Bio and Training Approach
Karen Bazdresch received her Area Trainer certification at St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center located in New Jersey in August 1999, after completing 160 hours of instruction with Terry Ryan, Pia Silvani, and Dr. Pam Reid through PetsMart's Area Trainer Academy. She has volunteer and professional experience with Love On a Leash Therapy Group – St. Louis, Impact for Animals, Stray Rescue, and Open Door Animal Sanctuary.
Karen has built a reputation for working with special needs dogs: blind, deaf, fearful, kennel dog syndrome, separation anxiety problems, and dog-reactive aggression. She became interested in Dog Aggression and Behavior when she fostered her first "bait dog", Eve, for Stray Rescue in 1997. Learning how to rehabilitate aggressive dogs became a necessity when she fostered and adopted her "Gus-man Bazdresch" for Stray Rescue in 1999 (a former fighting dog). Karen's four dogs are Canine Good Citizen certified, and her Gem completed Therapy Dog classes through Love on a Leash in August, 2005.
Karen's training approach is a combination of positive and negative reinforcement methodology. She believes that the primary reasons humans have difficulty with dogs are:
- Most humans don't speak dog.
- Most humans are too permissive with their dogs.
- Most humans "talk at" their dogs instead of "interacting with" their dogs.
- Most humans have lousy timing.
- Most humans are inconsistent and wind up confusing their dogs.
- Most humans want things too immediately and give up too soon.
When these problems are corrected, and people learn to give direction based on consistent, immediate expectations, dogs stop being confused and start looking to their people for input and approval.
Karen does not "break" dogs of habits or behaviors and tries never to "force" dogs to do anything. She believes that the only time physical force should be used with a dog is when the dog, another animal, or a human is in true physical danger. Humans should work to teach and mold behavior with their dogs because their involvement with our lives will most likely cover a period of ten to fourteen years. Dogs give themselves to us body and soul. Karen truly believes the education of our dogs is a worthwhile and rewarding experience.