WATCH: Dog Trainers from North America gather in the Okanagan

They are dog trainers from all over the United States and Canada.

18 trainers have converged on the Okanagan to trade training ideas and learn from one another.

“There is obedience involved, we will be doing tricks, workshops, leash skills, different techniques of how to move with the dogs,” says organizer Wayne Dorman.

Dorman owns Dogzies, a Kelowna based dog training company.

On top of sharing obedience training ideas, the animal pros are also learning to rehabilitate aggressive dogs that might otherwise have to be put down.

“Four million to eight million dogs get euthanized in America alone so we literally instead of dog being put six feet under the ground we try and keep it 6 feet up and we try and find good techniques for the owner and the dog to keep them alive,” says Dorman.

The six day event includes hands on training as well as classroom like seminars

Ted Efthymiadis is a dog trainer from Halifax–he says because the industry is unregulated-it’s vital for trainers to learn from one another.

“Dog training is an unregulated field so essentially you can call yourself a dog trainer by reading a book so everyone is coming at it with their own special skill set so we are coming from different backgrounds and we are just blending information and we are here to learn from one another,” says the Halifax trainer.

The first three days of the event are solely for the trainers while the last three will also include local dog owners.