About
2023 is Obedience Matters’ 15th year in business. Having spent much of the last decade providing professional dog training services on the east coast, this upcoming year will be Obedience Matters’ third year located in Park City, Utah . As the owner and lead trainer at Obedience Matters, I am grateful to be able to continue offering a true industry-leading level of training for you and your dog, and a level of care that is second to none.
All training services, whether focused on obedience, behavior modification, or confidence building are specifically customized to your dog’s unique temperament and life experiences. I can also promise that your particular goals and needs will be most carefully considered when creating a training program best suited for you and your dog.
Now serving Park City, Salt Lake City and most Summit County Wasatch County communities.
My Story
It has been 16 years since I first began training dogs professionally in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. I spent my early years studying and training with various highly accomplished working-dog trainers and breeders coming from different disciplines such as competitive sport, police K9, personal protection, and companion behavior modification/obedience. Quickly did I learn, there were many different schools of thought and methodology being taught and practiced across these various disciplines.
On one end of the spectrum, you had the famous old-school trainers, like Konrad Most and Bill Kohler, who relied heavily on negative reinforcement and punishment for shaping behavior. You then had those that utilized the techniques of aforementioned while using in conjunction, the scientifically tested ideas of BF Skinner who championed the many benefits of positive reinforcement. Finally, there were people like Karren Pryor, Bob Bailey, and Ian Dunbar who were highly influential to the “purely positive“ movement.
I have always been a big believer in the idea that there are valuable lessons to be learned from nearly everyone,and that often, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. It was only through the careful, firsthand investigation of these various schools of thought, as well as much trial and error, that I was able to develop a style of training that is well-informed, well rounded, and highly adaptable to the unique sensitivities and temperaments of all dogs.
When I’m not training dogs I enjoy all sports and outdoor activities, singing, and listening to educational and thought provoking podcasts like Sam Harris’s “Making Sense”. Things that I hope to become more involved in include raising awareness of the horrible mistreatment of animals at factory farms, as well as the unconscionable suffering that dogs undergo in the meat markets of China and many other countries.