The APDT Chronicle of the Dog Summer 2020 | Page 13

ASSOCIATION NEWS | 2020 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
for their members, but as an organization,
we can do more for the community, to care
about each other and to care about the
dog training industry as a whole,” Michael
explained. “And to do that, by joining
an organization such as APDT, we are
supporting that community, and as a whole
community we put out the education to
each other as well as the general public.
And that’s a big part of being an APDT
member, being part of that overall message
and the community aspect of it.”
Training the Trainer
A native New Englander from Providence,
Rhode Island, Michael moved to Mystic,
Connecticut, 15 years ago with his
yellow Labrador Retriever, Krystal, now
a remarkable 16 years old. Joining his
household is a Chilean street dog named
Castana and a cat named Renardo who
came as part of a package with girlfriend
Moira Hechenleitner. Prior to finding his
true passion as a dog trainer, Michael led an
eclectic life as the head butler at one of the
world’s largest casinos, a sushi chef, and his
earliest job as a paper boy.
Michael began fostering Labs for the
American Lab Rescue, which sparked his
interest in dog training and behavior as
his success in finding homes for fosters led
to various rescues sending him more and
more “difficult” foster dogs. “I wanted to
learn more about how to work with the
behavior issues I was presented with, and
dove headfirst into everything I could
find,” Michael said. He scoured various
Yahoo Groups for dog training and
behavior discussions, ordered “more books
than I can ever read,” attended a local dog
training school and sought out mentors.
He initially toyed with the idea of owning
a dog daycare/boarding business, but after
a couple of years of devouring as much
information as he could on dog training,
Michael opened Complete Canines LLC,
working mostly with issues such as dogs
that pulled on-leash or house training. In
the beginning, Michael was a “balanced
trainer” since one of his first mentors had
a working military dog background who
used some of the more traditional tools at
the time, such as pinch collars and e-collars.
As Michael researched more and more
about dog training, however, he read Jean
Donaldson’s book on positive training,
“The Cultural Clash,” which influenced his
training methodology. Another one of his
mentors, Barbara Brill, showed him positive
reinforcement training without criticizing
other methods. “I use the same approach
now whenever I’m teaching, not to
criticize but just lay out the benefits without
criticizing other techniques. People can see
it working. That is how I go about helping
pet owners. I use social media as one way of
educating them. It shows them what we are
doing and once they see it working, they
will want to see more. It is one of the best
ways to influence clients.”
Michael soon took on more serious
issues, such as separation anxiety and
aggression. “Working with aggression
quickly became my passion as I found
that dogs displaying aggressive behavior
were more likely to be surrendered or
euthanized over other types of cases that
I was seeing. This led me to concentrate
exclusively on aggression cases about
eight years ago as I felt specializing would
allow me to help these dogs the most. As
my journey into the world of dog behavior
continued, I took on more active roles
in the organizations that benefited my
career and education so greatly.” Those
organizations included APDT and the
International Association of Animal
Behavior Consultants (IAABC), where
Michael served as a five-term president.
“My goal has always been to give back to
the communities that were so influential
and generous to me by sharing as much
as I can about what I have learned,”
Michael said. “I promised my mentors
that I would do so with compassion,
empathy, and without judgment — the
same way they shared their passion and
knowledge with me.
APDT Board Announces Ken McCort
as 2020 Lifetime Achievement Honoree
Ken McCort, an animal behavior consultant and trainer, has been named the 2020 Lifetime
Achievement Award recipient by the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT) Board
of Directors. He will be recognized during an online awards presentation during the 27th
APDT Virtual Conference and Trade Show Oct. 21-22.
The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an individual who has strongly and positively
influenced the advancement of the profession of dog training. Ken was chosen as this year’s
recipient because his “research and training with wolves, coyotes and foxes at Wolf Park has transferred over to the dog training world,” said
APDT Chair Khara Schuetzner.
Ken is the owner and operator of Four Paws Animal Behavior Services in Doylestown, Ohio, which was established in 1987. For the past
33 years, Ken has taught on the subject of animal behavior at the University of Akron (Ohio), Columbus State University, the Ohio State
The APDT Chronicle of the Dog | Summer 2020 11