Thank you so much for setting the example and doing the groundwork for me to follow. I’ve done clicker training with horses for nearly 30 years, did positive only clicker dog training about 13 years ago with a Rough Collie (and Smooths) and a Black Lab. Fast forward to today, after a disheartening year with my Thoroughbreds and the loss of my beloved Rough Collie, I couldn’t get past my grief so a few months later headed to the Humane Society where I adopted an older F Bluetick Coonhound who had been an emaciated stray, was at the shelter for 6months and had been adopted and returned once. My hubby adopted a 3mo Bully mix boy thinking he was a Chocolate Lab..lol Both dogs took us totally by surprise! The puppy was the most intelligent, loving and easy to train pup ever, (we said we were not getting a Bully breed now we adore them)  the hound..oh whew. I soon understood why a first time dog owner couldn’t deal with this timid, frightened dog who knew nothing. I questioned my sanity and training abilities for the first two weeks then decided to use a prong and in 15 minutes had a different dog! She was heeling beautifully but teaching a dog who is not food or toy motivated and stubborn as hell is tough. 6 months later she finally sits like a pro and is doing fantastic BUT if I had not been patient, calm, knowledgeable and an experienced dog owner I would have wanted to bring her back. She was the most frustrating dog I ever had and she taught me the BEST lessons in dog training ever. So fast forward to three weeks ago, I love my little hound foot warmer but I needed a dog partner and adopted an 18 mo F GSD who at least was somewhat potty trained. She had been an owner surrender to a GSD rescue. In three weeks she has all the basics down and we “play” at higher level things. She starts dog classes tomorrow. To get to the point, from my experiences with 3 rescues this year, the glaring omission I saw repeatedly is in “owner training”. So I am going to follow your lead and start volunteering at the county shelter which has the same couple hundred dogs and I am going to talk to our local Dog Training group about offering a free 7 week training course to anyone getting a dog from the county shelter. I want to get my GSD and Bully to CGC first so I have visible “good examples” to set for others. I’ve been an entrepreneur and dog owner my entire adult life and now I’m a retiree, so..why not? May I be so bold as to ask you for advice when needed? I expect I should be able to start this by fall, hopefully sooner, our shelters are just overflowing and I really want to help. I can’t thank you enough for making these videos, they inspire me to get to work!

Hi Patrice,

Regarding your statement below:

"So I am going to follow your lead and start volunteering at the county shelter which has the same couple hundred dogs and I am going to talk to our local Dog Training group about offering a free 7 week training course to anyone getting a dog from the county shelter."

This is a plan of mine as well, and I am curious what feedback you received from your local county shelters on 1) your desire to volunteer training or walking time periodically at the shelter  and 2) your desire to have adopters enroll in a free extended training session with you prior to adopting.

My plan is to do the same program for specific breeds that are very often e-listed and/or euthanized at a much higher rate than other breeds.  Any idea of whether this ida would be accepted by the shelters? Also, don't they require adoption prior to any training programs?

Thanks for any feedback you may have.

James