At 17 years old, Gary recognizes his calling and starts training all breeds and ages of dogs . Gary earned his Professional Dog Training Certification in Sacramento, California. 

Gary was hired by the Dog Training Kennel that he went to school at.   At the Dog Training Kennel, Gary learned how to work with many breeds spanning many types of dog behavioral issues.

Gary trained thousands of dogs in puppy development, on & off-leash obedience and personal protection training.

Gary was a teacher for the Pro-Train Institute, training future trainers in dog behavior evaluation and on and off-leash obedience training. He led weekly classes in 5 locations and completed dog evaluations for future training. 

Gary also completed training on dogs who were for sale; dogs were sold to police departments or privately.

Gary starts offering private in-home dog training programs including Puppy Development, On & Off-Leash Obedience, and Behavior Modification.

As Gary trains and observes dog behavior and the owner/dog relationship over time, he adapts his program to be both fun for the dogs and their owners.

While he was Dog Training Director for East Bay SPCA in Oakland and Dublin, Gary developed and implemented a Temperament Testing System to determine adopt-ability and trained his staff to train dogs in the shelter and to instruct public classes.

He also started a social playgroup for adoptable dogs to help release stress while they were in the shelter. To reduce adopted dog returns, Gary implemented dog training for each adoptable dog. Each dog had to pass an obedience test before being placed into adoption. This was very successful.

Gary was then recruited to Oakland Animal Control and the Martinez Animal Shelter (including Pinole). In order to help as many dogs as possible, he stayed at the shelters implementing temperament testing, playgroups and training while working at his private dog training business. 

During this time Gary was used as an expert witness in many court cases.