Hi, I’m Luis!
The founder of Emerald City Dog Training LLC. When I first started out my journey in becoming a dog trainer, I did so solely for the purpose of loving dogs and wanting to train them as a hobby. I started out with my dog Charlie being 30% Siberian Huskie, 30% Germen Sheppeard, and 40% Trouble. Using positive only training with one of the Big-box chains offering apprentice courses. I loved it and Charlie did to in the beginning. However, I soon found out that he didn’t really care too much for treats and had no interest in food or toys in training. I also found out that many of our clients had a similar issue. Many of customers who had trouble using the methods that *the…. And how much this was truly weighing on them emotionally. Some even considered giving up their dogs because “Nothing was working” even after months of training. This was far from an isolated incident. In fact, many customers were either complaining about the method not working or simply just canceling their classes and asking for a refund. Unsure why this was recurring so constantly, I asked many trainers at that time how to fix the issue.
I was told by most of the positivity only trainers that “the majority of people were just being inconsistent or inpatients with their dogs in training”. Convinced, I continued to work with my own dog in this style. I soon found myself in the same scenario with my own dog who was an unneutered male husky/shepherd mix. He was maturing and starting to show signs of dominance. And to add to the whole equation, he was not at all food motivated. This made the first style of dog training I learned “Positive Only” ineffective. Frustrated and confused, I set out to find more information about other methods of dog training and found a local trainer who was able to train dominant and aggressive dogs. I decided to learn and apprentice under him. His method was very “Old School” and heavy handed. I later learned that he used a “completion” style of dog training. Although it worked for about 99% of all dogs that went into his training camp, I noticed that some of the dogs had lost the spirit or motivation to learn and looked “Flat” or scared of the process.
This led to many of the owners feeling bad about training their dogs and feeling like they were losing their dogs trust and hurting the relationship. After a year of being an apprentice, he made me one of the main trainers for their aggressive dogs. The biggest takeaway from working with that trainer was that I got a lot of experience working with aggressive and dominant dogs. While I was working with that trainer full time, I continued doing my own research to find a more effective way to train dogs so the owners and the dogs would enjoy the training. As a result, I found what many trainers in the industry called “Balanced Training”. This took the best of both worlds of dog training. When I brought this up to my current trainer, he dismissed it and didn’t want anything to do with that method. I decided to use a balanced approach on my own dog and quickly saw that he was more excited about training. I knew right away that this was how I would train any dogs moving forward.
I started working with local dog daycare companies and non-kill shelters to help them with their dogs. I noticed how much the dogs had improved in such a short time and continued to train in this system with great results. I am proud to say that my journey in dog training has led me to open my own business to help many people with their dogs. Helping people with their dogs and bring balance back into their lives is now the reason I continue to train dogs and will continue to do so for a long time.
