From the moment he was born Dan lived a dog's life.
As the owners of Keeno Kennels of California his entire family was involved in the dog business and Dan took an active interest in all aspects of the company, including grooming, breeding, training and ring handling of their champion Shetland Sheepdogs.
During high school through his work as a volunteer with local rescue organizations, Dan began to realize that many dogs were being surrendered to shelters every single day for behavior issues that were not their own fault. He knew that if he could find a way to educate dog owners and teach them how to apply behavior techniques to their own pets he would be able to make a difference in the lives of countless innocent dogs, ensuring that they remained with their humans instead of spending a short-lived and tragic shelter existence.
So in 2002 Dan founded Recycled Pets of Denton, Texas where he began training full time as he continued helping shelters to rehabilitate dogs with behavior problems in order to ensure that they would be more likely to be adopted. His successful training program prompted him to seek greater opportunities to help as many dogs as possible change their behavior, so in 2005 Dan relocated to Dallas and established his current business - Dogs Mind Training - where he created a training method that focused on understanding the way a dog thinks in order to effectively change a dog's behavior.
Through reputation and positive reviews, Dogs Mind Training became well known for its high success rate and Dan has been fortunate enough to train and educate thousands of humans and their dogs, including Texas Rangers Hall of Fame announcer Eric Nadel, Fox 4 Good Day anchor Lauren Pryzbyl, and the “Voice of Chuck E Cheese" and front-man for Grammy nominated band Bowling for Soup, Jaret Reddick.
In 2014 Dan met Tyrus Swift, an up-and-coming dog trainer who was familiar with Dan’s already successful methods. Tyrus always knew that he was destined to work with dogs and at a young age was enterprising enough to land a job at a pet resort where he was able to interact with diverse breeds. His lifetime experience, along with his passion for helping dogs and their humans understand each other better, puts Tyrus way ahead of the game. His Pitbull Nala and his Rottweiler Lottie often assist in our training sessions.
In 2016 Dan attended a workshop taught by Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer. After completing the "Training Cesar's Way Fundamentals Workshop", Dan was singled out and invited to participate in a volunteer program for Cesar's Way. In order to further his education Dan attended The Lucas Agnew Dog Behavior Workshop the following year, a program taught by the internationally renowned team of Cheri Lucas and Brian Agnew, co-creators of the Training Cesar's Way workshops.
Robyn Burke has recently joined Dogs Mind Training as a specialist in working with highly problematic dogs. Robyn has always had an affinity for animals (most especially horses) and her astounding connection with and understanding of all creatures allows her to excel in successful rehabilitation. She has already become a valuable asset to the team.
In September of 2019 Dan traveled to Templeton, California in order to further his education, training with the amazing Cheri Lucas as her solo Shadow Program student. This program introduced such innovative methods to his own that in December 2019 Tyrus and Robyn joined Dan as they all made the trip to Templeton and excelled in Cheri Lucas’ Shadow Program.
As the team continues to innovate and improve their methods, the reputation of Dogs Mind Training and their position as the leader of the pack will inevitably continue to grow.
