I have been putting time in training a couple of my dogs for complete Schutzhund (IPO) and Schutzhund based tracking since 2007. When I began I was living in North Carolina and working with a friend of mine who had competed regionally. About a year after I began learning through my friend in NC I moved to Tampa Florida (back to my home state) and decided to attend a seminar of Ivan's after learning about him through another friend who also trained with me back in NC, and who had been to one of Ivan's seminars and wholeheartedly recommended him as a phenomenal trainer for protection sports. I must say that I have been hooked ever since and have tried to take advantage of the fact that there is a world champion (X2!) protection sport handler/trainer/teaching decoy right down the road from me every opportunity I get. I believe that you would be extremely hard pressed to find a person with Ivan's level of experience, success, and talent outside of the European continent. We do have some outstanding home grown American counterparts but I think if you dig deep into their backgrounds many of them have, at the very least, been positively influenced by Ivan's ideas and concepts in advanced dog training at some point along the way in their training careers. Ivan is also a very complete and well rounded dog behaviorist too and can help with pretty much any need a dog owner requires. He understands not only behavioral theory, motivation, and cognition but also knows how to apply them in very practical and novel ways that help both the owner and the their dog understand and communicate with each other better than they ever could imagine. I would, and do, recommend Ivan without hesitation to anyone I come across that needs help with their dog or is just interested in learning a new sport, or wants to get better at a sport, that they can do with their dog.
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