ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS ARE NOT LISTED IN ANY PARTICULAR ORDER
Thomas Aaron
Thomas Aaron is a professional, certified dog trainer and is the owner of FetchMasters, LLC in Denver, CO. He has loved hunting dogs since his youth when he helped his father raise and train hunting hounds — redbones, black-and-tans, blueticks and beagles. After moving to Colorado in 2000, Tom became interested in positive reinforcement training and operant conditioning after witnessing the training of zoo animals and marine mammals without the use of force. Tom then earned his dog training certification from Animal Behavior College in Valencia, CA. and reversed engineered several traditional gun dog training manuals — replacing aversive techniques with more dog-friendly ones — so that he could positively train a Labrador Retriever puppy he found on the side of the road. Since then, Tom has refined his training methods for developing off-leash reliability, reliable recall, and field/hunting skills on over 300 dogs in the Denver area. He has formalized his knowledge of positive gun dog training by creating The Positive Gun Dog Training Program. He founded the Positive Gun Dog Association, Ltd. to educate gun dog owners, trainers, breeders and hunters about, the benefits of positive training methods for developing reliable, motivated hunting dogs. It is rare to see Tom without one (or all three) of his dogs: Alie (Labrador Retriever), who is Tom’s bird dog and constant companion; Rooster (German Shorthaired Pointer) — bird dog in training; and Roscoe (Bluetick Coonhound mix) who is a working bed bug detection dog.
Robert Milner
Robert Milner established Wildrose Kennels in Grand Junction, TN, in 1972 and began training gun dogs and field trial dogs, two of which went on to become Field Champions and attained qualified all-age status. He also taught dog obedience at Memphis State University. In 1982, Robert ceased training field dogs in order to focus his attention on training gun dogs, and he traveled to England in search of examples of the original Labradors. After establishing a relationship with Maj. Morty Turner-Cooke, a well recognized British field trialer, gun dog trainer and breeder, Robert imported the first British Labs to Wildrose Kennels in 1983.
In 1995, Robert sold Wildrose Kennels to Ed Apple, who subsequently sold it to Mike Stewart. Robert went on to mentor Mike Stewart for several years to help him get started with British Labradors and guide him in the value of gentle training techniques. Mike is now a world-renowned gun dog trainer noted for his softer approach to training gun dogs.
Over the years, Robert has trained thousands of American-bred Labradors for field trial and gun dog work, and has trained a similar number of British-bred Labradors for gun dog work. He has also trained many explosives-detection dogs and disaster search dogs (USAR). Robert is the author of Retriever Training for the Duck Hunter, Retriever Training, A Back to Basics Approach, and A Disaster Search Dog Training Manual (FEMA). He also is the designer and implementer of the Disaster Search Dog Program for FEMA’s Tennessee Task Force One, and the former Program Manager, Canine Manager and Task Force Leader for Tennessee Task Force One (FEMA USAR). Robert also deployed with TN TF-1 as Dog Handler, Search Team Manager, or Task Force Leader to the Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City, Columbia Space Shuttle Recovery, as well as to search efforts following Hurricanes Francis, Ophelia, Ivan and Rita. Robert retired from USAFR as Lt. Col. with 26 years active and reserve duty in disaster response, radar and logistics.
Dr. Dale Hubbard
Dr. Hubbard obtained his degrees in psychology and counseling where his focus was in behavioral psychology and learning theory. His formal education in Classical and Operant Conditioning provided him with an in-depth understanding of how all animals learn. He replicated many of the experimental studies by B.F. Skinner, which examines the association made between behavior and consequences. Furthermore, his studies of Ivan Pavlov gave him an understanding of how animals learn behaviors through associations. These studies gave him the basis of how to train animals in a way that will maintain behavior over long periods, as well as how to extinguish unwanted behaviors.
He always had a love for animals. Growing up on a farm, he had the opportunity to train many different farm animals to include horses, birds, and hunting dogs. Many of his animals performed some amazing behaviors that you see in animals on TV shows. During his professional career, he taught psychology classes in secondary schools where students taught animals using positive reinforcement and then demonstrated their results in the classroom.
After retiring from a thirty-year clinical career in psychology in 2004, he started his quest for promoting the most effective means of training upland bird dogs. He has taken workshops and seminars, as well as one-on-one training with nationally known dog trainers, such as Gary Wilkes (a pioneer of clicker training); George Hickox; and Jon and Cindy Han. The more he learned about the various styles of training gun dogs, the more dedicated he became to developing effective, positive training techniques. Through his personal studies, he discovered that many of the traditional, harsh methods of training were based on faulty studies conducted in the 1940s and formed the basis of training by most bird dog trainers that persist through today.
Using his formal education, personal studies and practical experience, he developed very effective techniques using positive reinforcement. Furthermore, he has resolved many unwanted learned behaviors in bird dogs. He has trained many upland bird dogs over the years using positive reinforcement as the primary method of teaching. With the use of Clicker Training, he has shown that you can begin training as early as eight weeks old.
Currently, Dr. Hubbard conducts seminars for various groups on positive gun dog training. His English Setter (Lucy Sky Cloud) attends the seminars with him and demonstrates the extreme effectiveness of positive reinforcement.
Ines Gaschot
Ines Gaschot is a professional dog trainer, author, and blogger who has been training dogs for 10 years. In May 2013 she will be graduating with a B.S. in Biology. She has taken classes from or attended seminars by well known professionals such as Susan Friedman, Suzanne Clothier, and Shade Whitesel. She has two dogs: Loker, a 4 year old leash reactive mutt that was adopted at 2.5 years old, and Clark, a 6 month old Cardigan Welsh Corgi. Ines runs a popular blog called The Crossover Trainer where she writes about her transition to positive training methods from traditional, correction based training. She recently published her first ebook, sold on Amazon.com, called Dog Training – The Easy Way: A Step-by-step guide to using positive methods to train your dog. She also runs her own business, All Positive Dog Training LLC and volunteers as a dog training consultant for several rescue groups including Texoma Pets Alive, Ay Chihuahua Rescue, and Friends of Arlington Animal Services. Ines is recognized among her colleagues for being open minded, competent, and knowledgeable. She is elated to be part of the movement in helping the gun dog sport transition to positive dog-friendly training methods to better the sport and the relationship between hunters and their dogs.
Michael Curran (Pic and Bio Coming Soon)