It is really hard to pick a favorite show. Every show is it's own adventure. One of the special things about what we do is traveling around the world with our friends and family and showcasing the amazing relationships we have with each other and or dogs.

We have filled a 5000 seat arena 6 times a day, and we have performed 3 times a day for the same 20 people. The feeling that you get with the roar of a gigantic crowd or the smile on a few families faces because of something that your dog did is indescribable. When you are performing with your dog, there is no one else. No crowd, no lights, no emcee. It is just you and your best friend. When you are done and you give your dog a kiss and look up to see people smiling and cheering because of something your dog did, it gives you chills. All of the work you have put into the training, all of the labor to set up the show, all of the miles behind the wheel, every high and low, it all comes together into the greatest adventure you will ever experience.

But I guess if I HAD to choose a favorite show, it would have to be either the Alaska State Fair or Calgary Stampede Dog Bowl.

Most of the games and stunts we do in our shows require some sort of toy drive, whether it is a freestyle frisbee routine or dock diving. My most important foundation skill is tug drive. I start out with using a fur or felt tug or a stuffed animal with a lot of limbs and squeakers. I run away and make crazy noises or push the dog away and take off. What ever I can do to make the dog engage with the tug and make it the greatest game ever. After that I start transferring the game to maybe a game of fetch to tug. Then I start changing the toy up maybe to a frisbee or to a tennis ball depending on what game we are playing.

Another important foundation skill is just getting the dogs used to performing in front of people. We start this by taking our young dogs to public places such as home depot or Petsmart and do basic behaviors with them. Asking them to sit and stay, or lay down. We always have a treat pouch full of high-reward treats such as steak or hot dogs. We also have to get them used to loud noises. We will often set up our sound system in our training area so the dogs can become acclimated to the sounds of our voices through the speakers as well as loud music.
The most important foundation is a strong recall. This means when you call your dogs name they come no matter what. It is really important to have a strong recall for when things happen that are out of your control such as thunder or fireworks or your dog gets loose some how. We are constantly working recalls with our dogs. I have a treat pouch and I occasionally call the dog to me and when they come they get a huge reward. This conditions to dog to associate coming to you with happiness and safety. I also give the dogs rewards every time they go into their crates so they know where to go when I say kennel up. This is especially important if you ever have a scenario where you need to put your dog somewhere safe in a hurry.

I got started training dogs when I was 10 years old. My mom was taking a Dog Agility class and did not want to go by herself. She made me go with her and I HATED it. But slowly I started making progress with my little Yorkie, Polly. We became one of the best Jr handler teams around quickly. I then got into flyball. My mom was a nurse and my dad was a police officer. Both of them worked weekends and holidays so it was difficult to go to the tournaments as they were pretty spread out around the country at the time. Thankfully my family friend MariAnne was traveling to all of the tournaments and my parents let her take me along. Thanks to MariAnne, I was able to travel to many different states and compete with Polly. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be where I am today. Also, because of her, I was introduced to Keri, would go on to become my best friend and eventually, the love of my life. When Keri and I moved in together we started really competing together in Flyball, and Frisbee. Our flyball team became on of the best in the world with several placements at the world championships. We also started placing at many disc dog competitions and I even won the Skyhoundz X-treme Distance World Championships in the micro dog division with our beloved Kaya. We started getting out of competitions and into show business around 2011. We performed with many different dog shows. We wanted to create our own production that emphasized the importance of pet adoption as well as creating an amazing bond of love and trust with your pets. And here we are today.

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by movies and television. I always wanted to be involved in the film industry. I devoted most of my spare time into learning about video cameras and editing. Today, I use that knowledge to create most of the video content for The Canine Stars. Whether it's our promo videos, training videos, or just our fun social media videos. I am usually involved in some way. I really enjoy drones and am in the process of getting my commercial drone pilot's license. I love the outdoors and am an avid fisherman. Odds are if you cant find me, I am out on the water. I am very intrigued by the paranormal and the unexplained. I always have an eye to the night sky searching for UFOs or looking for signs of Bigfoot in the woods.

Besides my small hobbies, my other big passion is full contact medieval armored combat. My team has earned medals at national level tournaments with the Armored Combat league (ACL) and I have been selected for the U.S. national team twice for the International Medieval Combat Federation (IMCF) world championships in Denmark and Scotland. I was also featured on a History Channel for a show called Knight Fight, which showcased the top athletes in the country.

I would say I have 3 heroes. My first hero is Les Stroud (Survivorman). Les Stroud makes amazing documentaries about surviving in remote areas. Not only that, he does all of the filming by himself, and also creates the music for the shows himself. The shows are not only very educational they are beautiful and intriguing. It is very inspiring to see someone create something so amazing that engages people who might not be interested in the subject matter and gets them interested in it.

My 2nd hero has got to be Travis Pastrana. Most people see Travis and see a maniac. I see an incredible athlete who WILL accomplish something no matter what. I have been a fan of Travis since I was kid racing dirt bikes. There is no buddy who has fallen down, dusted themselves off, and gotten back to it more than Travis. When I am failing at something, I always try to remind myself how many times Travis crashed before he won gold medals.

The biggest hero in my life is Keri. I have never known anyone with the drive and motivation that she has. Although, admittedly exhausting sometimes, Keri is always searching for ways to make our show better. She is always thinking about how we can create something more efficient or train the dogs a better trick. Not only that, she still has the energy to be an amazing mother for our furry children and lifting us when times get tough. She is the reason we can call our show the premiere stunt dog show and it would not be that without her. I am her biggest fan!