JOSÉ GONKEL

Trainer / Netherlands

José Gonkel was born in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. Today she lives in eastern Netherlands, with her husband and two dogs Fox and Bailey. José is a retired ICU nurse and has worked for 30 years at a big hospital. Her interest in dogs has pushed her to become a certified behavioral therapist for dogs. Since 2007 she has a practice for behavior modification and obedience training. Around that time, she became a member of several search and rescue groups. Later she started the discipline Mantrailing.

Her dog Fox, a Working Kelpie is an air scent dog and disaster dog. In the Netherlands, Jose was the first who experimented with the Hanoverian scenthound breed for mantrailing. She works with her 3 years old dog Bailey, a Hanoverian scent hound. Her own school “Mantrailing Overijssel”  www.mantrailingoverijssel.nl trains private citizens, as well as search and rescue teams in the same mantrailing style as Georgia K9 NTC. The GAK9 school is open for visitors. She gives mantrailing seminars at home and abroad.