WHO AM I!

Who Is Carl?

I was brought up around dogs all my life; my parents are German Shepherd and Rottweiler breeders. From the age of 13, I was flung into the world of IGP dog sport when my dad developed an interest in it and decided (like always) he was going to get a working-line German Shepherd. From there, he thought he was a dog trainer, launching his own residential dog training business and employing my brother and two sisters. I stayed away from it all, as at the time I just wasn’t that interested in dogs - I was too busy on the PS4, lol.

Flash forward a few years: I was 17, fresh out of school, and looking for a job. I’m not the most academic person, and the family business came calling. I wasn’t really in tune with what they did or how they did things, as I’d spent most of my time out with friends or in my bedroom.

My first introduction to “dog training” was with a little Romanian rescue called Pip, who in hindsight was extremely fearful, and both people- and dog-reactive. I brought her down to the training field for the first time on a double halti lead; one clip on a flat collar, the other on a pinch collar. She was muzzled as she was labelled “aggressive”. I was told to start walking and make her stay in the heel position, with her shoulder never allowed to pass my knee. As you can imagine, I forced her to stay there and she wasn’t happy. She climbed up the lead and lunged at me. At that moment my dad grabbed her by the throat, threw her to the floor, and performed a “dominance roll” to show her that “he/I was on top”. Poor Pip fought until she had no energy, and then I got up and carried on walking.

That was my first introduction to dog training, and I stayed in it for two years out of loyalty to my family. Everything changed when I got a Rottweiler of my own and we began our journey in IGP dog sport. You know her as Athena the giant arsehole I love with all my heart!

I quickly realised that the methods I’d been taught broke her in her first year. She became deeply suspicious of people, anti-social, and we had zero relationship. All she wanted to do was get away from me. That was my wake-up call. I kept asking myself: how do all these people on social media have such motivated dogs who want to learn? I was told to get rid of her and buy a “better dog” but I didn’t. I stuck with her and started to truly learn what dog training is all about. I became completely obsessed.

Now, three years later, we’ve achieved our IGP 1. I said “fuck you” to my family and I’m now on a mission: to help dogs who have been affected by these shitty training methods, to break through in the industry, and to create a new standard in dog training.