Invest In Your Dog’s Education

I am a retired United States Air Force Master Sergeant (retired 1994), a retired Police Service Dog Handler (Narcotics Detection/Patrol), (retired 2014), and former contract Explosive Detection Dog Handler (2015 -2019). I was contracted to the United States Department of State under the World Wide Protective Services (WPSS II). 

In September 2019, I spent one week observing Ivan as he performed his duties as a traveling service dog trainer.   During the time I spent with Ivan we visited several separate families in New Jersey and Ohio with the goal of enhancing their ability to use and train their provided service dogs.

Ivan was extremely diligent and conscientious in providing training for each family. He made every effort to research their case and to determine a strategy to work with them. Ivan was very attentive and listened carefully during the initial interviews with the families and asked probing and insightful questions in an effort to fully understand each situation. Ivan also made every effort to ensure the families understood the principles of Classical and Instrumental Conditioning so once he departed, they could also effectively work with their service dogs.

In my estimation Ivan is a skilled trainer and an effective communicator to both humans and dogs. I highly recommend him as a Service Dog Trainer and Handler.

 Police Service Dog/Explosive Detection Dog Handler 

I recently rescued a GoldenDoodle who was exhibiting some (what I thought) were aggression issues. Thank goodness Ivan came to the rescue, as I have 2 young sons and another dog at home. We needed this new pup to fit into our family, not disrupt it.

Believe it or not, I knew Ivan in high school! We recently ran into each other after 20 years. In the process of catching up, he told me that he trains service dogs.

Turns out, I recently rescued a Golden Doodle named Kodi that was displaying dangerous behaviors towards my children, guests and my other dog!

Ivan thoughtfully assessed the situation and told me that he didn’t think it was an aggression issue.

He focused on what was causing the issues. He said that Kodi had a bad association with doors. My dog reacted every time somebody was coming in or out of the house, or when my kids were putting on their backpacks to leave the house, etc.

Before I rescued Kodi, the previous owner kept him locked behind doors for 18 hours a day.

Long story short, Ivan helped me solve the problem.

After that, I asked him if he could help me with some commands that service dogs do, to help my son with anxiety.

Ivan taught me some behaviors like nudging and kissing my son on command to stop him from meltdowns. The best part is…it works!

As a family, we are absolutely thrilled that Ivan has shared his dog training expertise with us! Kodi is now an asset instead of a liability!