meet the owner

My name is Skyler Weatherby, I was born and raised here in Texas! Growing up I was always around animals, my first pet being a domesticated rat. I was also surrounded by dogs. From a young age I had a minimum of 3 dogs in my home at any given time. Around the age of 5 my parents brought home Rocky, a small spoiled little Boxer puppy. My family loved him so much that they called him my brother. I grew up with Rocky and watched in fascination as my dad trained him. I decided as a young girl that I wanted to work with dogs, and I did!

Fast forward to the 16 year old that missed her Rocky and wanted a dog of her own. I was looking around the internet trying to find a dog that called out to me. I then stumbled upon a few ads on Craigslist and reached out to a few people rehoming their puppies. I found someone in my price range and scheduled a meeting. I had been looking at English Bulldog puppies, but fell in love with a Heeler/Australian Shepherd mix. I couldn’t think of a name for him no matter how hard I tried, but my dad had a few tricks up his sleeve. My dad has only ever had one brand of vehicle that he loved and passed that love onto me and thus we welcomed Chevy into our family. From day one I threw everything I had into training him the way my dad had with Rocky all those years ago. In 2019 I had the bright idea to attempt to train him to be my personal service dog; I succeeded and retired him in 2024! He is enjoying his time off by swimming in the pond every weekend during the hot months and taking long walks and playing fetch in the cooler months.

During my teenage career I worked in doggy daycares, rescues, shelters, and when I was 22 I landed my dream job at a dog training facility in Fort Worth. I learned a lot in my time there. I had a lot of dog handling experience, but I didn’t know the logistics and psychology behind a dogs actions. I learned how to use different training tools and why they’re effective with certain dogs and why they won’t work or make problems worse with others. I also got a lot of hands on experience with the ET-300 from E-Collar Technologies.

I lost my dad in June of 2020. He was my best friend and the loss hit me hard. I knew that I wanted to create something to honor him by, I just didn’t know what. In 2023 I had my beautiful Daughter that we decided to name after my Father. Holding my little girl I realized that I wanted to create a legacy to pass down to her and my other future children and I remembered that I also wanted to honor my dad. I decided then that I eventually wanted to create my own dog training business. It was then that the idea for the Larry Marvin Weatherby (LMW) K9 Academy was born. Without the support of my amazing husband, Keaton, none of this would be possible.

I have been to a training seminar hosted by Pat Stewart in 2023. I got first hand knowledge on the science behind his ne-po-po theory and a lot of the technical systems behind the E-Collar; more specifically, how it works.

I was also lucky enough to spend an entire week with Jeff Gellman, owner of Solid K9 Training in Florida back in 2024. In that week I was able to obtain more knowledge on reactivity and aggression within dogs. I learned a lot about the difference between true aggression and resource guarding. I also learned a new way of using the E-Collar to create amazing communication between humans and canines that I have since mastered!

I plan on continuing my education throughout my career by attending seminars and mentorship programs.