Having grown up in a family that spent their time breeding and showing dogs, it was only natural that Matt’s long time passion for dogs turned into his profession. Matt’s training skills have given him the opportunity to train for celebrities such as Antonio Davis of the Chicago Bulls and Bobby Simmons of the Milwaukee Bucks. Matt’s reputation also allowed him the incredible opportunity to work as the head dog trainer for a show on Animal Planet. Matt’s challenge was to build a custom training protocol that would allow him to train a service dog for a young woman with Trichotillomania. The pilot episode went well and we are still hoping that the network decides to film an entire season.
Matt has a business degree from Bradley University and also graduated with honors from Northwestern Law School. His legal education is invaluable when trouble shooting tough behavioral cases. One of the most important skills when working with complex cases of anxiety, fear or aggression is ensuring that you understand the complete picture before building a treatment plan. Matt’s Lifestyle Adjustment Plans (LAPS) are widely known due to his ability to connect a huge amount of disparate data, distill it into a useful format and then create a plan that is simple and easy to apply for the client. Matt’s LAPS are the reason he is often called in by clients all over the country. Although Matt lives in the Chicago suburbs he will travel anywhere to help a dog in need. Matt is also a resource for other dog trainers when they need a consult or some assistance on a tough case.
Additionally, Matt spends time helping a large number of dog rescues and humane societies. He is extremely proud of his relationship with the West Suburban Humane Society (WSHS). Matt assisted WSHS in creating a training program for some of their dogs that needed a little “extra help” in being adopted. Both Matt and WSHS were extremely happy and proud when the program won a nationwide contest and earned WSHS a large grant due to its innovative nature.
Currently Matt’s role within the company is to head up our in house trainer development program. He works with our trainers five days per week to ensure that our trainers are consistently recognized as the best of the best. He does this through both hands on training as well as through training seminars. Most days will find Matt either training a dog with one of our trainers or engaged in a spirited discussion on how to handle a tough case. Although Matt would love to help you train your dog, his time is limited and he is only able to take on a few clients at a time. Please see below for information on all of our expert trainers who have each been personally trained by Matt.