The Built for the Bond Collection Is Now Available
OUR STORY
We Didn't Set Out to Build a Brand.
We set out to help our daughter.
It Started With Kona.
Years ago our daughter needed a service dog.
The cost was $15,000 — minimum. The waiting list was five years or more. Insurance covered none of it. We were a family that believed in doing whatever it takes, and even we couldn't make those numbers work.
So we did the only thing we could think of. We learned to train one ourselves.
We found a black lab who walked over and sat on our daughter's lap and never left her side. We found training company to help us through obedience lessons. We made mistakes. We put many many hours in each day with obedience and then task work. And somewhere in that process, a black Labrador Retriever named Kona became the dog our daughter needed — trained specifically for her, by us, because we refused to accept that cost and time were the reasons she went without.
What happened next changed everything.
The confidence our daughter found. The independence she carries now. The sense of safety that wasn't there before Kona and has never left since.
We watched a little girl become a remarkable young woman, and we know exactly which four paws deserve a significant share of the credit.
That experience didn't just change our family. It changed our lives.
Kona just before she retired and passed away from cancer.
What started as training one dog for one child became a profession, then a calling, then three businesses built around the belief that a well-trained dog changes everything it touches.
Today we operate 3 dog related businesses. One is Northwest Elite Working Dogs — a professional service dog training and placement organization. We train obedience and tasks for service dogs, place service dogs with handlers, provide continuing training for teams and also work training therapy dog teams serving schools and communities across the region.
Every service dog we place represents 18 to 24 months of full-time work. Boarding, nutrition, veterinary care, and 600 or more hours of specialized training — starting at 8 weeks old and continuing until the dog is ready to do one specific job for one specific person.
Our service dogs start at $35,000. Medical detection dogs — trained to detect seizures, diabetic events, and ECT — run $40,000 to $50,000. We know what that number feels like to a family sitting across from us who needs a dog and can't reach it.
We've been that family. We will never forget what that feels like.
The Brand Was Always Going to Happen.
For years our clients asked about the gear we wore at training. The shirts we made and offered for sale. The hoodies. There was nothing on the market that felt right — nothing that reflected what serious dog training actually looks like, or the lifestyle of people who enjoy their dogs on all their life's adventures together.
Everything was either cheap novelty apparel that reduced dogs to a punchline, or generic outdoor lifestyle gear that had nothing to do with dogs at all.
We wanted something in between. Premium outdoor style built around the real culture of dog training, dog adventure, and the bond between people and their dogs. Apparel that a handler, a hiker, a therapy dog team, and a service dog supporter could all wear and feel seen by.So we built it.
Summit & Hound is trainer-designed heritage apparel for dog people who believe dogs are more than pets. Every design comes from real experience — real trails, real training, real placements, real dogs doing real work.
And through our Paws with Purpose collection, every purchase in that line helps reduce the cost of service dog placement for families who are sitting where we once sat — knowing what they need and unable to reach it.
Built by Real Dog Trainers
We are not designers who decided to make dog apparel. We are dog trainers and business owners who decided to make the apparel we always wanted to wear.
We have spent over eleven years in the training field — obedience training, behavioral modifications, working with aggressive dogs, service dog training, service dog placement, premium boarding services, and therapy dog programs for schools and communities. We have trained thousands of dogs. We have placed service dogs with families who had almost given up. We have watched therapy dogs walk into a school and change the energy of an entire room.
That experience is in every design. Not as a marketing angle. As the actual reason the brand exists.
The long-term vision for the partnership between Summit & Hound and Northwest Elite Working Dogs, belongs to my wife. Her goal — the one that drives everything — is to focus entirely on service dog training and placement. To do the work and provide the dogs that matters most, for the families who need it most at the at most affordable price.
Summit & Hound is how we get there. Every collection we release, every member who joins The Pack, every Paws with Purpose purchase moves her closer to providing the dogs that changes lives of these families at an affordable price. That's not a tagline. That's the plan.
Premium or Nothing
We print on Comfort Colors 1717 because it's the blank that earns the price. Every design is built to be worn on the trail, at the training field, or anywhere life takes you and your dog. We retire poor sellers and release tight collections. Quality over volume.
Trainer Built
Every design concept comes from real experience — real training phrases, real trail moments, real handler culture. We don't design for the dog apparel market. We design for the people we know, the clients we've trained, and the life we actually live with dogs.
Purpose Driven
The Paws with Purpose collection and The Pack membership exist because the brand has a mission beyond the product. We are transparent about where that money goes, how it's used, and what it produces. We show our work. Always..
Want to Be Part of the Mission on an Ongoing Basis?
The Pack is our founding membership for people who want more than a great shirt. Members receive a new Summit & Hound mystery design every drop cycle, member-only colorways, and regular updates on the dogs in training at Northwest Elite Working Dogs. A portion of every membership directly funds service dog placement.
Founding membership is limited to 100 people. Founding members lock their rate forever.
The Training Operation Behind the Brand.
Summit & Hound was built by the founders of Northwest Elite Working Dogs — a professional service dog training and service dog placement organization serving the Pacific Northwest and the entire country. If you are looking for service dog training, service dog placement or therapy dog programs, that's where you'll find us.
VISIT NORTHWEST ELITE WORKING DOGSFor the Dog People Who Lead With Purpose
We built Summit & Hound for the people who understand that a dog is not an accessory.
They are a trail companion, a trained partner, a comfort provider, and sometimes the reason a person gets to live the life they deserve.
If that's your dog — this is your brand.
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