Dog Training/Expert Profile

Expertise

Dog training, kenneling, behavior. We train dogs at our facility that offers seperate training building, boarding and grooming facility, 5 acres of dog and cat space. We train pet store and county animal control officers and staff animal behavior and training, to aid adoptability and improve safety and handling of stray dogs. We use AKC Rally style training using agility equipment and positve reinforcement with our own book and DVD as training aids. We've trained over 120 breeds and thousands of dogs. We developed and taught college course at Indiana University, "Professional Animal Behavior and Care" wrote our own book and DVD for obedience training and understanding animal behavior that all training clients receive as part of basic obedience.

Experience in the area

Owner, Westwind Kennels LLC, Crown Point, IN. Training dogs for nearly 50 years. Developed and taught college class, Professional Animal Care and Behavior at Indiana University for 6 yers. Authord book and DVD on obedience training. We own over a dozen dogs, 10 cats, and have had as many as 20 dogs at one time of many breeds from Greyhound, Beagle, Basset, Rottweiler, Doberman, Akita, Briard, German Short Hair pointer, Labrador, Shepherd, Husky, mutts, most from animal shelters.

Organizations

ABKA, AKC, APDT, Red Cross,

Publications

Book and DVD on obedience training, several Chicago TV appearances, TV Guide, McCalls, TV appearances in Toledo, Detroit, Lansing, Topeka, since 1970.

Education/Credentials

BS, BM, EET, Red Cross certified pet/human CPR trainer, developed and taught college level animal behavior and care for professionals, CPBE, and an Emmy (1997)

Awards and Honors

Recommended by county animal control, area vets, Red Cross, Great Lakes Greyhound, mamy others.

Past/Present Clients

Thousands of individuals, police dogs, drug dogs, S&R and bomb detection dogs. Our facility includes 24/7 doggy cam of the entire facililty.

What do you like about this subject?

Getting pets the care they deserve. In return, the love and affection of every animal we've owned or trained.

What do you still hope to achieve/learn in this field?

My own TV show to debunk the "secrets to perfect dogs" There are no secrets, it all works on operant conditioning, positive response and simple cues that mimic the parents. Pavlov and Skinner are the basis of all animal training.

Something interesting about this subject that others may not know:

High protein foods can increase dog aggression. No cure for thunderstorm fear. only succeed in teaching the dog to not afraid of the artificial thunderstorm rooms. "Flooding" does not help a dog overcome fear or shyness. Sensory overload prevents the dog from learning and forces it to shutout stimuli just physical exercise under duress.

Something controversial or provocative about this subject

You can't make any animal love you. Trust and respect are earned from proper treatment, training, leadership and care. Every dog and cat is learning every waking minute. Most of what you see on TV is edited hype and does not occur without a lot more time and effort. Saying ssst over and over is not training, the dog is trained when you no longer need to make a correction noise or command.