Speaking from decades of canine experience, I can say without reservation that it is a good idea to work with a professional trainer after adopting a dog, especially if it is an older dog whose background is unknown to you. Barking, lunging and doing smelly things in the house can happen in the best of families and with the cutest new family members.

We recently paid $500 for three sessions with a local dog trainer, and it was not a total success, but that was probably more our fault than the trainer's fault. He wanted us to do everything but teach our dog how to speak French, and we were not willing or able to invest the time and effort to accomplish that goal, especially since we don't even speak French ourselves. 

But Chris Switky, a West Mt. Airy resident for the last 26 years (and 10 years in Germantown before that), has a much better batting average than that. He will be teaching a six-session course for Mt. Airy Learning Tree (MALT) from Nov. 13 to Dec. 18 called “Sit, Stay and Connect: Basic Manners for Dogs” at Grace Epiphany Church, 224 E. Gowen Ave.

Denise Peck and Paul Chase, of Mt. Airy, took their new rescue, Ben, to Chris' MALT class several years ago. “Chris' class was instrumental in helping our new, terrified rescue to learn basic commands and more importantly, gently socialized him to other people and dogs,” said Peck. “We plan on taking our newest rescue to Chris' class this November. Chris is Mt. Airy's dog whisperer!”

Gretchen Britton, another Mt. Airy dog owner said, “Chris was a huge help to me and my partner when we fostered a dog with severe separation anxiety. Before Chris’ help, we couldn’t even leave the dog, Lester, alone in a room. This made everyday life pretty difficult. However, Chris gave us advice on how to help Lester adjust to being alone, and within a few weeks what seemed like an unsolvable problem had been fixed!”

Switky, a native of Flemington, N.J., came to Philadelphia in 1983 to attend Temple University and major in music performance, with the French horn as his specialty. He played as a freelance musician with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia Company Orchestra and Philly Pops, as well as smaller city symphony orchestras such as those in Reading, Harrisburg, Wilmington and Allentown. 

“I always had to have other jobs, though,” said Switky, 57, “because you cannot make a living that way. I stopped performing when I was 33. I have lived in Philly since age 18 when I came to go to Temple. I would not live in any other part of the city but Mt. Airy.”

After giving up on classical music as a career, Switky went to work for Weavers Way in Mt. Airy, where he remained for 22 years, the last 11 as a department manager/supervisor. He left in 2013, concluding that “22 years was enough … I was always interested in dog training, though, so I decided to give that a try.”

Switky took a 16-month master's level course in dog training from the CATCH Canine Trainers Academy near Newark, N.J., and he had a local mentor in Horsham who would evaluate him. He practiced on his own dog.

Switky, who has been a professional dog trainer for 11 years, has owned four dogs. His current canine is half pit bull and half black mouth cur (a common dog in the south). Switky hired dog trainers for his second and third dogs, but by the time his fourth came along, he was a dog trainer himself. 

“I was busier in the first year of the pandemic than in all eight previous years,” Switky said, “because so many people were adopting 'pandemic' dogs…”

Most of his clients are referrals from other clients, with just a small percentage coming from his website. Sessions are between 60 and 90 minutes at the client's house. Generally, there are three sessions, and Switky coaches clients about post-class training strategies. This is the eighth time Switky has offered the MALT course. Clients bring their dogs with them to the church. The maximum number of students allowed is seven.

For more information, visit positivecanineconcepts.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com