Posted by Bill Osborne

Randy Hare, a nationally recognized dog trainer and the owner of Alpha Canine Training Center with facilities in Jackson, MS, and Nashville, TN, and with over 40-years’ experience working with dogs and their handlers spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club’s October 13meeting.

Today, Hare is living his lifelong dream of training family dogs so they can peacefully exist at home with their families. Experience and talent in dog training have landed him spots on regional television, in various K-9 Magazine articles, and on national television. In 1987, Hare appeared on “Late Night with David Letterman” to perform a complicated trick he had taught his (then) six-year-old German Shepherd. Hare’s real start, in the late 1970s, was with training hunting dogs. Then, in the early 1980’s he attended a Professional Dog Trainers School where he gained a solid foundation for training dogs in Obedience, Protection, Police Dog Training, and Tracking.

Hare opened his first training center in Monroe, Louisiana, where he trained Obedience, Protection, Police Dogs, and Narcotics Detection Dogs. His very first police dog, trained for the Monroe City Marshall’s Office, finished 15th in the nation from a field of 140 dogs at the United States Police Canine Association (USPCA) National Police Dog Trials in Detroit, Michigan.

While still training dogs for private citizens, Hare trained and competed against other handlers and trainers with his personally trained police dogs while competing successfully in Schutzhund competitions. The word schutzhund translates from German as protection dog.

In his first National Police Dog Trial, Hare finished 7th out of 150 top dogs in that year’s national event held in St. Cloud, Minnesota. This began a 5-year span of over 30 competitions where he won or finished in the top percentile in 96% of the competitions: those competitions were Police Dog Trials, Schutzhund Trials, and Narcotics Detection Dog Trials and involved four different personally-trained dogs. During Hare’s twelve years in Law Enforcement, he attended every major seminar (within reach) conducted by world-class trainers from the United States and Europe. He learns what each trainer has to offer, combines the best of their styles and techniques with his own, and now he shares his method. Each dog he trains benefits from his experience and knowledge. Few trainers can match his EXPERIENCE, TALENT, and LOVE for training dogs, as shown by his “Recognition and Achievements” through national police K-9 organizations such as the National Police Canine Association and the United States Police Canine Association where he served as a judge for both organizations. Hare is now the proud owner of the Alpha Canine Training Center located in Jackson Mississippi and Nashville, Tennessee

Hare’s comments to the Rotary Club were focused primarily on the psychology of dogs and the training methods he uses. His key point was that dogs live in the moment. He repeated this point several times. In response to a question, he commented that mixed breed dogs appear to be easier to train. He also commented that he loves what he does. From his comments, it appears that dog owners may need to be retrained more often than the dogs themselves.

We thank him for his very interesting talk and for his service training dogs and their owners. The following is a link to the video of the meeting of the Rotary Club of North Jackson, including Hare’s presentation: https://vimeo.com/468293436. The following photo is of Hare during his presentation: