Meet the Staff
Meet Mary Travers
MARY TRAVERS
Mary is a native New Yorker raised on Long Island. Doing what normal fairly
intelligent kids do, she finished up high school and went on to college. First
it was an Associates from Nassau Community College and then a Bachelor or Science
from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Knowing she could do absolutely
nothing with a Bachelors in Psychology, Mary did the next logical thing…
she went for more school! She got her first Masters Degree in Criminal Psychology
at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan and her second Masters
Degree in clinical and School Psychology from Hofstra University.
It was right around this time Mary adopted her first “I’m a grown up and I really am gonna be the one to take care of this dog,” dog. Coming home from the shelter with the 12 week old “shepherd mix” that turned out to be 99.9% pit bull, Mary had visions of a fearless companion, a dog that people think back on and say, “I will never have a dog as good as him again.” Within weeks, he was indeed and unforgettable dog. Biting, growling, jumping, stealing, willful, stubborn, and the list goes on! Having THREE advanced degrees in behavioral science and lots of life experience around dogs, Mary set out to train Jake. First it was bitter apple, which Jake promptly stole one day and drank the whole bottle while Mary was at work. So much for a chew deterrent. The second approach was pennies in a can. Hey, it had worked for childhood dogs. Never mind that they had hit the deck every time they heard a loud sound. She was on a mission! The next time Jake jumped on her Mary was ready. She shook the can with all her might and was horrified to discover that far from being startled by the sound Jake grabbed the can and it became his favorite toy for a week.
Perhaps it was time to get warm and fuzzy. Maybe Jake was just misunderstood. Mary knew all about reinforcement and decided to give food treats a try. So, one day trying to do a paper for school Jake jumped up to see what was on the kitchen counter. Mary said , “Jake off.” He got off. Mary said, “Jake come.” He came! Mary said, “Jake sit.” HE SAT! She gave him a treat delighted! Of course through the rules of reinforcement Mary had rewarded the sit command, right? Not exactly. After exactly four repetitions of “off, come, sit,” Mary looked over only see Jake, paws up on the counter waging and smiling as if to say, “Play again, I like this game!” Instead of reinforcing sit, Mary had reinforced the whole chain starting with the behavior she didn’t want; jumping on the counter.
It was at that moment that Mary knew, despite all her knowledge of behavior, became aware that she knew nothing about how to train this dog. Admitting defeat, she called and hired Frank Bonomo of Best Friend’s Dog Training to teach her how to train this crazy dog. Turns out Jake wasn’t crazy. He wasn’t misunderstood or depressed either. In fact he was very smart with a lot of drive. While working with Jake, Mary inquired about becoming a Dog Trainer. She could use a part time job while she finished up her PhD. Frank explained that there was quiet a bit of learning that went into becoming a dog trainer, and it would take about a year until she would be ready to train dogs on her own. Mary knew how to learn, so she signed up for one of the most challenging and life changing experiences of her life. This was learning unlike any learning she had ever experienced. This was learning by doing. Learning by falling flat on your face. Learning by fire. Learning by accomplishing.
Becoming a dog trainer has happily pushed Mary out of her comfort zones, made her a more confident person both personally and professionally and has opened up a whole new avenue of career options not available on the academic track. This profession is not for the feint of heart. You may start because you love dogs or want a little job on the side and that’s fine, but if you want a challenging rewarding lifestyle, it’s there for the taking.
New York Academy for Dog Trainers… If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere! It’s up to you.
Mary Travers
Co-Founder, NYADT
Meet Frank Bonomo
I was 6 months into my apprenticeship and was listening to a discussion that 10 people who called themselves dog trainers were having. None of them were living comfortable lives, none of them seemed happy and none of them were successful. A Terrifying question entered my mind, “what makes me different from any of these people? Why would my dog training business be successful and theirs weren’t?” A sick feeling crept over me and stayed with me for the rest of the day and into the following sleepless night. What have I done? I had spent hundreds of man hours and thousands of dollars to learn this trade and my teachers were broke and miserable. Good dog trainers, terrible businessman. What made me different? At 3am I came to an answer. I had Sales and Marketing experience, and more importantly, I understood and cared about peoples needs. I knew I would build a company from the clients point of view, not from a trainers point of view.
When I started Best Friend’s Dog Training in 1999 I was not the best dog trainer out there. I will humbly say I am still not the best, although I’m pretty damn good (ok..not too humble). I do have something those other guys don’t. While the other guys were flying around the world training in Belgium and France, I was also honing my dog training skills but perhaps more importantly I was spending time and energy building a successful training company to give pet owners what they wanted and needed. In the process I managed to gradually attract a staff of motivated, dedicated and talented people who I turned into dog trainers and they in turn helped the business grow.
The other thing I have that the other guys don’t? The ability to teach other people to both train dogs and make a good living doing it. Just because you are good doesn’t mean that you will be a success. When I started I pondered whether or not dog training was going to be my side job.
What does Vermont maple syrup have to do with dog training? Well, in my case, a lot. You see in another life I tried, succeeded and failed at many things. I was in NYC Emergency Medical Service, sales; insurance and real estate, and finally found a good niche in Technology. I was happy, but restless, made a comfortable living, my boss loved me. I had no reason to move on except my own inner drive to build something that touches peoples lives every day. If it could be something I loved to do, it would hardly seem like work. Enter dog training. From the week after I started my apprenticeship it was all I thought and dreamt about. After a few years of building my little business, I had a decision to make. In January of 2002, I spent a long weekend in Vermont, and 6 snowy skin pruning hours in the outdoor heated pool up at Mount Snow, VT making my decision.
I was in the process of getting a divorce, so the mortgage was on me alone. I was really scared. I was leaving comfortable living at my job, for my part time business. What the hell was I thinking? My Brother Bill and long time friend Mike Dinucci were present to guide me into making good decisions. They basically pointed out that with the new divorce, a rapidly growing “part time” business, it was now or never. This was the closest I was going to come to getting a fresh start. I had no funding, but hard work always got me through tough times, and I’d seen plenty of them.
We made mistakes that cost us in the early years. We spend money where we shouldn’t have, and spent time doing things that were limiting to our productivity. We gave good customer service from the beginning, and that was our saving grace. Mary and I have been working together for years and have overcome every obstacle, together, to build a company. We did it all, in one of the toughest markets in the country. I know that we can help you train dogs better than most. I know we can also help you avoid many of the pitfalls we fell into, build with the successes we had, and teach you to teach people well. If you want to learn, and dramatically shorten your learning curve, this is the school for you.
We’re not kidding when we say “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere!”
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I look forward to meeting you soon,
Frank Bonomo
Co-Founder, NYADT
Dr. Dennis Leon
Dennis Leon will run the classes about Vaccines, Canine First Aid, Canine Diets, health, etc. It is essential for trainers to learn and understand these topics and issues from a veterinary perspective. Dr. Leon earned his veterinary degree from Cornell University in 2001 and brings over 1½ decades of veterinary experience to Long Island, having worked in a variety of small animal practices since 1992. Following his veterinary education, Dr. Leon worked in a busy multi-doctor practice in Hayward, CA, where he also served as a veterinary consultant to the City of Hayward Animal Services Bureau, Hayward Animal Shelter, Alameda County Animal Control and San Leandro Animal Shelter. He moved back to his hometown of New York City in 2004 and worked part-time in a handful of small animal hospitals in Manhattan before settling down in Nassau County, where he is the Chief of Staff at Levittown Animal Hospital.
Dr. Leon's professional interests include preventative medicine, anesthesiology,
pain management, kidney disease and and obesity treatment. He has served as
director of the Southside Community Center Healthy Pet Clinic, which provides
wellness care to pets of low-income families in Ithaca, NY. Dr. Leon currently
serves on the Board of Directors of For Animals in the Hospital (FAITH), an
organization developed to defray the costs of medical care for homeless and
abandoned animals. Additionally, Dr. Leon is a frequent guest lecturer for the
Nassau County BOCES Veterinary Science course, and he works with the Cornell
Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network, a group of nearly 6,900 alumni volunteers
who assist the Cornell admissions community in recruiting superior undergraduate
applicants. He shares his home with Jodie (the cat who sqeaks) and Krieger (a
goofy Belgian Malinois, trained by Mary Travers).
Additional Staff
Due to the amount of real life training we do ,two trainers can't get this job done alone. Additional Staff will be suplimented by the Trainers from Best Friends Dog Training where they will guide you while training Board and Trains and private lessons in peoples homes. They can be met at www.muttmanners.com