Andrew Ramsey is a former Military Working Dog Trainer with a life-long passion for interacting with canines. Andrew has always been an admirer of Dachshunds and later on in life the shepherd breeds, but enjoys training dogs of all varieties and firmly believes that they make life whole. Andrew’s pack consists of his Dachshund Modo and his Belgian Malinois Grumble and is rarely seen without them.
Andrew’s passion for dogs led him to the Military Working Dog Training Center at Lackland Air Force Base, a place where on any given day there are 700 to 1000 Military and TSA dogs in training. He has trained Military Working Dogs as a Contractor for the Army and Air Force as well as an Air Force Civilian at the Military Working Dog Training Center. Working at Lackland gave Andrew the opportunity to gain working dog experience unparalleled to anywhere else on the globe in an extremely short time period.
Andrew spent 4 years in the Department of Defense Breeding Program and was fortunate to work with 34 litters of Belgian Malinois at various times in their development. In this controlled breeding operation Andrew experienced everything from whelping and early environmental nurturing of puppies before they were separated from the litter at 8 weeks to motivational drive building, socialization and environmental stabilization of puppies while they were being raised in foster homes between 2 and 7 months. Later he was an active participant in their learning process for Explosive Detection and Patrol work for suspect apprehension from the time they were returned to Lackland at 7 months until they entered formal training at one year of age.
For three of the four years Andrew was at the Breeding Program he was on the Training Team. During this time he was the primary Decoy, the person who was teaching these young future MWD’s how to engage a suspect correctly. It was also during this time that Andrew received tremendous amounts of practical Detection knowledge by working with hundreds of puppies one after another. Before Andrew’s fourth year at the Breeding Program he had become the Lead Trainer and oversaw all aspects of training.
Andrew was offered the opportunity to transfer to a position working with the untrained adult dogs purchased from Europe in 2008. This opportunity rounded out Andrew’s experience even more so by allowing him to problem solve with dogs with previous training issues. Andrew always knew that many lives depended on the dogs he trained and this serious dedication to mission success could not be excluded in the training evolution that Andrew would later make for pet dogs in Nosework. Andrew served in this role for two years and was accommodated multiple times for excellent dog production.
In 2010 Andrew said goodbye to the Military Working Dog Program and moved to the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area for the lovely weather and active dog culture where he founded RAMSEY K-9 SERVICES. Bringing his working dog knowledge and training expertise to California, Andrew began offering Pet Dog Nosework Classes to clients but quickly realized that teaching Nosework to the average pet dog was entirely different than training the traditional working dog. While looking at how other people were teaching Nosework to pet dogs, Andrew noticed several things he considered lacking.
Andrew has made it a personal goal to bring better training techniques implemented in other areas of dog training to the Pet Dog Nosework world. Andrew incorporates proper play skills to build drive and motivation, the exciting use of high value food to produce an interactive Mini-Event, the timing of a Clicker or Verbal Bridge to precisely mark behavior and strategic reward delivery. Andrew also believes in developing an efficient Search Pattern from the beginning and teaching a clearly defined Final Response. Andrew uses Reward Orientation to his benefit using a “Reward from Source” training system to create a Focused Response at Odor Source that is undeniably easy to read. All initial training is conducted on a series of Dresser Drawers arranged in a linear fashion that allows Andrew to work the dog in a way that reinforces pattern, builds duration of the dog’s willingness to hunt and also shapes a Final Response. Those familiar with Operant Conditioning and Behaviorism will recognize the similarity between the RAMSEY Training Lab and a large Skinner Box. Andrew feels that since many of the pet dogs are sometimes lower in motivation that these training methods are that much more critical as opposed to the belief that these methods are solely for working dogs.
Andrew conducts numerous seminars around the country explaining his system of blending real world Detection experience and science-based theory to Pet Dog Nosework applications. Andrew’s traveling seminars have allowed him to refine his system of training even further as well hone his ability to communicate the simple but detailed aspects of his system to his participants. All varieties of Dog Clubs enjoy working with Andrew and adding another fun activity to do with their dogs.
Early on in his journey of working with dogs Andrew met someone whose gift with animals, clarity of explanation and patience with people literally changed Andrew’s life in regards to human-animal interaction as well as human-human instruction. Andrews strives to replicate that same experience for the people and their dogs that he works with in Nosework, knowing that just like our furry canine counterparts not all humans learn the same way or at the same rate. Because of this Andrew evaluates each dog and handler to discover the most efficient, effective and positive way to achieve success with them as a team.
With his love for dogs Andrew rarely feels like his job is truly working and as a “confirmed” dog person Andrew will be the first to tell you that this is his way of life and he wouldn’t have it any other way.