After getting his Master’s degree and working a few unfullfiling years in the corporate world, Mike Wombacher changed gears, and has been involved with dogs for over forty years. Over thirty of them as a professional trainer. During this time, he has performed around 40,000 private consultations covering the entire spectrum of dog behavior, from the mundane to the bizarre.

Mike is also the author of three other books – There’s a Puppy in the House, Integrated Dog Training, and Good Dog, Happy Baby – and has another book slated for publication – Hey, What’s with the Collar: Inside the War in the World of Dog Training.

Mike has trained dogs for high profile celebrities in the entertainment, financial and academic worlds including Charles Schwab, Robin Williams, Linda Ronstadt, Barry Levinson, Chad Hurley (founder of YouTube), Max Levchin (co-founder of PayPal), Jeremy Stoppelman (founder of Yelp), Dr. Robert Sapolsky (author of many books on animal behavior and neurobiology), Joe Satriani, Bob Weir (Grateful Dead), Linda Ronstadt, Kirk Hammet (Metallica) and Michael Tilson Thomas, music director of the San Francisco Symphony,

who commented that "Michael Wombacher is a maestro of dog trainers. His clarity of thinking, sense of humor and skills in communicating make dog training fun for both pet and pet lover."

Mike has a great story of overcoming the doubts of others, and persevering, to overcome his buts, and the buts of others!

(Note that this is part 1, and cuts off at the end, but we plan to get Mike’s partner on a future episode to talk about her time in Iraq, Afghanistan, and how they are now working with PTSD service dogs for veterians.)