“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

                                    - Gandhi

I consider myself an animal advocate and have always loved dogs.  I fell in love with the Boxer breed when I was a child and decided that one day I was going to have one. Since an apartment is not necessarily ideal for pets, especially for a dog, I thought it was better to wait until we purchased our home.  I was 45 when I finally got my first Boxer, a handsome 8 week old puppy which I named “Max”.

My wife and I worked long days; life was busy.  Max, full of energy like most Boxer puppies, was keeping himself busy doing the things puppies do; so by the time he reached 10 months of age we thought he needed a companion.   This time we wanted to rescue!  A female Boxer sounded like the right thing to do so we carried on and found a Boxer Rescue in Encino, Ca.

We found a nice female Brindle about the same age as Max who wasn’t very friendly with other dogs but she liked Max and that was all we cared about. We didn’t know until later that she had already been returned 4 times!!! And that’s how my life was changed.

We were experiencing such a hard time with her that I developed a thirst for information. I needed to educate myself and my dogs before things got out of control so besides reading several books I became a volunteer for the rescue. Several years and many experiences later my passion for dogs grew and I left my job to become a professional dog trainer. Since then I have rescued several dogs, and have helped hundreds of dog owners’ train their pets.

I teach Basic Obedience and Behavior Modification with positive reinforcement. My mission is to: Transform dogs into educated house pets.  The following beliefs comprise my code regarding animals.

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1. I’m a firm believer that every dog deserves a second chance.
2. I’m opposed to euthanasia unless it’s practiced to stop pain or as the extreme last alternative.  After all, who has the wisdom of understanding what goes thru the dog’s mind and play God?
3. With some exceptions, most animal abuse is unintentional and occurs out of ignorance.
4. Humans who are cruel to animals should be made accountable.
5. People must be educated and made aware of animals’ needs before they consider bringing a pet home.
6. Dogs are not toys for kids; getting a dog should be a family commitment.
7. Stop Puppy mills and sales of animals at pet stores.

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