I have trained many dogs, my own, rescues and the dogs of friends and neighbors. Since 2015 I have boarded and/or trained over 400 dogs. I started training dogs when I was a child, and I even had a dog and cat circus in my backyard when I was twelve years old! I think I even charged fifty cents admission.

During the years when punishment and force-based dog training methods were the most prevalent type of training, I was using relationship building games, lure reward training, and positive reinforcement techniques that I discovered as a child while training all the family pets.  In high school I discovered B.F. Skinner who was one of the preeminent American psychologists of the 20th century. B.F. Skinner concluded that some form of reinforcement was crucial in learning new behaviors. To his mind, positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an individual finds rewarding. He concluded that reinforced behavior tends to be repeated and strengthened. I trained rats and hamsters for a high school experiment using his positive reinforcement technique.

I have been mentored for the last 14 years by Edith Nikiel, a German Shepherd breeder living in Olympia who was a top Schutzhund competitor in Austria. (Schutzhund is a German word meaning “protection dog. “It refers to a sport that focuses on developing and evaluating those traits in dogs that make them more useful and happier companions to their owners.)  

As Edith and I worked together, she began to embrace the positive reinforcement training techniques that I was using to train my own German Shepherd girl Trinka in preparation for her preliminary Schutzhund title and Therapy Dog Certification.  I certified Trinka with Therapy Dogs International at two years old, and a year later I trained her to work as a service dog that performed blood sugar detection and help with mobility on ice and snow. She added working as a training demonstration dog to her resume in the last five years of her life and she passed away at 13 in 2021.

About seven years ago, I was thrilled to discover Dr. Ian Dunbar, a veterinarian and PhD in behavioral science who studied dog behavior for 10 years at the University of California—Berkeley. To quote his web site https://www.siriuspup.com/: “Dr. Ian Dunbar created and taught the world’s very first puppy class, SIRIUS Puppy Training in the San Francisco Bay Area over 30 years ago. SIRIUS Puppy Training Classes literally redefined and revolutionized pet dog training. SIRIUS emphasized the importance of teaching bite inhibition, early socialization, temperament training, and — simple solutions for common and predictable behavior problems, as well as basic household manners. Moreover, SIRIUS championed user-friendly and dog-friendly dog training specifically, that training should be as enjoyable for dogs as it is for owners, and that training should only involve quick, easy, and effective methods that are within the capabilities of all family members, especially including children.”

I have been a member and student of His Top Dogs Training Academy since 2017 and model KELLEY’S K-9 CAMP training classes after his successful, science-based program and have Dr. Ian Dunbar’s permission to use his training program, syllabus, homework, and publications in my dog training classes. I will be linking to his publications and videos throughout this website.