Last Call

Dan Dudley, dog handler consultant

Veer Mudambi

Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

Dan Dudley of Holden has owned Reflex Dog Training in Worcester County for the last 10 years. However, the word “training” is something of an oversimplification. Dudley helps his clients and their companions connect, as the name of his business suggests, on a reflexive level. His style may seem somewhat unconventional but that stems from his atypical start in the business. Starting with an online degree to becoming the apprentice of an ex-KGB dog handler before striking out on his own, Dudley sat down with Last Call to talk about his experience, the difference between handling and training, and “learning to speak dog.”

Tell me about how you got started in this business?

I did what a lot of people for the past decade or so have been doing — I found an online course. It’s probably not the most effective way to become a dog trainer but hindsight is 20/ 20! I wanted a piece of paper that said I’m a certified dog trainer and I got it [chuckles]. That was the starting point in 2008 — I worked solo for a bit teaching classes at PetSmart for a couple years, and then I got chosen by an ex-KGB border patrol handler to be his apprentice.

He found me at a PetSmart class when I had just gotten off work. He was wandering around the store with his Belgian Malinois asking the dog to walk backwards, sit on the cart, etc. He came up to me and without a word of English asked me through a translator “hey, you want to come over and see some military stuff?” He was like the Russian Cesar Millan. I went to his house, he put me in a suit, I took a few hits from his and he asked if I wanted to keep learning. I worked with him for about three years at his facility in Woodland Hills, California, where he trained dogs for pet owners, for bomb and narcotic detection and trained people to be dog handlers.

I started out as his apprentice and then I ran his California facility, when he would go back to Russia for like a month at a time. I trained other people to be handlers but then I left to come back to Worcester. Now, Reflex Dog Training has been here since around 2011.

What’s the difference between handling and training?

Handling is more like the mechanics and training is what builds on that. How do you handle that dog and work with it? It’s how you get from point A to point B. Handling is that gut feeling — predicting what the dog will do, knowing the dog is about to do something, be it chase, play or anything. Dogs read body language way better than we do, but we have still been interacting with canines for thousands of years so it’s ingrained in us.

So once you know handling, you can move on to training?

Yes, before you do your commands like come, sit, stay, etc, you have to learn to speak your dog’s language and learn to predict their behavior by reading their body language.

For example, how do you know your dog is full? Everybody says that dogs are never full and there’s no such thing as a full dog. Well, yes there is. Canines are migratory at a genetic level, they don’t think “oh I’ll save that carcass for later.” In fact, they think along the lines of “let me eat because I don’t know when I’m going to eat again” but they do get full!

Like, I know your dog is hungry because I feel teeth first when I feed her, if she leads with the tongue, that means she’s full or tired and we can’t get any training done right now. That is handling.

What is your personal philosophy on dog training and handling?

So I come from the idea that humans have been doing this stuff forever so most everyone has an instinct for it and I can help take it further. The most rewarding part for me now is working directly with pet owners to ensure they understand what I’m doing and why, so they can keep it up. I can train them to be a trainer of their own dog.

At my mentor’s facility we would work with a dog for 10, 20, 30 days and only then bring it back to the owner but they would always come back for what I call tune-ups.

What is the most common misconception that you find yourself having to correct?

I wouldn’t say it’s a misconception but the biggest pitfall is when people think the dog doesn’t need you. If you’re not the gateway to everything a dog needs, you might as well be banging your head against a wall. That’s the foundation from which you start handling and training — if one controls access to food and water and play, then one can train a dog.

Coming out of the pandemic, what kind of behavioral cases have you seen?

It’s a cranked up canine version of the “kids are going back to school, please help” phenomenon that we used to see after the summer holidays. Normalcy is coming back but the dogs have been around us nonstop as we work from home. Now people are getting back on different routines and the dogs are supposedly acting out — they’re not acting out, they’re going “routine’s off, I’m letting you know.” But business-wise, it’s been great for me.

It’s actually similar to 2008 when the markets started to tank. The one industry that stayed strong and got better was the pet industry. It was like, I can’t afford to go buy a new TV, so why don’t I spend time with my pet?

So the separation anxiety from the pandemic puppies has been a big part of what you’ve been addressing?

Yes. A number of people did go out and get companion animals during the pandemic — shelters at some points had no animals to give. And those people did need help.

But surprisingly, I think I got more clientele and business from people who already had a dog but wanted to address existing issues, because it was in their face. They weren’t going out to work from nine to five so the little issues that they would only see when they came home from work, they found themselves dealing with all day.

Dan Dudley with a client’s dog, Gretta. PHOTO COURTESY ANGELA

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