G. W. Wood was raised on a farm at Lachute, Quebec, specialising in “dairying and particularly in pure bred Ayrshire cattle.” It was here during his formative years that he gained valuable experience as “a breeder and successful exhibitor of pure bred dairy stock.” His early education was at Genoa public school, after which he attended the Lachute Academy. He went to Macdonald College in 1907, where he specialized in animal and field husbandry, winning the silver cup for stock judging in his final year there. After graduation he became the first District Representative in Quebec, with headquarters at Huntingdon. He was specifically hired by the M.A.C. in 1913 to develop the Dairy side of the Animal Husbandry Department, a job for which his training and experience had prepared him very well indeed.