Why I started City Dog Pack

I started City Dog Pack in April 2010 because dogs have always been my passion.  Growing up in Brooklyn dogs were always in my life.  While most of my friends were playing sports and video games I was feeding local stray dogs food I would buy with whatever money I could scrape up at the time.  I started to develop a reputation in my neighborhood as the "Dog Boy" because at times I would have a pack of stray dogs walk me to school in the mornings off leash.  I started getting into dog training and dog behavior at the age of 12.  There was a guy in my neighborhood that did protection training with pitbulls and I would sit in on his on his training sessions to learn the basics of dog obedience.  When I was in high school I read every piece of literature I could get my hands on that had to do with dogs.  After high school I joined the Marines and while stationed in California I started to further my knowledge in dog training and behavior by volunteering in animal shelters and attending dog training schools and seminars.  While serving a tour in overseas in 2007 I patrolled the streets of Iraq with bomb detection dogs to find road side bombs.  It was during this time I discovered first hand, the amazing potential of dogs.  After I was done with my enlistment, I decided to return home to New York and study criminal justice to become a K9 bomb and narcotics detection handler.  While attending school I thought it would be a good idea to become an independent dog walker and trainer.  While walking dogs I became appalled by some of the service dog walking companies were providing.  Some of the things I observed was dogs being walked in extremely large packs, which was way too much for the walker to handle, dogs were being tied up to a poles outside (sometimes unattended) while their walkers picked up other dogs,  some dog walkers were just hanging out talking on their cell phones and smoking cigarettes while the dogs sat their not getting exercise and worst of all many of these dog walkers didn't even seem like they were interested in what they were doing.  Another observation I made was that many dog owners did not have control of their dogs.  Also many of these dogs were high energy dogs that were cooped up in their small Manhattan apartments all day with no activities to give them any sense of achievement or fulfillment.  This made me realize that New York City needed a dog service company that would provide dog walking from handlers that are skilled, knowledgeable and passionate about dogs, dog training from true professionals that can help dog owners form a true bonds with their dogs and dog activities like dog agility to give dogs a sense of fulfillment.  This is what City Dog Pack is all about.  My goal with City Dog Pack is not to maximize profits like some of these other companies.  My goal is to make City Dog Pack an exclusive dog owner community in NYC where we can provide dog owners everything they need to truly make their dogs happy.