Seguin, Texas—If your dog can be trained to know when and where to go to the bathroom, then they’re the perfect dog, right? Well, that isn’t the only type of training that is important for current and future dog owners. 

On February 21st, Texas Lutheran University held the 2019 Krost Symposium, this year it was focused on man’s best friend. Thursday (21st) through Saturday (23rd) had speakers and events focus on exploration of how dogs became a central part of our lives, how they think, what they know, and how they develop social intelligence. 

Ken Ramirez was one of the expert speakers to join the symposium. He has been working with not only dogs but many animals for 40 plus years. Ramirez’s background includes: Being personally asked to train Presidents Barack Obama’s family dog in 2014. Teaching a graduate course on animal training at Western Illinois University. Executive Vice-President and Chief Training Officer of Karen Pryor Clicker Training. Previously served as the Executive Vice-President of animal care and animal training at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, where he worked for nearly 26 years. (tlu.edu)

These are just a handful of what Ramirez has done throughout his career. His presentation focused on why training dogs and animals in general is important for all owners to be mindful about. 

Ramirez opens up with a critical factor in training. Trust. Every owner must prove to be trustworthy for their pets. Animals don’t open up to human very easily, it’s a process that must not be overlooked. The focus should be to gain the pets trust and move on to training them. He explains that, “Body language difference that has everything to do with trust, that hard thing to define but it makes a huge difference in training. That trust can really help you accomplish so much more. To make training easier and make it more acceptable” (Ramirez). 

During Ramirez’s presentation, he doesn’t stress enough that training your pet makes a difference. Once you prove to be trustworthy, then the focus shifts to training the pet being taught to do its duty. It spans from being a service dog, to being a guide dog for the blind, to being a good potty trained dog for the family to love. Ramirez explains what the difference could be from being trained to not being trained at all, “…Training has improved animal care in many ways: 1. Reduces animal stress. 2. Makes care easier for veterinarian and caretaker. 3. Animals have increased lifespan” (Ramirez). 

Taking these three points into account can prove that training dogs can be very beneficial for the dogs life and owners life with the dog. Ramirez emphasizes very seriously on these benefits during his presentation because training a dog really does alter their future. 

Ramirez also dives into how effective training a dog can be for law enforcement, he explains his past improvements that he has helped build at different police academies. “I have been consulting with law enforcement for nearly 20 years. We began making a huge difference right away. Our breakthroughs were resolved around being able to produce results like explosive detection. The reduction of missed finds improved from 74% to 97%” (Ramirez). The improvements are astonishing. Ken Ramirez is one man making a difference that will change peoples lives because he trained a dog to improve their findings for bomb threats. 

This presentation from Ramirez shows how important dog training can be. His message is that it cannot be overlooked. As Ramirez ended his session, he left with a question for all current and future owners, “Why does training matter? I hope that is obvious” (Ramirez). 

Link to the entire Ken Ramirez presentation: https://livestream.com/accounts/14776640/events/8572773/videos/187738911