Dog Training Instructors

Dean Calderon

Dean Calderon began training dogs in Schutzhund in 1977. He trained his first German Shepherd Dog, "Nando von Argusschloss", from puppyhood to Schutzhund III, FH.
In 1979, Dean was honored to win the first high Handler-Owned-Trained dog trophy at the 1979 USA National Schutzhund III Championship. With the joy of dog training that Nando taught Dean, Dean has gone on to earn over 175 Schutzhund titles and to train more than 30 dogs, including German Shepherd Dogs, Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers, and Belgium Malinois.

Moving to Northern California in 1983, Dean became training director at America's most successful schutzhund club of the 1980s, South County Schutzhund Club. With Dean as training director, the South County Club, year after year, placed dog handler teams on the national podiums and USA's world teams. The ripples from this ground breaking club still radiate across the schutzhund dog training world. In 1989, Dean went on to become a professional schutzhund trainer and coach after receiving his SV schutzhund helper certificate. The standard set in a tradition of winning is still the goal of today.

As testament to his expert training skills, Dean has represented the United States as a USA team member eight times at the WUSV World Championship and as a USA Rotty team member three times to the IFR World Championship. He is the only trainer in the world to win World Team Championships in two breeds, German Shepherd Dogs and Rottweilers. In 2002, Dean was the first American handler to take his dog, Rex v. Karthago, in both the FCI World Championship and WUSV World Championship within the same year. In 2007, Dean was the first American trainer and handler to pass the German Korung in Germany with an American bred Doberman, Giovanni, whom he trained from a Bh to SchH3, FH.

Throughout his career, Dean has conducted numerous training seminars across North America, Europe and South America offering some of the most comprehensive training programs available anywhere in the world. Published on numerous occasions in DogSport and canine training periodicals and newspaper as well as televised interviews, Dean is considered a top authority on all aspects of working and sports dog training.

At Dean Calderon's seminars, handlers remark on how they have found someone who can put the pieces of the puzzle together in a way that allows them to continue in a clear coherent training program. Dean's teaching skills are constantly being noted and discussed. If one could sum up Dean's philosophy in training... "open your heart and your eyes to your dog and he will tell you how to train him. There are many paths to the top of the mountain".

Archive Video 1 . . . . Archive Video 2 . . . . Archive Video 3