Stephanie Piske

Stephanie grew up in Newport News. At a young age she developed a love for dogs and training. She was constantly outdoors playing with her childhood dog and the neighbor's dogs. One of her first jobs was pet sitting throughout the neighborhood. Her love for dogs and training grew as she and her husband got their first two dogs, Buddy and Maya. They also fostered numerous GSDs through Southeast German Shepherd Rescue (SGSR). She worked with various temperament GSDs rehabbing and rehoming them. They adopted their third dog, Madison, from SGSR with the purpose of being a working canine.Stephanie and her husband joined GARD, a local K9 Search and Rescue team. Stephanie and Maya became an operational air scent live find team and responded to searches across Virginia for missing persons. Maya also certified as a therapy dog. Years later Stephanie gave birth to her daughter and decided to retire Maya from SAR. She stayed with the team on the side helping problem solve and train newer dogs. She has since rejoined the team as an active member responding to searches and helping new handlers train their dogs in live find and cadaver. After retiring Maya, Stephanie trained her to blood trail deer and look for antlers shed by deer. Maya has had numerous successful tracks to recover deer. Most recently, Stephanie and her husband decided to add another member to their pack to start SAR training, Kyra. Stephanie trains her in obedience, agility, dock diving, and helps her husband with Kyra's SAR training. After training SAR dogs for 8 years, Stephanie wanted to learn more about dog training and behavior, so she contacted Becky and Tom to be her mentor and join the On Command family.