Good Dog, Happy Baby
This week Jon Patch talks to Michael Wombacher, author of, Good Dog, Happy Baby: Preparing Your Dog for the Arrival of Your Child. For years dog trainer Michael Wombacher has worked with expecting dog owners to prevent problems between dogs and children. He has also unfortunately witnessed too many families forced to surrender their beloved family companions because they failed to prepare the dog for the arrival of a new family member. In Good Dog, Happy Baby, Wombacher lays out a twelve-step process that will give families the skills they need to navigate this new era of their lives.
BIO:
I’m an author, lecturer, and dog trainer in the San Francisco Bay Area with over 20 years of hands-on training experience. I teach classes, run a small boarding & training operation and occasionally train other trainers. Over the years, I’ve performed well over 25,000 in-home behavioral consultations—including hundreds for expecting parents – covering the entire spectrum of dog behavior from the mundane to the bizarre.
My training approach focuses on channeling a dog’s natural drives into behaviors acceptable in the human pack primarily through the principles of positive reinforcement as well as through methods that appeal to your dog’s canine sensibilities.
I’ve also been certified as an expert on dog behavior by the California Superior Court, and been featured on Fox 5 Television’s “Good Day New York,” San Francisco’s Channel 7 News, San Francisco’s View From the Bay, Animal Planet, as well as other television and radio programs nationwide.
My work has also been showcased in major national magazines, including Fit Pregnancy, American Dog (circulation 800,000), Dog World, and Boston Whaler (dogs on boats). Additionally, I have been a guest speaker at the annual convention of California’s Animal Care & Control organizations.
I’ve also trained dogs for Robin Williams, Barry Levinson, Joe Satriani, Bob Weir (The Grateful Dead), Linda Ronstadt, Michael Tilson Thomas, Charles Schwab, the Fisher family (owners of the Gap), Mickey Drexler (CEO of J. Crew), Max Levchin (founder of PayPal), Chad Hurley (founder of YouTube), Kevin & Julia Hartz (founders of EventBrite), Jeremy Stoppelman (founder of Yelp), Kirk Hammet of Metallica and other high profile clients in the entertainment, technology and business worlds.
I’ve put all of this experience into an easy-to-understand training guide, designed specifically for you, the expecting (or recent) parent and dog owner—so that your dog and baby get along beautifully. The result? Good Dog, Happy Baby, a book, growing community and upcoming video course designed to help you prepare your dog for the arrival of your child.