winning trainer and handler since 1999 competing in agility, barn hunt, conformation, dock jumping, nosework, rally obedience, weight pull and biting sport tournaments.
Lori has been breeding Dutch Shepherds and Parson Russell Terriers since 2005 and her breeder/owner handled dogs have been awarded Best-in-Show multiple times in conformation while also earning numerous High-in-Trial awards in both performance and protection sports.
Lori being awarded HIGH IN TRIAL by Dog Sport Judge Allan Brooks after besting over 100 other dogs at 2006 UKC Premier
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Lori is also an accomplished decoy of national notoriety, and certified in numerous venues to provide expert training for bite sports, police dogs, search and rescue, assistance dog training and rehabilitating aggressive dogs.
Lori displaying her award winning decoy form - ouch!
Carole Field
Carole Field is a Dog World Award-winning trainer and high-in-trial competitor; involved in obedience and protection sports since 1982, and conducting dog obedience instruction in a private, group and club format since 1985.
She has titled in AKC Obedience, Schutzhund, K9 Pro Sports, French Ring Sport, Barn Hunt and UKC Agility, Conformation, Dock Jumping, Dog Sport, Lure Coursing, Nosework, Obedience, Precision Coursing, Rally Obedience and Terrier Racing,
Carole has judged personal protection tournaments throughout the Midwest since 1995 and is a UKC Performance Judge licensed for Family Obedience, Dog Sport (all classes of Protection and Police Dog titles), Nosework (a scent work sport showcasing the dog's amazing sense of smell and their inherent desire to hunt) and Terrier Racing (with Senior Judge classification).
Carole is also a nationally published freelance writer and photographer and has been a Professional Member of the Dog Writers Association of America since 1994.
For greater detail about her credentials, please visit the website at CaroleField.com
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Big or small, we train them all!