David resides in Baltimore City with his wife Emily, and their 2 dogs, Dodge and Dakota. Dave’s wife and he had volunteered and fostered dogs with Lucky Dog Animal Rescue and Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS). They have fostered, rehabilitated and rehomed over 50 dogs in the last 2 years. Dave helped organized an off-leash play group program for dogs while being a member of BARCS Pit Crew.
Play Group allows dogs the freedom to be dogs. The benefits include establishing and maintaining social skills, allowing an outlet for excersize, measurable improvements in behavior, improved quality of life, increased trainability and helping Staff and Volunteers get to know the dogs better, which helped to match them with permanent adopters successfully. This encouraged bringing positive attention to shelter dogs, including Pit Bulls; Baltimore’s largest shelter population demographic.
David enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1995. He served for 4 years in the 2/43 Air Defense Artillery Battery, Ft. Bliss Texas. He has been deployed 2 times to the Persian Gulf (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait) and served for 3 years as an Army Recruiter in Pittsburgh, Pa. In 2003 Dave transferred to the District of Columbia Air National Guard, where he still currently serves as an Aircraft Mechanic protecting the National Capital Airspace.
David is a capable handler and has remarkable patience with dogs. He often holds drop-in group classes in several of the many Baltimore City parks for training graduates of Lionheart K9′s training programs and the many volunteers he has met through his endeavors within the Baltimore City shelter community.
David is a true student of K9 Behavior and has attended workshops at the Animal Farm Foundation in New York and locally as well, with a variety of trainers and behaviorists.
