Meet Ian Page of California Working Dogs

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Meet Canyon Lake resident and dog trainer Ian Page. Ian moved from Santa Cruz, California to Canyon Lake in June 2015.

He was born in Anaheim but grew up in Los Angeles. Before moving to Santa Cruz, he resided in Canyon Hills. It was while living in Canyon Hills that he first heard about Canyon Lake. “Canyon Hills is a nice place to live, but Canyon Lake has so much more to offer. I feel like I’m on vacation living here,” says Ian.

Ian was working as a landscaper 12 years ago when a neighborhood kid showed up at his home with a week-old pit bull puppy. Ian says, “The kid’s parents wouldn’t let him keep the puppy and he wanted me to keep it so he could still visit it.” Ian told him “no” and sent the boy on his way.

The boy returned a few hours later and asked again if Ian would keep the puppy. Ian, noticing how sick and frail the puppy appeared to be, agreed to take him this time. “The dog looked like it was going to die. I knew it needed to be cared for to survive, so I agreed to keep him,” says Ian.

Although Ian didn’t know it at the time, that was the beginning of his dog training career.

Ian, who never owned a dog before, decided to take a dog training course. “ I didn’t take the class to become a dog trainer; I took it because I had a dog that needed to be trained. Owning a dog is a big responsibility, so training a dog wasn’t an option for me. It was an obligation,” says Ian.

Ian is seen during police training in “the suit that dogs attack”

One year later, Ian took in another dog and attended more training courses. “I took a ton of training classes because I wanted my dogs to have an advanced level of obedience,” says Ian, who soon found that he was pretty good at training dogs.

His friends thought so, too, and started asking him to train their dogs. That led to his friends referring their friends. Ian says, “Becoming a dog trainer happened organically; it wasn’t something I planned or set out to do.”

In 2013, Ian had the opportunity to work as an apprentice doing decoy work for a Northern California Police Department’s dog training program. “I was the guy wearing the suit that the dogs attack,” say Ian. He still works with the program, although not as much now that he is living in Southern California.

In September 2015, Ian traveled to Michigan to work with former Navy Seals in a leadership and team-building workshop that included dog demonstration bite work with executive level protection dogs. “It’s been the highlight of my career,” say Ian.

In October 2015, Ian completed the North American Dogsport Federation (NADF) decoy certification program. The Mission of North American Dogsport  Federation is to provide an arena for hobby and professional sport dog trainers to showcase their dogs and training abilities.

Ian’s future plans are to expand the services his business, California Working Dogs, offers. “Scent detection and private narcotic detection for employers, drug rehab facilities and parents are some of the services I’ll be offering in the future,” says Ian. He also plans to open a dog training facility that would include pet boarding and pet training from basic obedience to high level protection dogs.

Ian says, “The scent work training has already started.”

Many of Ian’s private clients live in Canyon Lake. The majority of his sports dog training clients reside in San Diego. Ninety percent of Ian’s business comes from referrals and social media. Ian says that 50 percent of his work is pleasure. “When you’re doing something that you truly have a passion for, it doesn’t feel like work,” he says.

Shiva, the pit bull puppy that Ian took in 12 years ago, has since passed away. Ian says, “I think about her still everyday. She is the reason I train dogs now, and is the inspiration for all my work with dogs. I have rescued several dogs since Shiva, and I help as often as possible with rescue dogs and dogs in need.”

Ian currently has two dogs, a 3-year-old Dutch Shepherd named Boldt and a small 5-year-old rescue dog named Milo.

When not working, Ian enjoys listening to live music, checking out local breweries where he can meet new people, hanging out at the lake, park time with his two dogs and dog training competitions.

For a free dog training consultation, contact Ian at 310-482-0359. He can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Californiaworkingdogs.