A Note From Our Founder, Joe Secreti

I have spent my life owning, raising, working and training dogs. I have experienced many different breeds with different backgrounds, histories, strengths, and weaknesses. Through this experience and education, I learned how to help these dogs acclimate to our human needs while still providing what makes them feel good and purposeful. This is a relationship that requires learning of the individual, give and take and a lifetime of commitment and teamwork. This is no different than raising kids, interacting with friends, and significant others. When one actually taps into the natural drives of the dog that allow the dog to feel purposeful and fulfilled, your dog will continue to proactively progress down the right road because of this mutual feeling of fulfillment. Your bond and relationship will progress to a level that you could never imagine. This will help you and your dog thrive and your relationship will continue to hit all new levels.    

I believe that my strong point as a trainer is my diverse experiences in the dog world through education and a network of talented and proven dog professionals. I have witnessed and heard horrible things with trainers aligning themselves in only one of the training theories. They view the world through their own lens tinted by the views, ideas, and values that they apply to dog training and see other methods with suspicion and hostility. This inability and unwillingness to see beyond their ideologies and vision of the world restricts them from finding new paths to improve themselves as trainers and, in turn, prevents them from putting the sincere wellbeing of their dogs and relationship as a priority. I, personally, have not and would never want to be defined as one or affiliated with a trainer that only follows one method of training. 

My journey includes pet training working with shelter dogs, sport competition, working detection K9s, protection dogs, various types of working dogs, and still some of my biggest lessons came straight from watching and learning from dogs interacting with other dogs, as well as mother dogs raising their puppies to adults. I have spent many years watching and analyzing the way that a mother dog interacts with her puppies. On top of this, I see how different species interact because I live with dogs, horses, chickens, and humans. The common denominator to the relationship that I see is the importance of trust, signals, and biological fulfillment to create a relationship based in teamwork. I continue to make an enduring commitment to maintain flexibility and keep the capacity to adjust to the needs of each learning situation as a student, trainer, teacher, and individual. I do not restrict myself with a certain theory or approach but always look for approaches that will make teaching and learning highly interactive, simple, and fun. I am always open to learning and always willing to have an adult conversation with others in my profession that have different views; this is incredibly important to the success of our industry. Dog training is not about one's ego, emotion or single method of training, it's not about a few training sessions or a few weeks of a board and training, it is about a life of commitment, compromise and learning for a mutual benefit of both dog and human. 

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