How I Came to Teach Dog Training

My family got a dog in August and I was born in November. She was a Sprocker and her name was Gyspy. My dad want her for a hunting dog. That is another story about how Gypsy came to be a hunting dog.

When I was about four years old I know then I wanted to be dog trainer. After Gypsy had gone we got an Irish Terrier name Rusty. I started to show him even though he had his Championship, I get the show bug.

I then I got an Irish Terrier puppy named Chipper and showed him in conformation and obedience. He got his championship at 16 months of age and his CD (companion dog). At the age of 19 month of age.

After Chipper had gone I got a rescue Bouvier (6 years old) named Salvador. I did obedience training with all these dogs and loved it.

As I got older the dog trainer went on the back burner because there were no courses near me, and it was too expensive to go to a course.

In the 2000s more and more dog training courses became available online.

In 2016, I took a course online from FernDog Training. I then started my dog training business called Good Calm Dog Training. I found his method of training boring and so did my students and their dogs.

I started looking for a different method of training and in 2017 I found ProDog Trainer in the UK. They train dogs with fun games. I took their course online.

I tried this type of training on my dog first who was a rescue Lagotto Romagnolo named Pia and she is now 13 and still love to play games.

She was 5 when I got her which got her from my ex-landlord who wanted her for detection work. He asked me to foster her for awhile, until he wanted to see if she was good enough for detection work. When we took her out to see if she had what it took to be a detection dog. He throughout a Kong as he always did for training his detection dogs. Pia just stood there and did move He told me she did have what it took to be a detection dog which was fortunate for me because I ended up with this $4000 dog.

In my opinion I think would have make a great detection dog since she loves to play scent games and playing fetch with a ball.

Since I started playing the games with her before I tried it on other dog owners and their dogs. She knew all her Basic Obedience and the games made her even more obedient. I'm now Sexier Than the Squirrel which is one course that you can take called Sexier Than the Squirrel 25-Day Challenge.

She loves playing then different games even though she is now 13 years old.

PIA WAS DIAGNOSED WITH DEGENERATIVE MYELOPATHY May 6 of 2021 Pia’s advanced age began to show. She was diagnosed with Degenerative Myelopathy (equivalent to us getting Lou Gehrig’s disease or ALS). We were a hair’s breadth away from taking her to the vet to be put down. She couldn’t get up without the help of a sling which we made from several old t-shirts. She wears them 24/7 so we can help her get up whenever we need to. This is not a common disease in Lagottos. On June 14, 2021, I discovered a product called Santax Biotech which I purchased because they had a 30 to 60-day guarantee that stated if I didn’t see any results they would refund my money. So on June 14, 2021, I started her on it. She had no control of her hind end and would fall down if not held up with the sling. Her front legs were all that kept her moving. Eventually, I saw little things happening. She was becoming more alert but had poor bladder control. She was peeing herself two or three times a night and that demanded that we had to get up, change her bedding, then take her outside to pee before we could get back to sleep. Her bowel movement was also not normal. By September, I had finished my first supply of the product and was seeing improvement just about every day. I discovered four other products for this disease and started using them. As I am writing this (April 5, 2022) she is getting up on her own without much help, can walk by herself as well as go pee and poo on her own. She lets me know when she wants to go out and is back to her demanding self. We now had a renewed Pia!!! Our beloved Pia passed away on July 12, 2022. I wanted another Lagotto and was willing to pay up to $5000 for one but nobody had any puppies for sale. I then thought I would contact Laodicea Lagottos, whom I had spoken to three years ago about a puppy for a show home. Not only that, but I would have to put Pia and I thought no she was in good shape at 11 years old just to have a puppy.
I contacted Laodicea Lagottos on July 20, 2022, and asked about having a puppy as a show-home dog. (You get a puppy for nothing and look after it as their forever home but the breeder has show and breeding rights. He told me he just had a litter today (what were the chances of that). My dream came true. She had six puppies, five males and one female. I wanted a male puppy, and he picked this beautiful male puppy out for me. His registered name is Laodicea’s Joel Maisel (Peepuno).