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Cooperative Paws trainers, Ken and Veronica have experience working and living with dogs and cats from various breeds and backgrounds. They have owned dogs from various backgrounds from responsible breeders to shelters. Their personal dogs have included breeds considered to be relatively "easy" to train, as well as breeds well known for being independent and challenging to train. They have trained dogs to high levels of obedience and also worked with dogs through challenging behavior problems successfully. Make sure to check out our new dog training video page.
Chief Canine Training and Behavioral Assistant- Louie
Louie has earned an AKC Canine Good Citizen certificate and has been trained for public access level service work. He is a gentle dog who is particularly helpful with young puppies and toy breed dogs.
In his spare time, Louie enjoys playing with Firefly, romping on the beach, perfecting his singing voice - he is a tenor, tracking down edible treasures on the kitchen floor and sleeping on top of a pile of pillows.
Shelter Dog Specialist - Monty is a large shepherd mix adopted from a Washington DC area shelter. We often refer to Monty as our own "canine genious." He has earned an AKC Canine Good Citizen certificate and knows a number of complex behaviors- some trained and others that he taught himself. He often assists in sessions involving dogs exhibiting aggressive or fearful behavior.
Although Monty is a senior citizen at 10 years old, he believes in eating well and exercising in order to stay in shape. Unfortunately, a sports injury finally caught up with him and has slowed him down this year. Via thoughtful, strategic planning, he still gives Firefly a run for her money in chase games in the yard.
Assistant Instructor-Firefly is a smooth collie young adult. She has also passed the AKC Canine Good Citizen evaluation. Firefly enjoys showing off her skills and is titled in APDT Rally Obedience. She earned an Award of Excellence when qualifying for her RL1 title, placing first twice, and second once. Like a good herding dog, Firefly has a strong work ethic and likes to do everything with pizazz.
Firefly's hobbies are too numerous to list however they include gardening, shopping for toys, bothering Louie and being the center of the universe.
More of our best friends, beloved family members and teachers. Pets who have passed away but are never forgotten.
Phaser passed away recently, in the summer of 2011. Phaser was one of Cooperative Paws most frequently used assistants.
Both Ken and Veronica participated in training Phaser to a high level. Phaser earned an AKC Canine Good Citizen Certificate, an AKC Companion Dog obedience title, he earned many ribbons in canine frisbee, AKC competition obedience, has worked as a therapy dog in local nursing homes for Fairfax County Pets on Wheels and as a service dog for Veronica. Phaser was noted and pictured in Collie Expressions magazine for his many accomplishments. Phaser is also pictured on the cover as well as seen demonstrating various assistance dog skills in the DVD, "Clicker Train Your Own Assistance Dog."
Phaser's accomplishments as a competitor and working dog were surpassed by his role as a beloved companion and member of the family. He was a friendly, happy dog who greeted our clients with exuberant joy, even well into his senior years.
Nacho demonstrated that even challenging breeds like siberian huskies can be trained to high levels with consistent use of reward based methods. Nacho earned an AKC Canine Good Citizen certificate and worked as a therapy dog in area nursing homes for Fairfax County Pets on Wheels.
Nacho also was a behavior modification success story. He had severe separation anxiety and was unable to be confined or left alone. With hard work Veronica and Ken successfully resolved Nacho's separation anxiety. Nacho could be left alone and also confined to a crate (which made taking him to the beach much easier). He lived a full, rich life and passed away at age 13 in 2009.
Cupid was Veronica's first dog and her motivation for learning about dog behavior and her inspiration to become a dog trainer.
He was a siberian husky/akita mix who developed dog aggressive behaviorVeronica worked with a number of different trainers in the late 1980's to try to address this problem where she learned how to implement training techniques that emphasize corrections. While Cupid's obedience improved, his behavior problem with other dogs worsened. Finally in the early 90's Veronica discovered reward-based training at a local training school and she successfully resolved Cupid's behavior problem. With extensive practice and training, Cupid passed the AKC Canine Good Citizen test as well as 2 different therapy dog program tests. Cupid ended up working as a therapy dog at 4 different nursing homes for several years (which involved working in close proximity with other visiting therapy dogs) and doing demonstrations for school children.
Veronica was later hired by the training school that used reward-based methods where she had taken classes with Cupid, thus starting her career in animal behavior.
Serving Northern Virginia, Washington DC and portions of Maryland
© 2012 Cooperative Paws Training and Behavior Consulting