The property
A small operation on quiet ground, by choice.
Leeward is the sheltered side of a vessel — the side out of the wind. That is the standard the property is held to, and the standard every dog here is kept to.
The owner
Second-generation, and back home on purpose.
My father trained bird dogs in Pensacola for twenty-seven years. I grew up in his kennel, then spent years in wildlife management, guiding high-end private hunts across Alabama, Georgia and Texas, and running dogs in professional competition from Georgia to the Dakotas, Kansas and Arkansas. I came home to be closer to family, and put the operation on fenced acreage here in Molino.
Leeward is deliberately small. Six dogs, one person, and a client list that comes mostly from people whose neighbor’s dog got better. If you want the person who trains your dog to be the person who answers your call two years from now, that is this.
The property
The acreage is not scenery. It is the curriculum.
A city trainer cannot manufacture open field, good fencing and quiet. Those three things decide what a dog can be taught here.
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Fenced training fields
Open, mown, four-board fenced ground for distance work, recalls at range and off-leash proofing with nothing to hit and nowhere to disappear to.
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The barn
Stalls, tack and a working aisle for the owner’s horses. It is the reason there is always a second set of animals on the place and a second discipline in the day.
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Quiet
Molino is rural. No traffic wall, no barking neighbors, no sirens. Reactive and anxious dogs settle here in a way they do not settle in town.
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Twenty-five minutes from Pensacola
Close enough that town is a training environment we can drive to twice a week, far enough that it never comes home with us.
Why the name says horse
The horses are the reason, not the offer.
The horses on this place are mine. They are the reason there is acreage, fencing and a barn here at all, and they are the reason I read pressure and timing the way I do — a horse tells you instantly when your hands are late, and a dog is far more forgiving about it than a horse will ever be.
So the name is honest, but it is not a menu. Leeward does not sell horse boarding, lessons or training. Everything on this site is dog work.
Community
One free program a quarter, for a dog that needs it.
Every quarter, one board-and-train slot goes to a hard-to-place shelter or rescue dog at no cost. Usually the ones that keep getting returned: too much dog, too little structure, a bite record from fear, a jumper, a puller, a resource guarder.
A trained dog is an adoptable dog. Four dogs a year is not a marketing campaign, it is roughly what a six-dog operation can absorb without shortchanging paying clients.
Rescues and shelters in Escambia and Santa Rosa: get in touch and I will tell you what the next open quarter looks like.
Partners
Veterinarians, groomers, boarding kennels, breeders and realtors: Leeward pays $250 for every referral that enrolls, sends a written training report on every dog you refer, and trains one staff dog a year at no charge.
Six dogs at a time. Never more.
Tell me about your dog on a 20-minute call. If Leeward is not the right answer, I will tell you that on the call and point you somewhere better.
Currently booking: 2 spots open for the next intake