I will begin to write about another piece of my history. This one is about teacher number 2. We will call him The Silverstreak. A little background about this person; he is an accomplished breeder, show handler, has finished many champions of his own breeding, and has handled at least 4 dogs to win Grand Victor or Grand Victrix titles in both the U.S.A and Canada.

His teachings to me span over quite a period of time, reaching back to my childhood days. I would say maybe 30 odd years ago. So where do I begin?

I grew up in the southern part of Etobicoke which is a little town, you could call it, at the base of the shores of Lake Ontario. There are many parks and ravines, basically a boy's and dog's heaven.

The Silverstreak lived a few blocks away from my house. As a boy, I always had this burning passion to own a German Shepherd Dog and this man had five of them. I would go to the park and watch this man work his dogs and eventually I got to know him.

One dog I remember in particular was a dog named Dito. This dog was incredible, always off lead, always precise in his work, completely focused on the master, would not hesitate to excel in whatever his master wanted, including protection work. One minute the dog could be touched, and the next minute a menacing guard dog. And then, after all was forgiven, could be touched again. He would leave him outside while he went to the local pub, totally quiet, just waiting for the Silverstreak to come out. Yes, even with people walking by, other dogs and traffic, etc. I used to watch this dog as I would ride my bike in the neighborhood. He would always be on the porch and would never leave. I tried to call him but no matter what, that dog would not move.

Another phenomenal trick was, The Silverstreak would place a Coke can on the first branch of a tree and tell his dog to go get it. That dog would not stop jumping or leave that area until he grabbed that Coke can. One day we left Dito at the park with the Coke can and The Silverstreak said "come on, I want to show you something". Basically I asked "are you going to leave this dog here?" He said "yes, don't worry he will be home soon". We left the dog there and went to his house. It must have been about 20 minutes and low and behold here comes Dito with the Coke can in his mouth and drops it at his master’s feet! Incredible!!!

After all of this he told me "the key to training good dogs is never correct them if they are not trained. And if they are, then it is fair." What he meant was do not set your dog up to fail. Build his self-esteem so high that stress is of no issue. Independence must be strong but not too strong to make the dog oblivious. By building esteem through games that are difficult, when done slowly and the dog wins, he basically feels he can accomplish anything. For that, your dog will love you unconditionally and never leave your side, truly faithful. One other thing, "THINK LIKE A DOG" (there are those words again) and for this you must feel, and become, one in spirit with your dog.

The Silverstreak moved away and it was quite some time before I would see him again. I hooked up with him by accident. I had moved into an apartment, a newspaper ad later, and low and behold we have been working together for the past 15 years.

He has taught me about structure, breeding, show handling and temperament. His saying is "If you don't have temperament, you don't have a dog." I live by these words in my breeding program today. Most importantly, he taught me about the development of self-esteem, the harnessing of spirit, and through completion with the proper balance of leadership and guidance (true alpha), you and your dog will become one.

To this day there is nothing like watching him work a dog, or in a show ring handling a dog. The true image of a human and dog becoming one through mental and physical stimulation is set by the path of this man. You can almost imagine The Silverstreak and the dog he is working as having been born together.

Sam