What seminar trainers do you suggest? - Page 2

Bernhard is a personal friend and has been here many times for seminars and to train with me. The first time I met him, I was a bit uneasy because I knew he was a German policeman, K-9 handler and I had heard he was VERY partial to working lines. He worked my females, one of whom was Donna von der Biberfalle. He saw a litter of young pups here as well and had never seen a litter of showline pups and was very surprised at them and their eagerness to do all the things he would do with working lines. To make a long story short, both he and the German judge (Helmut König) who was here for a trial during Bernhard's stay said the same thing about Donni: "if all females worked as does this one, there would be no problem in the breed". So yes, he will be more than fair. 

The bottom line is that I think Bernhard is absolutely a wonderful and highly skilled trainer, competitor and mentor. He loves dogs who will work and are enthusiastic and he loves helping people who want to learn. His English is excellent and he will certainly show those present a lot of interesting methods to work with their dog. He is a thinker and if you learn anything from him, you should be learning to be creative in first defining the training issue/problem and then finding a way to solve that.

There certainly are others who are also good at what they do. Sometimes we miss people right in our midst that are great trainers and mentors too and who can help us without spending a lot of money for a seminar and travel costs. But as far as Bernhard goes, I highly recommend him and hope to have him here again before I die! He is also a lot of fun after the day's training has ended.  I hope you can go KCzaja. You won't be sorry.

And how about listing any seminars we know about in the "Upcoming Events" section of the Classifieds?  That would be so helpful, although I was just there and it looks like most of the listings there are for litters and not too many seminars.  Must be some misunderstanding about "upcoming events."  (lol) Anyway, it'd be great to know where and when all these great trainers are offering seminars.

Yes, Debbie Zappia and Phil Behun are both excellent trainers and neither of them will bash anyone working with any breed or type of dog. They are both about getting results and I am very pleased to call them friends and to be able to work with them.
Bernhard is certainly on my list of people that I would like to be able to train with at some point.

Thanks for adding the new events section.
It could end up being one of the best parts of this web site.
You guys (mods) should delete the ads for litters in that section if they are cropping up too much.
It defeats the purpose and potential of that section.

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Off topic adds posted since the beginning of the year in that section are now being deleted.
-Moderator Wagging

I don't think there is an equal to Ivan Balabonov.  I've been to a lot of seminars and his are by far the best for all levels, all breeds, all problems, all training methods - no matter what, you will learn something and take home new ideas, and new motivation to train.

I've also attended T Floyd seminars, Dean Calderon, and trained with Tim Cruser who also does some seminars - can recommend these also highly.

I've heard good things about Phil Hoelcher, Greg Doud, and Micheal Ellis but haven't trained with them to see for myself.

molly

Steve- sport is my hobby, not my area of expertise and I have a LOT to learn in that area. ;) Thanks for all the great suggestions, everyone. Great info for me and anyone reading it. I'm planning on a few names already. :)

Just finished my Ivan Balabanov seminar today....I had the best time, and learned A LOT!!

3 days of different dogs working on different things made for information overload! I went with my 14 month old shepherd. I went with a focus on dumb bell work. Ivan spent 3 days teaching myself and my dog how he teaches dumb bell foundation.
Friday was the first day Arko had seen the dowel, and by today (Sunday) Arko was holding on command, crunching without mouthing and walking......I watched in Amazement how Ivan worked my dog as well as the other dogs in the seminar. He was informative, but more importantly- patient with dogs and their handlers who maybe had trouble getting to where they needed to be

I highly recommend him! worth every penny

Amanda

afwark15
I have to agree about the way Ivan teached the dumbells. I got his "Retrieve" DVD for christmas last year from my mom. That was the BEST present I have ever received!!!!! I used that method on my male I am working now to teach him the dumbells... I was amazed at how well Aiko did and how fast her grasped the concept.

in the past i have attended seminars from ivan b, michael ellis, phil hoelcher,debbie zappia, bernard  flinks and dominick piton. i enjoyed all of them but ivan and phil really stand out in my mind.
one of the best  trainers around chicagoland is BRIDGET CARLSEN! the woman is amazing!
6 OTCH dogs and counting. 5 OTCH on golden retrievers. small minded  people still criticized her for "only training goldens".  to silence the critics she went out and put a OTCH on a norwich terrier! (hemi) if im not mistaken hemi is the only norrich in the history of the akc to receive a OTCH title. if  your in the chicago area bridget is treasure to observe! look at the videos posted on her website or check her out on youtube... newfs57. 
bridget is a  beautiful person and trainer who does her talking on the field!

GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY TRAINING!!!

dave

www.bridgetcarlsen.com/