Initially, I mentioned that I have trained over 14000 dogs over the past 47 years. That covers teaching classes in four states (Ohio, WV, Ky and VA) and the Distrit of Columbia. Most were trained in my training center in WV where classes where held 3-4 nights per week. Additionallly, I maintained boarding facilities where dogs could be housed for various trianing periods, mostly for 30-day stints. I have not trained any of the field dogs for field work…although that has allways been fascinating to me. Some years ago I attended the national Border Collie Trials in Lexington or Louisville, KY and it was fabulous watching how the dogs had been trained to work. My background, however, is in the area of bahavior management…all levels of obedience, understanding dog psychology and socializaton, and finding ways for man and dog to co-exist in a world were man craves companionship. I believe dogs are one of God’s greatest gifts and yet we so often turn on this four-footed friend as if he is our enemy. Dogs are incredible substitutes: they are child substitutes, mate substitutes, empty-nest-syndrome substitutes, and on and on. Anyway, don’t want this to be too long, however a little background should suffice. Next week, I’ll start at the beginning…finding the right dog…or will respond to topics you want to discuss. Peace, John PS: Please consider my book, 14000 Dogs Later…find it on my web site: www.14000dogslater.com or Amazon.com. You can become a fan of 14000 Dogs Later on my Face Book.
The Bog 