ANIMAL TRAINING EXPERIENCE

Leighton Oosthuisen is the founder and Training Director of Partners Dog Training.

Leighton has been training dogs since 1973, and has personally trained or supervised the training of more than 25,000 over the past 35 years. While his background is law enforcement, he has spent the past 20 years working with pet dogs evaluating behavior and finding solutions to pet problems.

In the past his areas of specialty have covered working animals, search dogs, therapy animals, movie training, tracker dogs, personal protection, and numerous other tasks.

He was the founder of the Drug Detection Canine Program in schools, homes and businesses and has been featured in newspapers and on local and national TV.

Leighton has also appeared on Good Morning Arizona, Good Morning America, Channel 5 News, Channel 12, Channel 3 and on numerous radio programs.

He is considered a international expert on animal behavior, and has taught in various countries on the benefits of operant conditioning.

Leighton has taught over 300 instructors in his career, many of which have gone on to establish schools of their own.

His philosophy is wherever possible to train using Reward Based Training.

He believes in strong motivation for all training, and the gentle use of consequences.

Leighton has competed and titled numerous dogs over the years in Obedience, Schutzhund, Tracking and Narcotics.

Leighton currently has two advanced dogs, a German Shepherd called Ludwig, and a Belgian Malinois called Jedi.

He also shares a home with a Pekinese and two cats, all of which are trained in obedience and tricks.

BILL DIAMOND SCHOOL OF TRAINING

Leighton started training in 1973 as a student with the Bill Diamond School in South Africa. For four years he trained in obedience, protection and agility at this and other clubs and in 1977 became an Instructor.

MILITARY EXPERIENCE

Leighton was an instructor in the military and specialized in Explosive Detection, Drug Detection, Tracking and Patrol. His unit consisted of 400 dogs and 200 handlers, and was one of the largest operational working dog teams in the world. Leighton was also responsible for Bomb Detection at military commands and airfields, and for crowd control training at a number of events.

CANINE INSTITUTE

With a partner, he founded the Canine Institute in South Africa, a professional training school with a staff of 12, specializing in Obedience, Protection, Detection, Tracking and Agility. Leighton taught eight group classes per week, fifteen private lessons and thirty dogs in kennel training. He supervised or personally trained over 3,000 dogs, and also trained a number of new instructors.

MOVIE PRODUCTIONS

Leighton was Animal Training Director for a number of Hollywood feature movies, the best-known being Howling IV and Purgatory. He has also trained animals for a number of commercials such as Toyota, Petsmart and Titlist, and a number of minor movie roles. Leighton also trained and handled a dog acting as a coyote for a major production working with trained geese. Leighton has also written and director his own training video, and is working on a number of new productions.

LAW ENFORCEMENT AND SEARCH & RESCUE

Leighton was a Reserve Police Officer (#W241464), detective and canine instructor for Law Enforcement.
He was also a Captain with Search & Rescue and worked sea, mountain and fire-fighting rescues. Duties included being an instructor in radio, boat handling, CPR and lifesaving techniques.

PUBLICATIONS, MEMBERSHIPS & LICENSES

ARIZONA PET GUIDE

Leighton is a National Award winning writer for the pet publication, Arizona Pet Guide. In 1996 he won the top Dog Writers Association of America award for Special Interest Writing, presented in New York on Feb.. 8, 1997.

DELTA SOCIETY

Leighton was a member and Animal Evaluator for the Delta Society Therapy and Service animal program. Delta oversees assistance dog training for handicapped, blind and deaf people in the U.S.

ARIZONA PRODUCTION ASSOCIATION (APA)

Leighton is also an invited member of APA, an association of qualified professionals in the movie and theater field. This group consists of the top movie and print people in the industry, and promotes quality work and representation.

AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INDUSTRIAL SECURITY (ASIS)

Leighton was a member of this elite organization, which consists of major corporations all over the world, and is a leader in the field of industrial security, investigations and anti-terrorism.

ASSOCIATION OF PET DOG TRAINERS (APDT)

Leighton is an member of APDT and has attended a number of their training workshops.

DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY LICENSE (DEA #RP0215699)

Leighton held a Federal DEA narcotics license, used in the training of drug detection canines. He is the only professional dog trainer in Phoenix to have undergone the extensive Federal background interviews for this license.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Leighton has a deep rooted passion for photography, and founded a studio called StudioLeighton, This Studio specializes in animals and people, but also shoots a wide variety of themes and anything that gets his attention.