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The Wizard of Dogs

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I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Vladae Roytapel, also known as the Russian Dog Wizard. A dog trainer with a very big, very Russian personality, Vladae’s was one of those phone calls that felt like a roller coaster ride from start to finish.

His main purpose in calling me at the Pet Style News office was to promote his new product, which he calls the Magic Wand, something he uses in his training and is now offering both wholesale and direct to consumers. Like any good salesman, he is convinced that his product will be the next big thing for home dog training.

I haven’t seen this product yet, but Vladae told me it is a stick with which a dog owner can blast a short spurt of pressurized air to “put the brakes on” whatever bad behavior a dog is exhibiting to give the human the opportunity to do some training. He also said it can be handy even if your dog is well trained because often when dog owners are taking walks with their dogs, they encounter other dogs that are not as well trained. If a stranger’s dog were charging at your dog, he said, you could use the stick and the sound and feeling of the compressed air would cause enough of a startle response to possible thwart an attack.

It’s a take-off of a homemade Russian training tool, Vladae said. In Russia, dog owners use a tube and blow air through it themselves when a dog is misbehaving.

I’m interested to hear from you about what kinds of training tools, videos and books you carry in your stores and what sells best. Do customers tend to choose based on which trainers they’re seeing on television or other criteria?

As for Vladae, he said he’s been talking to Animal Planet about doing a show, so it might not be too long before all of you can take the Dog Wizard roller coaster ride too.

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