Drayton Michaels / CTC 2007

michaels.jpg

Drayton Michaels is a 2007 graduate of The SFSPCA Academy for Dog Trainers. He has worked professionally with dogs since 2000. He owns and runs Urban Dawgs and Pit Bull Guru with his wife Vyolet, also a graduate of the Academy. In addition to his full time career as a positive reward based dog trainer Drayton is producing a documentary film entitled Judging the Innocent. The goal of the film is to show the true nature of the Pit Bull dog, as a kind and loving creature that has been unjustly profiled by the media and abused by the criminals of society. Drayton is the proud dog dad to Mojo a 9 year old male Pit Mix and Keyshia a 6 year old female Pit Bull. When he is not training dogs Drayton can be found making music or in the kitchen cooking.

 

Read more by Drayon at Trainer Tales 

 

More by Drayton Michaels

Pit Bulls Are Still Being Profiled

Drayton Michaels

Perhaps one day all people will look at a pit bull and say, “hey there goes a real good dog”. Despite overwhelming evidence as to how good the majority of Pit Bulls are, pit bulls are still being profiled. Consider a recent story in a Virginia Beach paper about Jeff Haymen, a 22-year-old man who is deaf. His hearing dog is a Pit Bull named Marley. Jeff and Marley attended the Tidewater K9 Academy for training and have been doing great.
 

 

It’s Just a Dog?

Drayton Michaels

Since 2000 I have been working with dogs professionally. I am sometimes given the answer or solution to a troublesome canine scenario with the following statement “It’s just a dog”. Meaning it is not worthy of any further consideration.

This mindset of a dog as lesser than or unequal to humans is sad. In my own experience nothing that I have ever been involved with has brought as much joy to others as my dog Mojo, notice I said to others, not just myself. The smiles and the joy Mojo conjures up in people is quite a site to see. He is one of only millions of dogs who bring untold happiness to millions of people, other than their owners, simply by existing.

This “it’s just a dog” mindset comes up in discussions about the use of pain or force when training and maintaining dogs. The dog; who some so callously toss aside like dead leaves during yard work has the ability through nothing more than existing, to cause joy.