Still searching for a trainer in my area and found one that looks promising.

Their website advertises puppies and young dogs trained by them available mostly for police and/or ppd purposes. They also have a few time slots available for outside dogs for obedience only (which is what I'm interested in). On their website they say "authorized canine vendor for the department of defense". I spoke to a gentleman from their facility over the phone and feel pretty positive about almost everything we talked about (as far as training methods, etc), but I forgot to ask what the vendor thing (above) entails. What is that exactly, and does that mean you've reached a certain level of training, or ??

Now that I think about it I should have asked where he learned to train. He did say that he has associates (did not say they train at this facility, just that they were friends) who train at lackland... and that he had been training professionally for 2 yrs. Also that they are in the process of building a new facility.

Any thoughts on this? This is the first trainer I've contacted who thought the prong was a good idea! He also had positive things to say about Leerburg's website/dvd's.

Alison Voore Is a Board Member, she has a website listing dog related business's and services in San Antonio. She may be able to help.

Thanks Steve- I saw your post to my original inquiry and that was how I located this trainer. I was asking more about what the "authorized..." meant, and what kind of qualifications it implied.

Thanks again-

Just a guess, but authorised could mean they have gone through required background and security checks to have access to the different facilities. You may also need that to even be considered for government contracts to be a supplier of anything.

You'd have to ask them or the DoD. Many government agencies solicit proposals from vendors to build a list of "qualified", "approved", or "authorized" vendors. In my experience, it means the agency can purchase items or services from vendors on this list without having to go through the entire proposal process each time. For example, the agency can buy from vendors off the list, but only after going through a formal proposal process, or they can buy from vendors on the list based solely on lowest bid.

Usually there is some kind of qualification process to get on the list, but that process can vary widely. So, you'd have to ask either the vendor, or the DoD, what "authorized" really means.

Carolyn, I would as Rich suggested...I would just ask the vendor. It could me multiple things, but I doubt they would be offended if you asked! At least, if they're worth anything they won't!

I am a prior trainer at lackland, and the military can buy dogs from vendors here and overseas. Being an authorized vendor means that there is a process to work out all the particulars, and health issues, etc. Anyway, that being said, my company trains in your home, when you want, we use the method that works for the dog, so if using a prong collar works, then thats what we use. We specialize in getting your dog(s) off leash, and charge one price for any amount of dogs in your home. The web site that the boss has set up is http://www.superdog.com if you want to look at it. Give me a call to talk too if you want. Again, as a prior military trainer, I really like this program, thats why I chose to work with them after my service. My husband also trains in Mondioring if you are interested in that. Hope this helps you out.

What do you need help with? Why can't you do the dogs obedience yourself? Ob is the fun easy part! Doing it yourself is the way to learn, JMO
AL

Mellisa - I have never heard of you or you company. I do know that Kevin Sheldhal (who I do videos on police service dogs with) is one of 4 or 5 vendprs who sells the DOD dogs.

If your friend is around in 2 years and still selling dogs this will mean something but most vendors can not cut the mustard and should not advertise themselves as professional trainers JUST BECAUSE THEY SELL THE DOG - this only means they can fill out the initial paper work and is a long way from meaning they can train a dog.

So please dont come to my web board to advertise services that may or may not be desering - more than likely NOT !! Next time I will not be so nice.

Ed


ED

What satifaction can there be in getting someone else train your Dog for you,
By all means go to a person who is a qualified trainer so He or She can teach you how to go about the best ways to train your Dog
Showing you is not doing it,
I want to Train my Dogs with help of a Top person who knows what he is doing, and i want to be the one to try for SchH titles, and if i get them i can say that i did it, with the guidance of another person who knows better than i do
I want the Dogs to look to me for everything they get, not to someone else