A little bit about us….
LeSandro grew up always wanting a dog and begged his parents year after year with no success until finally once he graduated high school and had a job (promising to pay for everything) his mother finally agreed.
He found a farm that was giving away free puppies due to an accidental litter from a Labrador and a Great Pyrenees. He picked one out and named him Smores. Shortly after getting the puppy, he joined the Coast Guard and went to boot camp. After finishing boot camp, he came home to his dog being quite large and quite out of control. He got stationed in Florida and had ongoing problems with Smores. Smores would run out the door and around the entire apartment complex, chew and destroy everything in the house, get into fights with other dogs, hide every time there was a thunderstorm, and was difficult to walk on a leash. Having no control over such a large dog came with lots of difficult and embarrassing moments.
He realized it was necessary to train Smores.
LeSandro became obsessed with learning about training methods from YouTube videos and watching Cesar Millan’s show, and fell in love with dog training and the results he got with Smores. LeSandro was able to take Smores everywhere with him: hiking, kayaking, Home Depot…if dogs were allowed, Smores would tag along. It made having a dog enjoyable. Life became easier day to day, and life was just better with his dog. He thought, “If I had these kinds of problems with my dog and was able to enjoy the process and results this much, I would love to be able to help others experience the same thing.”
LeSandro met Sarah while both stationed in Astoria, OR. They happened to both have their contracts ending just a few months apart from each other and Sarah was able to convince LeSandro not to resign, but rather, pursue his passion of becoming a dog trainer after 12 years of service.
Once they got out of the Coast Guard, they moved to Santa Barbara, CA where Sarah got her master’s in environmental science and management and LeSandro started automotive classes at the local community college and found part time work at K-Nine Solutions, voted the best dog training company in Santa Barbara 5 years in a row. He started as an assistant trainer, absorbing knowledge from the lead trainers and always volunteering to help with different dogs. Within 3 months, he was asked to become a lead trainer. Once his semester finished, he became a full-time lead trainer at K-Nine Solutions. He ended up training and assist training over 300 dogs within a year and a half and enjoyed the work so much, he knew he wanted to open his own business.
Before starting his own business, LeSandro wanted to go to one of the most elite dog training schools in the world, the Tom Rose School for Professional Dog Trainers. He took the master dog trainer course, a 5-month program that tests you and your dog’s ability to learn and perform tasks including: American Kennel Club (AKC) novice agility, AKC novice obedience, Internationale Gebrauchshund Prüfung (IGP) 1 tracking, IGP 1 obedience, scent detection, AKC Canine Good Citizen, Therapy Dog International, search and rescue/felon search, guided retrieve, protection decoy/helper, and teaching group and 1:1 classes. Graduating requires performing the curriculum as if competing in these dog sports and gaining a passing score for each.
For the program, LeSandro trained a Rottweiler (Major) and a Giant Schnauzer. The Giant Schnauzer, Wrangell, is now Sarah and LeSandro’s personal pet, and Sarah’s very first dog. With these two dogs, LeSandro graduated the program as a master dog trainer.
LeSandro says this 5 month program was more challenging than boot camp, but learning from different world class dog trainers deepened his understanding of dog training. He learned about dog psychology, precise technique, the importance of play and how to use play sessions as training sessions. The Tom Rose School helped him become a better, well-rounded dog trainer.
Through all his experiences in the past 3 years, LeSandro has come to realize dogs need to have guidance on how to live in our human world. They need to be challenged mentally and physically, to have a strong bond with their family, to have clear communication they understand, and consistent and fair expectations. Everyone needs to be towing the line in the same direction and work as a team, united!
At United We Train, we want to work with families and their dogs to improve their lives and their dog’s lives.
