| Who is Dan Polo? |
| I am Dan Polo, original from San Juan Puerto Rico. I am your dog trainer, here to help you and your dog create the relationship you are meant to have. I am a big animal lover. I love dogs and love helping them in any way I can. I will never give up on a dog! I grew up in a household where dogs were everywhere you looked. My family had all sorts of dogs in the property. As I grew up I always felt safe and among friends when I had dogs around. I always felt more comfortable among dogs than among other kids. My granfather and grandmother played a key role in my life, my relationship with animals and in who I am today. As a kid, I always remember being told "if you get bit, it is your own fault". When my grandpa would say that, he didn't say it because he cared more about the dogs than he cared about me but because he wanted me to respect the dogs and treat them and all animals with dignity. My granda and grandma were the kind of people that were always in tune with nature and wanted things to be balanced. I have always considered myself lucky because growing up I had the chance to interact with our dogs' vets and vet techs and they would teach me all sorts of things, which at one point made me want to be a vet. We had so many dogs that me being at the vet just for routine care of any one dog at least once or twice a week was a norm. Today, one of my biggest regrets is the fact that instead of going for animal science I ended up aiming for the human medical field just to find that Medical school was not my thing. As a kid we had all sorts of breeds of dogs, even mutts (called Satos in PR). German Shepherds, Collies, Dobermans, Collies, and a Rottweiler, among others were some of the breeds I gew up with. For some reason, even stranger dogs on the street would always approach me and trust me. I can sense dogs feel comfortable near me. I actually always say I owe my life to two dogs, one is a female Doberman named Princesa and the other one is a Puerto Rican Sato dog. One instance in my life when I was probably saved by a dog, was when I was about 13 years old and was by myself at my grandma's house. My grandparent's place was quite big a piece of land and quite isolated. |
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| Anyways, one day while by myself as usual on a weekend this guy came down into the property after someone had left the main gate open. This guy came asking a lot of quiestions about who was in the house, etc. He seemed kind of fishy. At one point he started telling me that he wanted to come into the house to use the phone. I said I could bring him a cordless phone but I was not allowed to bring strangers into the house, well at one point Princesa one of our loyal Dobermans took a stance between the guy and me and began to growl and show teeth. She must have sensed something was wrong and decided to take over and protect me. This guy got all agitated and began to swear and threaten me. Princesa in front of me allowed me to get back in the house and lock myself in with her and the other Dobermans we had. All the dogs got agitated once I was inside and eventually the guy left.
When I was fifteen years old I had a paper route (against my mom's wishes) because I was saving money to fix a car for when I turned sixteen. Anyways, at one point this one dog began following me every morning during my paper route. I never knew where this dog was, but every morning at 5 am this dog would be at my home waiting for me in front of my newspapers to deliver. I named him Charlie, and this skinny tan colored dog would walk by my side all the route. I would always feed him soon as I returned home from my route, but as much as I begged my mom to let me keep him she never allowed me. Anyways, one morning while I was delivering newspapers a car approched me out of the blue and one guy got off this car to try to catch me. Eventually I found through the police that there had been some guys basically abducting teenagers to beat them up and steal their money. Well Charlie got between this guy and me and charged at him, the guy ran into the car and they disappeared. I kept delivering newspapers for a while and eventually after I got my car about 8 months later I quit. Every day, Charlie followed me (even when I had my car) to deliver newspapers. I always wondered what happened to this guy, for as quick as he came into my life he left. I was always afraid he might have been killed or taken to the pound. My education in college was basically six years of Biology and Psychology at Universidad Del Sagrado Corazon (Sacred Heart University) of Puerto Rico. I also have an associates degree in Radiologic Technology, and I have been working since 1994 in the field of radiology. I do anything related to radiography, CT and MRI scanning. After so many years working in healthcare I decided in 2004 to train dogs as a hobby, starting with my own after they had been trained by a local trainer and man I consider a friend in Louisville. Bob Dover trained my personal dogs to a high level of precision and inspired me to try learning dog training skills. After adopting my first Rescue Rottweiler (Annie), I had to work with some fear issues she had and had to educate myself on lots of ways to help her overcome her fears. A year later I adopted my second Rottie (Rajah), a boisterous and highly energetic little boy. After doing Rajah's formal obedience course I had to keep learning about canine behavior in order to make sure he was always challenged and not bored or frustrated. While assigned to Camp Lejeune NC, I volunteered for North Carolina Rottweiler Rescue as a foster and teaching basics on housetraining and obedience to my fosters. I take pride on each foster dog that I have worked with at any given time. Somehow, over the years I have become known by family and friends for being able to help dogs change undesireable behaviors and being able to teach dogs basic commands. After doing dog training mostly as a hobby and something I do for rescues, shelters and friends I was encouraged to going into business on my own and so here I am, making a little bit of a career change. My dream of having a job where I can work with animals, especially dogs has finally come through. I am very disciplined and dedicated in everything I do and I take lot of pride on what I do and on doing thins right the first time. Although I am original from Puerto Rico, I currently reside in Louisville Kentucky and still work at a local hospital in radiology. I am trained in CT scan and MRI as well as on how to perform what is called interventional radiology. Dog training allows me to use the knowledge I gained in my original college education. I majored in Biology and minored in Psychology, so although canine psychology has some differences from human psychology learning theory applies the same way. Dogs learn by association and believe it or not so do humans at early age (babies). I am a proud dog parent. In my home reside 2 very loyal and smart Rottweilers, Rajah my boy and Annie my gentle girl. Along with my two Rotties, resides Nicki a little "shepherd mix" (so labeled by Humanne Society in Tampa, FL) and in October 2007 I acquired a nice Belgian Malinois which I named Max (aka Vinnie). Annie is 5 years old as off March 2007, Rajah is 3 years old as of March 2007, Nicki is 2 years old as of November 2007 and Max is 1 year old as off October 2007. I have some military background and love exercise. One thing I use in my training, especially on behavior modification is exercise. The is nothing like a 30 minute run to make you feel refreshed and renewed. Dogs need and love exercise, so I enjoy taking dogs running with me as well as for walks. Pretty much this is me. Thanks for reading and for visiting this site. |
