My New Dog Training Project In Costa Rica

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I’ve never really used this website to get too personal about myself or my family. At various times I’ve mentioned my children (I’ve got four little girls ages 6, 5, 1.5, and 2 months) who keep me smiling, laughing, and partially insane. I’ve got a beautiful wife, Vanessa, who has been very tolerant of dogs passing in and out of her house since we got married in 2003.

For the past seven years we’ve lived in Utah where I’ve been running my Salt Lake City Dog Training business. Running CommuniCanine has been great and we’ve won awards, helped lots of dogs, had some tears, and seen a good portion of the beautiful state of Utah in the process.

As a family, though, we’ve wanted adventure for some time. We’ve wanted to try something different and give our kids a different experience.

So for the last month we’ve been living in Costa Rica and will likely be here several months more. CommuniCanine in Utah continues to be run and actually seems to be growing faster with me not around. I’m not sure if I feel complimented by that fact or hurt.

We’ve come to Costa Rica for several reasons:

• I’m going to be working on a new dog training project. There currently is very little information available for Spanish speakers on how to train their dogs. Depending on which statistic you look at Spanish is either the second or third most spoken language in the world. Latin America has been following a similar curve in dog ownership and culture as you see in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Dogs are becoming more and more like members of the family and, as such, need training. I speak fluent Spanish as I spent two years living in the Canary Islands during the ages of 19-21. I’m going to be creating a new dog training website for Spanish speakers (the website is currently live but there is nothing on it). I’m already filming dog training with dog owners here. As a side note, if you or someone you know, happens to need dog training in Costa Rica let me know.
• We’re also attempting to get a project off the ground working with orphans and dogs. Truthfully, this currently isn’t going as well as I’d hoped due to certain financing and donations not coming through.
• We’re going to be working with some rescue organizations down here in Costa Rica to help with the stray dog problem.
• I’m using the extra time I now have (I’ve been working myself crazy for years with our Utah dog training business. I was always working IN the business and never ON the business.) to work on new projects in Utah. We’re currently trying to put together a program to help troubled youth through the avenue of dog training.
• We wanted some time to spend together as a family.
• It NEVER snows in Costa Rica and that is a big plus for me. Growing up in California I never became accustomed to cold winters and years of living in Utah and Massachusetts certainly haven’t converted me to a cold weather fan.
• We’re looking to explore more of this great world we live in, learn new foods, expose our kids to new cultures and languages, and have an adventure.

I’m going to start using this website to document our dog training adventure here in paradise. I’m going to write about case studies of the dogs I’m training and let you know how we’re doing in Latin America.

I invite you to read along and comment on these posts, I hope they’ll be interesting and valuable to you.