Pro-Dog Hawaii Owner and Trainer Marie-Gabrielle Selarque has a long history of training animals. She grew up in the Swiss countryside with pet dogs, cats, horses and even snakes. She began training horses as a teenager, preparing them for racing, obstacle and dressage.

Upon moving to Hawaii, Marie focused on dog training, apprenticing with Carol McPherson, who introduced her to the positive reinforcement philosophy started by Ian Dunbar and the clicker method started by Karen Pryor.

Feeling a need to help more dogs and owners, Marie founded Pro-Dog Hawaii in 2004. She now offers a safe Puppy Preschool, where she says owners can "Nip problem behaviors in the bud."

Marie is available to train dogs of any age, even aggressive ones. Her goal is to help you live a fulfilling life with your dog. She is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT).

As well as being an APDT member, Marie is an American Kennel Club's CGC Evaluator (Canine Good Citizen) and a Therapy Dog International Evaluator. She is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA) through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers and holds a Counseling Certificate (CC) from the San Francisco SPCA Dog Trainer's Academy under Jean Donaldson. Marie lives in Kaneohe with her 2 children and her white shepherd Jazy.

Click here to see Bark Park Dreamers (1.8 Mb Quicktime video clip)

2) In order for you to bring out the best in your dog, we teach you how to understand your dog, how to recognize stress in your dog, and to how to speak "dog."

3) We take dogs into real life situations – dog parks, streets, crowds, etc. – because this is where your dog's training will become apparent.

4) We believe the most important time in a dog's life is puppyhood, then the second most important time is right now.*

5) Dogs misbehave for two reasons: because they are just acting like dogs and because their owners either allow or unintentionally encourage them to express their basic canine nature in ways which are unacceptable to us.*

*Quotes from Ian Dunbar