about Mike ossenbeck

Mike Ossenbeck has been training dogs professionally since 1989. His first formal training was earning a Companion Dog title with Dunsany (pictured above). His professional experience includes 9 years of training service dogs for the disabled. Duties involved all aspects of Service Dog training: evaluating and training dogs, co-ordinating the puppy program, teaching puppy classes, interviewing and selecting candidates, designing and leading team trainings, follow ups with graduates, and more. The follow ups were especially instructive- to be able to see what worked and even more importantly, what did not work. He spent two years as Regional Training Manager for a national service dog organization. For another two years he was employed by a local animal shelter to assess dogs, train volunteers and to guide placements. Prior to that he had spent 7 years as a volunteer dog walker. He ran a fun after school program K-3 for two years where children learned how to interact safely with dogs and even make healthy K-9 treats. For another shelter he designed and ran a summer program for children- teaching dog safety and training. In the early 1990’s Mike was introduced to positive methods of training. He began to move away from the punitive training methods he had been taught by attending seminars and workshops promoting positive training techniques. Mike continues to attend training conferences and to further his understanding of how best to build common ground between dogs and people. Common Ground was launched in 1996 and since then Mike has been offering group classes and in-home training with the owners, along with independently working with the dogs to meet the individual needs of busy people. Techniques used are dog and people friendly. Common Ground Dog Training is recommended by wagging tails throughout Sonoma County.