# What brought you to the world of dog training



## Jason Moore (May 3, 2009)

Like the topic says. What brought you to the world of dog training. What made you choose the breed you chose and what where the deciding factors on what style of training you do. Who all has chosen to makea career out of dogs be it breeding training or both. Just something I'm sure has been covered but not for some time to my knowledge or maybe I missed the post. I just thought it would be cool to learn about every body.


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

My work in the avalanche industry brought me to dog training. I was exposed to some avalnche dogs at work and worked my way up to a position. In Canada our avi dog program generally takes avalanche people and makes them dog people. It is easier than trying to find a dog person you can teach the avalanche skills to.

There are various breeds that do well in avi work. I wanted a mal for my first dog, but was cautioned by other mal handlers in my program that I should make some mistakes on something else first. Hence my Toller. Smaller, faster, more agile, more prey driven than the average other retrievers...this is what attracted me to the breed. I am almost ready for that Mal now!

When I am over the SAR and other outdoor crap I do, I would love to get involved with some ring sports. I can remember watching an OG and a call off on some televised competition my dad and I stumbled upon when I was a kid. I never forgot it....it was impressive.


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## Carol Boche (May 13, 2007)

Right around 10 searches and some with terrible outcomes in a year here.....discussed and got into SAR K9 from there......

It is something that I LOVE to do, am decent at and have the ability to put in the time and dedication that I need to in order to train new dogs and keep my certified dogs "mission ready" and "certifiable". 

My hubby and job allow me to take off the time I need.....my hubby puts up with A LOT.....

It is a career of sorts for me although......not a money making one. I do plan to breed, and have good dogs to do it with, but it is not for money, it is for putting reliable dogs out there to assist with the mission of saving human life. 

If I were in it for the money, I would breed froo froo dogs....LOL


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

I got started training dogs when I was a kid. My parents had a mutt that put up with me. Makes my head hurt what I tried to do with the dog. My only instruction was Patricia McConnell's radio show "Calling All Pets." 

I started working with shelter dogs with behavior problems about 8 years ago. I dabbled along the way in many sports, and tested out as many training protocol as I could on the rescue dogs. After a long series of mistakes and unfortunate events, I found a combination of training methods that worked for me. I was training stunt / disc / agility for performance at the time.

After some major life changes, my priorities shifted and I decided to use my skills to benefit others and started training Service Dogs. I'm pretty new to Service Dogs (3 years), but I love it. 

If I wanted to make money.... yeah. Froofroo doodle dogs it would be. ](*,)


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## Selena van Leeuwen (Mar 29, 2006)

my birth....


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## Jason Hammel (Aug 13, 2009)

Selena van Leeuwen said:


> my birth....


I'll say that this is a great way to enter in. Hopefully I will be doing this to my children one day.


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

When I was young, I thought the show Lassie was real. I thought that they just went out and filmed what was happening at Timmy's house.

My Dad told me that Lassie was a boy, and that there was a trainer out of site of the camera. Then he showed me how Lassie wasn't looking at Timmy.

I was 6, and For Christmas, my parents got me into a dog training class with one of my Dad's older dogs.


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## Gerry Grimwood (Apr 2, 2007)

Jeff Oehlsen said:


> My Dad told me that Lassie was a boy, and that there was a trainer out of site of the camera. Then he showed me how Lassie wasn't looking at Timmy.


That's not true you big fat liar, Lassie was just scanning the audience looking for threats...so there


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

Rotflmao ! ! !!


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## Christen Adkins (Nov 27, 2006)

Gerry Grimwood said:


> That's not true you big fat liar, Lassie was just scanning the audience looking for threats...so there


NICE!! =D>:lol:


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## Jason Moore (May 3, 2009)

Well I guess I'll add mine now that I'm off work and got time to. LOL When I was younger in my mid teens to early 20's I had an american bulldog. He was as much a best friend for a dog that a person could ever have. Any ways I valued his companionship very much he had one of the best temperments ever. So now that I'm in my lower 30's I've decided to get me a couple AB pups and don't want them for just pets and would like something to do with them. So schutzhund was the first type of training I started whatching and it impressed me. I like every aspect the tracking ob and bite work. I've thought some about ring but theres nothing around here. The closest sch club is over 2 hours away and any thing ring related is atleast a couple more hours. It's hard to make it as often as I'd like but soon I'll be a regular.


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## Courtney Guthrie (Oct 30, 2007)

Jason Moore said:


> Like the topic says. What brought you to the world of dog training. What made you choose the breed you chose and what where the deciding factors on what style of training you do. Who all has chosen to makea career out of dogs be it breeding training or both. Just something I'm sure has been covered but not for some time to my knowledge or maybe I missed the post. I just thought it would be cool to learn about every body.


Well, my parents had Rotties growing up and I did a lot with them, then my little sister got a HealerX and well, her and I tormented that dog to death. We taught him to bite people that ran from him cause we thought it was funny mostly when we had our cousins run from him! lol Then I got a GSD and had to put him to sleep less than a year later. After that I got a wolfX from one of my dad's friends and I trained him just to be a good dog. I got serious with dog training when I got Red my AST/APBT. I knew that she was considered by the public a "Pit Bull" and that not many people would welcome her so we set out to make her the best dog possible. I've done alright with her considering her genetic issues. 

I chose to get a GSD to replace Red as a working dog because of my first one as a young girl. I was 12 when I found Bubba and 13 when I had to put him to sleep, he was the best friend I ever had. He was pts because of Osteosarcoma. I never forgot him and always loved the GSDs, that is the breed that I wanted next as they are my heart breed. I worked Red in Schutzhund for 3 years before I got Judge. She has horrid structure and needed to be retired. I got into Sch in the beginning with her because I wanted the control that it gave people and an outlet for her energy. I love the sport now and while I want to dabble in others, it will be my main sport forever at least until we get a ring club here! lol 

It is not a career for me yet but I hope that one day, I'll be able to have it as one. 

Courtney


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## Carol Boche (May 13, 2007)

Jeff Oehlsen said:


> My Dad told me that Lassie was a boy, and that there was a trainer out of site of the camera. Then he showed me how Lassie wasn't looking at Timmy.


What is sad about this is that a lot of SAR (wannabe and some not) think that their dogs should come back saying "hey, help.....Timmy's in the well" 

Which in theory is a recall/refind, but there are some that claim their dog with minimal or NO training can do this.....

I knew Lassie was a male when I was 5....so there.....I am more of a Rin Tin Tin fan.....


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

:-k:-k it just happened! I started playing/training with dogs right after God made mud. 
I guess I officially got started in '65 - '66 with a St. Bernard. That was the first time I went to any official obedience training class. Before that it was from books and an old neighbor that had a great bird dog. 
Always wanted a GSD but went through numerous different breeds and mutts before I got one. There were 30+ yrs with different terrier breeds. Still got one of them little bassids.


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## Mike Lauer (Jul 26, 2009)

wife worked ata vet and came home with the little gsd puppy she just had to have
My buddy trains police dogs, so after being annoyed with its lack of obedience i started going to him
went to a competition to watch and met some nice people who invited me to their club
I spent a couple years training that same gsd and making so many mistakes its a wonder she can even still walk
I have just recently decided to ruin a malinois this time for something new...LOL


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## Ted Efthymiadis (Apr 3, 2009)

I got my first dog about 5 years ago, he's a great dog, then I saw this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDe0_b7hl1s

The next day I started looking for a Malinois. No turning back now.


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## Adam Rawlings (Feb 27, 2009)

Ted Efthymiadis said:


> I got my first dog about 5 years ago, he's a great dog, then I saw this:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDe0_b7hl1s
> 
> The next day I started looking for a Malinois. No turning back now.


 
Cool video. I did watch some of the others with Uno and they had an ecollar on him at 14 weeks old. Last video was shot at 15 months, I wonder what happened? 

Sorry to go off topic.


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## Craig Wood (Dec 9, 2008)

Truth be told it was Youtube.
I was looking to train our 2 pet Bouvs and came across Sit Means Sit.
Left an engineering career of 25+ years and now train dogs full time as of Jan 2009.
We now have those same 2 Bouvs, a Lab / BC mix demo dog (wicked smart), a baby Dutchie (future French Ring) and picking up a Mal for French Ring this week.
All this is only possible thanks to the support of my loving wife Jill.
Ain't life grand


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## Jason Moore (May 3, 2009)

Ted Efthymiadis said:


> I got my first dog about 5 years ago, he's a great dog, then I saw this:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDe0_b7hl1s
> 
> The next day I started looking for a Malinois. No turning back now.


Pretty cool.


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## leslie cassian (Jun 3, 2007)

I couldn't afford to own a horse anymore. 

Always had pet dogs, never did much training with them beyond basic good manners and then I got a 'pet quality' Malinois, who turned out to be more dog than I expected. Joining a schutzhund club was cheaper than agility. Learned a lot, still have a lot to learn, and decided to go big and get a Dutch Shepherd puppy. I'll probably mess up with her, too. 

Training and trialing (the little I've done) has been more fun than I thought it would be, and I have a dog that really likes doing the stupid things I ask of him - most of the time. I haven't accomplished much, really, in the grand scheme of things, no major titles or anything, but I am unspeakable proud of what my dog and I have done. Doesn't get much better than that.


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## Tamara McIntosh (Jul 14, 2009)

Came out of the womb dog crazy. My mother does not like dogs. Not even a little. Wasn't allowed any pets growing up. when I was 15 my grandfather died (my mom was a single mom so I spent a great deal of time with my grandparents). Using this to my advantage (as surely a dog would help me heal the heartbreak - which she did!) and ruthlessly using a promise my new step father had made while he was inebriated (sure honey you can get a dog but not until we move into a house of our own), I was allowed to get a dog from the SPCA. I brought home a mini dachsie.

I had always wanted a dobermann and I began to hang out at dog shows and make a pest of myself with dobie breeders. When I was 23 I bought my first dobie. He was a great first dog. He had enough will to try most of the stuff I tried with him (tracking, sch, ob). Probably could have been a club level sch dog, and maybe a brevet for ring. I put a CD and TT on him, but as he could be super dog aggressive I never took it farther than that. However in 2000 I joined the military. So for the next 3 years I focused on my trade training.

In 2004 I rescued a working bred puppy for a friend of mine in Denmark. The dog never did make it back to Denmark. I was on the fence as to whether I should do sch or ring. I went to one ring seminar and I have never looked back. Ringsport all the way! 

I still train my dogs in tracking and Sch style obedience because I enjoy it. I have a great time tracking with my dogs, to my sch friends utter disbelief. 

Tamara McIntosh


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## Jennifer Marshall (Dec 13, 2007)

I have been surrounded by dogs since I was born. Various breeds at various relatives houses. I grew up with English Shepherds, GSDs, Rotts, Pits, Dobes, and lots of mixes. I always prefered their company over that of my family. If they couldn't find me, they knew I was out with the dogs.

I was babysat by a Cherokee woman that had wolves. I couldn't interact with them so I watched them. When I got older I was allowed to interact with them with supervision. I learned a lot about canids just from watching and it sparked the interest in me to continue learning and I started to watch the dogs more closely. I started training my first dog a few months before my 10th birthday, a GSD/husky/pit mix, and I have been training and working with dogs ever since.

Have worked with a lot of dogs in the past volunteering at shelters, I worked at a boarding kennel as my first job when I was 15, and started training/working with other peoples dogs for behavior modification and OB. I do that occassionally but too many dog owners are not actually willing to do anything for themselves or their dogs, they want a magic wand or a robot dog. 

So now my focus is my own dogs and doing dogsports, primarily Mondioring.


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## Mike Lauer (Jul 26, 2009)

leslie cassian said:


> I couldn't afford to own a horse anymore.
> but I am unspeakable proud of what my dog and I have done. Doesn't get much better than that.


I hear ya,
I was so proud of my dog and what we had accomplished 
we had off leash OB and hand signals for all

then i discovered the sport and watched real dogs work and the wind was let out of my sails
you mean forging is bad? i thought it was great i got her that close...LOL

so much more work to do


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