Sometimes in life our passions and life’s purpose come to us when we least expect it. This is the case for one of our graduates here at Animal Behavior College, Jeremy Mallory, who has recently discovered his natural talent of working with dogs exhibiting behavioral issues.
How It All Began
Jeremy previously served on the Marine Corp and recently had a change in his career last summer. While in the Marine Corp, he was an active personal trainer on the side, which opened the door to his current position as the Wellness Program Coordinator for a federal law enforcement agency. Shortly after starting his new role, the Wellness and Resiliency Division were tasked with providing therapy dogs for the police officers that cover three different levels of support: Critical Level for emotional support and bringing comfort to those officers who have endured a severe situation that could be traumatic for the officer; Office Level where the dogs help with anxiety in the office; and Comfort Level that allows officers to come and enjoy the company of our K-9 friends to uplift their spirits. It became Jeremy’s responsibility to develop the program and provide the service dogs, thus creating the need and desire for Jeremy to learn more about dogs and animal behaviors to help with the therapy dogs for the police officers.
He began to reach out to people in the industry and came into contact with an Emotional Support Trainer who then referred him to Animal Behavior College (ABC) as she had attended ABC as well. He then dug into ABC’s Dog Obedience Program and compared it to other competitors. Jeremy was sold on ABC’s approach that there isn’t just one method that works on every dog, every dog is different, and the focus on the importance of positive reinforcement training. Jeremy shared with us, “I chose Animal Behavior College after looking at many different options because I like the messaging throughout the advertisements and after talking with my advisor, I appreciated the fact that they did not dictate exactly how to train the dog but gave the fundamental elements to develop my own style. This was optimal for our program to meet the law enforcement officer needs and cater the training for the dogs to meet their needs.”
The Discovery of a New Passion
Animal Behavior College’s Dog Obedience Program includes involvement with ABC’s “Student Saving Lives” program. During Jeremy’s involvement with Student Saving Lives, he connected with foster organizations where his passion was born for working with larger dog breeds that have displayed aggressive behavior. Often this aggressive behavior would prevent the dogs from staying in their forever home due to them potentially causing harm. Unfortunately, this would often lead to the dog being euthanized. Even though Jeremy has since completed the Dog Obedience Program with ABC and is now an Animal Behavior College Certified Dog Trainer, he continues to work in his own time with these foster organizations and shelters.
Since graduating in December of 2021, Jeremy has successfully saved 5 aggressive and denied dogs from being euthanized. His efforts of working with these rejected pets are to help correct their behavior in hopes of getting them adopted. Having such great success in correcting the negative aggressive behavior, he has even been contacted by a veterinarian who was about to euthanize a dog, now named Bane, who was so aggressive that the vet and staff were afraid to be in the same room with him. The vet had sympathy for Bane and reached out in hopes that Jeremy could potentially work with him. Jeremy took the dog home and spent the much-needed time to build trust between him and Bane. After working diligently with Bane and developing a trusting relationship with him, he is no longer a threat and is now Jeremy’s right-hand man, never leaving his side.
Jeremy gives much appreciation to his mentor, Katherine Boyette with Patriot Pet Care, and all the knowledge that she has shared with him. He stated, “I had an amazing experience with the course curriculum and staff at ABC. The ability to pursue this at my own pace allowed me to finish faster and start getting real externship opportunities. I built more confidence with my mentor than I ever expected and continue to work with her, learning as much as possible. All the way through the course, I had timely responses and support… ABC, as a whole, helped me build the foundation that was needed for training and networking.”
Goals for Continued Success
Jeremy’s goals as an Animal Behavior College Certified Dog Trainer, is simply to be the best dog trainer he can be. He wants to continue to learn more about animal behavior in general with his main goal being to become a stronger trainer. “I plan on continuing to help foster organizations and improving my training toolbox with other courses and shadowing trainers that are better than me. As a K9 Handler, we are always trying to improve our program and the support it provides the employees of our organization.” Jeremy wants to continue to work with dogs in need and hopes to have a kennel sometime soon for our beloved furry friends.
Congratulations Jeremy Mallory on your certification and we wish you continued success in helping many more dogs find their forever home!
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