Dog Training of Tampa Bay, Inc.

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.

Ivan has been very valuable in my working, playing, living relationship with my german shepherd. In one initial hour he gave me tools that i continue to build on in every training moment. The best part of working with Ivan is that he understands that happiness in a dog is key to great great performance. He is always demonstrating new ways to bring out the best in a dog. Fascinating to watch and a joy to to mimic his techniques with my own dog.

I own a 4-year old Doberman Pincher who is an amazing dog named Bailey. She has a great temperament with all people/dogs and is extremely smart. We trained her basic obedience (sit, stay, down, shake, come, etc), but I came to a point where I would play with her (she loves ball) and practice with her, but with no real direction beyond what I’d already done. I kept doing the basic commands and wasn’t sure how to train her to the next level. A couple years ago, I ran into one of Ivan’s clients at a Starbucks in Plant City with a Doberman as well that was incredibly well trained; way beyond where Bailey was – but where we wanted her to be. We would love to have a dog that would be able to down/stay/be very obedient if you take them with you on trails/beaches/outdoor malls/etc. He told me about Ivan and I did some research and met with him for the first time at a seminar he put on in Plant City about 9 months ago and it was an incredible experience. Watching him correct behavior/performance issues of dogs at the seminar was amazing and his concepts made complete sense. Ivan helped open the door for me to “move on” with training and really get into much more advanced training. My goal with Bailey wasn't to get into protection necessarily; but have an extremely obedient house dog and then try for Schutzhund Obedience titles (BH, etc). Since working with Ivan and Natalia, it has been an amazing learning experience for both Bailey and I. Bailey has recently passed her initial Schutzhund Obedience title (BH) and I'm using Ivan's system for training tracking/protection to see how far she can go. I look at dog training entirely differently than before and get it's GREAT to go out with Bailey and the family and get complements about how obedient she is at outdoor restaurants and walking on trails/downtown. If you are looking for a dog trainer that can help at ANY level, Ivan is definitely the guy to see! He trains seminars all over the world and his competition record speaks for itself - definitely one of the best trainers in the world! Lucky to have him so close to Tampa!