Jeff and Gillian Scarpino from Off the Beaten Trail with their two kids

OTBT Story

We are Jeff and Gillian Scarpino, a husband and wife team who not only love dogs, but have a passion to help them live their best lives possible. Our story began in 2008 when we adopted our first dog together. “Jibber” was a wonderful puppy who quickly became an assertive, confident dog and started to show aggressive tendencies. Not knowing where to turn, we brought him to a trainer. This particular trainer, while he was a very nice person, told us that our dog was not aggressive, just had a few quirks, and sent us on our way with no real plan on how to help our boy. Not long after that, our naivety cost him his life. He bolted out of the yard to chase a car and he was hit. Our devastation served a purpose, and we started volunteering to work with dogs and immersed ourselves in any education we could get our hands on.


Jeff started officially training dogs in 2011, and we opened our facility in 2014. Knowing what we know now, we should have been managing Jibber so much differently. We have learned over the years just how misunderstood dogs are in our society, and our purpose with this business is to help as many dog owners as we can to better understand their furry family members, strengthen the bond that they share, and help the entire family live more balanced lives. We always advocate for the dogs in our care, and at the same time, we will always be their students.

Contact Us
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We are proud members of the International Association of Canine Professionals. Jeff Scarpino also served on the board of directors from 2019-2021. 

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Off The Beaten Trail is a mentor-ship site for the Animal Behavior College.

TESTIMONIALS

A white Dog that has some light brown around the eyes
“We highly recommend OTBT to anyone in the north country looking for training, boarding, or socializing for their dogs. We drive an hour each way, passing numerous other training and boarding facilities, to see Jeff and his team. Our newfie Moose loves it here. We've done a number of training classes which have been invaluable both to our dog and to us as new big dog owners. The team really loves dogs - and dogs seem to love them. We picked up our usually clingy newf after a week of boarding at OTBT and he didn't want to leave! We are so happy and so thankful to have found such a great place.”
Casey Vaughn Hewitt
A white dog sitting on the ground
“I have absolutely loved bringing Lily to leash class and socials at Off The Beaten Trail!! She and I have learned so much and have had so much fun getting to work on our relationship and skills 😊We continue to look forward to learning and progressing with the different classes offered! I highly recommend Off The Beaten Trail to anyone! The support and guidance given by Jeff and everyone there is amazing! I am so thankful to have found them! 😊”
Meagan Brown
A white great dane that has some black on her head and around her eyes
“My 2 Golden pups (1.5 years old) spent 2 weeks in Jeff's Board & Train program. Jeff Gillian and Sara worked wonders with my two boys. The pups learned not to feed off one another's chaotic energy, they're basic obedience skills vastly improved as did their leash walking skills among many other skills they learned in their program. The OTBT staff trains through patience and observing the learned behaviors of each dog and "tweaking" the training program to best benefit each dog. It's amazing to see the results they garner not just from training pups but full grown dogs with anxiety issues or social issues. You could not give your dog a better gift then to send them to OTBT for training so your dog can become is happiest self.” 
Joe Smith
A German Shepard sitting on the ground
“We cannot say enough about OTBT. Jeff & Gillian turned our 7 month old English Yellow Lab, Mac, from an overly energetic, jumping, barking dog into an obedient, calm, focused, and totally manageable, delightful pet. Their loving care and amazing training was beyond our expectations. Not only do they train the dogs, but they also train the owners so they can continue the techniques at home. Mac had “board and train” for three weeks during which we visited and received our training. It has been an extraordinary experience and we highly recommend O.T.B.T.” 
Andie Stuart
A mostly black dog that has some white around their nose
“Zander and I just finished our first course through Off The Beaten Trail: Canine Facility and absolutely LOVED it!  I have learned so much about dog behavior and feel so much closer to Zander now that I can read his body language and know what state of mind he is in. We still have a long way to go but we’ve got the tools now! 
I would HIGHLY recommend these guys to anyone looking for a trainer, daycare, or boarding. Thank you so much Jeff Scarpino I’m positive this isn’t the last you’ve seen of me and Zander”
Allison Brown
A black dog with a red collar
“Thanks so much for taking good care of Cody while we were gone. I think he had a lot of fun with you, and the gang. He got lots of exercise, and that’s what he needs. Thanks again Larry.”
Larry A Stahler
A German Shepard standing inside
“We’ve taken our doggie Colby to daycare here since he was 3 months old and now he’s nearly a year. We just love Jeff & Gillian and their whole team! We also just finished a leash class with them where Jeff’s knowledge and advice about all sorts of dog questions outside of leash stuff was awesome!! We love love love OTBT!!” 
Sara Lewis
A brown dog standing outside wearing a orange handkerchief
“We had the initial consultation this morning with Jeff. I am so happy with how he works! Happy, healthy attitude! It was such a positive experience for us. We can't wait to continue our training with Off The Beaten Trail!”
Kassie Toalston

Check us out on Facebook and see what people have said about Off the Beaten Trail Canine Facility in VT.

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