Meet the fine folks at Flying Fur!
Sharon & Dinah
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Fun fact: Sharon has 4 dogs; Dinah, Isaiah, and Amos are Border Collies and Danke is a Danish Swedish Farm Dog.
Sharon Harrell
Owner
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Sharon Harrell built the facility and opened Flying Fur in the spring of 2008. Sharon was previously living in Maryland and loved the dog daycare program that her dog participated in. At that time, there wasn’t any facility around here that offered those services. Sharon saw the opportunity and began Flying Fur!
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Sharon competes in agility and flyball with her dogs. Sharon is also the captain of the flyball team, New River Rapids. New River Rapids practices at Flying Fur weekly, competes nationally and puts on tournaments twice a year at the Blacksburg Rec Center. If you are interested in playing flyball with your dog, she’d love to get you involved! Visit the team’s website: www.nrrflyball.org
Stephanie, Riley & Casey
Stephanie O’Connell Wilcke
Manager of Operations & Trainer
Stephanie began working at Flying Fur in July of 2014. After leaving her job in the non-profit world in D.C., she took a part-time job at a dog daycare and training facility in Arlington, Virginia. She loved it so much that she never returned to an office job again. Stephanie worked for 3 years at the facility in Arlington while simultaneously completing a 2-year apprenticeship to become a dog trainer. Her husband got the opportunity to manage the pet supply store Kibbles on Main in Blacksburg, so they moved back to the area.
Stephanie teaches the Basic Manners classes at Flying Fur, as well as teaching private sessions. Stephanie is independently insured and CPDT-KA certified. CCPDT (Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers) is the leading independent certifying organization for the dog training profession worldwide. For more information about her training, visit her website: Barksburgdogs.com
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Fun fact: Stephanie and her husband live with 3 rescue dogs; Riley is a small mix, Casey is a Treeing Walker Coonhound, and Wizard is an Aussiedoodle. Stephanie also competes in agility with Casey and Wizard.
Aubrey Peters
Social Media Manager
& Training Assistant
Aubrey began working at Flying Fur in March of 2016. Having grown up on a farm, Aubrey always had a love for animals and desired to work with them in some capacity. When the opportunity to work at Flying Fur presented itself, she jumped at the chance.
Aubrey loves working with the dogs and says that this job has been a “clarifying” experience. She now knows dogs are her true passion! Aubrey assists Stephanie with her group manners classes here at Flying Fur and hopes to become a certified trainer in the future.
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Aubrey is also our resident "zoomies" lenswoman. You can thank her for most of the snaps of your pup having fun featured on our Facebook page.
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Fun fact: Aubrey has a large, mixed-breed, rescue dog named Huckleberry.
Aubrey & Huckleberry
Molly Oakes & Daycare pups
Cammy Otersen & her dog Philly
Sam-E Marion & her dog Jack
