David is from Minnesota and played ice hockey as a goalie at a competition level from age 4 through his Junior year in College. He graduated from Cornell University in 1990 with a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
After College he returned to Minnesota and started training his Rottweiler with a local Schutzhund Club. He loved the sport but was disappointed with the methods being used and fallout they produced. Over time he saw no evolution in the training methods being used so he began to attend many training seminars in an effort to improve his scores and skills.
It was at an Ivan Balabanov seminar where he was first introduced to the idea that you could reward your dog for his work and train without conflict between dog and handler. David developed a good foundation for his training with Ivan and since then has applied what he learned and refined his philosophy and training techniques to create his own training program.
The combination of the attention to detail it takes to be an Engineer and the fast reflexes and on the fly thinking of a goalie make dog training, and understanding how to apply learning theory, a natural progression for him. This shows in his extremely well thought out training program. Every step in his training program is done in a particular order so that each behavior builds on the last to complete the process using a clear communication system between dog and handler.
He is an extremely talented and safe helper with excellent problem solving skills. A key part of his training program is to utilize the right tools for each dog/handler team and their specific goals and needs. Often this means adjusting for that particular dog’s lack of foundation training.
David is a National level competitor who qualified for the world team 3 times with 2 different dogs. He understands what it takes to be successful on the competition field as well as how to train dog/handler teams to get there, no matter what level you are at.
