The Animal Trainer

Lots of Updates going on at this time - the entire site is UNDER CONSTRUCTION!  So please keep checking back.

Please feel free to contact me regarding the information and photographs or artwork on this website.  TheAnimalTrainer86@hotmail.com

I have loved animal's my entire life.  When I was seven years old I told my family I wanted to be a dog trainer.  They laughed.  And here I am.

I wanted to be a wildlife biologist specializing in wolves (aka wolf biologist) at one point but I knew I couldn't handle the people aspect of that occupation.  I am too passionate, too stubborn, I would run myself into the ground.  So I stuck with dogs.  Researching wolves helped me immensely with my dog training and understanding how the canine mind works.  I have worked with wolf dogs and wolves, and domestic dog breeds from chihuahuas to english mastiffs.  For information on the About The Trainer page.

My specialty is retraining and solving behavioral issues in family dogs, but I also work to rehabilitate dogs displaying aggressive tendencies.  I can do obedience training and trick training but my primary focus is to help people and their dogs when problems arise.

Eventually I hope to be certified to train police K-9's and dogs for personal protection as well as service dogs.  I will be training dogs for scent work, mainly arson and narcotics detection dogs, but also Search and Rescue.  My plans have changed to include the Triple Crown Academy rather than Tarheel as I feel for my needs it is a better fit.  I will definitely still be working and focusing on the general public and household pets for training and behavior modification and hope to implement a program idea I have to help reduce teenage drug use.

Eventually I plan to have my own kennel as a real business, focusing on a very distinct breed:  the American Bulldog.  I of course love other breeds, especially but not limited to the German Shepherd Dog, Rottweiler, and American Pit Bull Terriers/American Staffordshire Terriers/Staffordshire Bull Terriers.  But while I may own any of the above breeds again I do not feel that I would be able to significantly effect the breeds enough to justify focusing on them.  There are either already great lines and great kennels for working dogs of those breeds established, or like with the APBT just too much bias to get past. 

My decision to focus on the American Bulldog is based on the fact that I see a lot of room for working dogs.  This breed just are not as heavily focused on producing working dogs as say the GSD or Malinois, and I feel up to the task of helping to put the work back in the breeds.  This is of course subject to my personal definition of what a good working dog is.  I wish to hone my skills with working dogs in general first with as many dogs as I can, of any breed.  A good dog is a good dog, no matter the breed.  With that said my search for the real deal working American Bulldog is still underway and until I am able to locate a breeder producing the kind of dogs I am looking for I will be putting attention and effort into other breeds to further my education in bitework and get started in Mondioring.

I would also like to start a new registry for Working Dogs - dogs of any breed that are conformationally sound, healthy, and stable, categorized by breed, accomplishments, and attributes, to highlight and showcase extraordinary dogs that may not fit into the American Show Dog scene.  A strict code of ethics and registration requirements will be firmly in place.  This will be a registry where form matters only so far as to ensure the dog is physically healthy without deformation, where function and ability take precedence over beauty.  The sports acceptable will be primarily ringsport(Mondio, French, Belgian), PSA, KNVP, APPDA etc, not Schutzhund.  Not that I have anything against Schutzhund but I find the competition of ringsports to be more to my taste.  Look for me in the future! 

I hope to obtain some fantastic pups within the next 14 months to start over, try again.. and yes for those curious, they will be micro chipped and I am considering the GPS collars! 

Horses have been a passion of mine since I was old enough to speak.  One of my first words was "horsie."  But my family never owned any horses, and I never got the chance to ride except for at fairs or rarely when we went to visit friends that had a very placid gelding.

So my experience was very limited.  I helped out at stables in the area.  I mucked stalls and groomed horses just for the chance to be near them.  I was young, I didn't have a job and my parents were not into horses. 

Then I moved, and was happy to find myself surrounded by wonderful equines. I helped do everything from gentle a mustang to imprinting foals.  I helped with nervous and spooky horses, I rode as often as I wanted. My adoration for the species only increased.

When I moved again I was heartbroken that I couldn't be around horses.  But I got a job and started looking around for horses for sale.  I found one that made my heart stop.  His name was Apollo, he was being sold in a small town about 3.5 hours away.  He was a two and a half year old gold champagne Tennessee Walking Horse colt.  15.1 to 15.2 hands, great old type stocky build, natural gaits.  Severe behavioral issues but I felt up to the task.  I went to see him.  Came home with a copy of the sales contract and a huge smile.

Since buying Apollo I have grown as a person.  Handling and training him, spending time with such a wonderful creature, I know that horses will be in my life for as long as I am still living.  I never want to go a day without the faint musky smell of the stable.  I never want to see my boots without a piece of straw or hay stuck to them.  If I can't spend a day untangling burrs from a tail or applying liniment to a sore joint, what good is living?

Apollo taught me a lot about about life.  He taught me a lot about horses, and a lot about animals in general.  I was forced to sell him after rehabilitating him, due to medical bills and lack of time.  He went to a wonderful, experienced gaited-horse trainer who promised to allow Apollo to prance about in parades and dazzle the flat-shod show ring. 

Other horses came and went, during the time I had Apollo.  I purchased or leased horses to re train, but Apollo was my baby, the last project I will ever buy.  Some day I hope to purchase another horse, but it may be some time indeed before I have the time, money, and space for another wonderful equine.

I dabble in artwork now and again.  I specialize in black and white graphite and white charcoal drawings, pet portraits for the most part.  I also paint, but am limited in time and do smaller pieces in acryllic on canvas (panels, mounted, or canvas paper)  I do some color portraits, in colored pencil and water color, but I find myself combining black and white or sepia tones with small hints of color, such as only coloring the eyes or certain other important details.

Please take a look at the new Art page for examples and information.