50 years of dog training: Meet Bob “Mutt Master” Warren

(EL PASO COUNTY, Colo.) — “Should I wave?” Bob “Mutt Master” Warren said while looking into the Fox 21 camera. “Welcome to the Little Dog House on the Prarie! That’s the official name of this place,” he exclaimed as he stood before a field with an agility course.

“368 days, not that I count things like that.” Warren said, recalling the amount of time between
meeting his now-wife and the time they wed. The two have now been married for 50 years. “I know, it’s rare, I’m told.”

It’s not the fifty years of business that Warren celebrates with discounts on his dog training services, rather his wedded bliss. “I started working with dogs in ’74,” he said. “At the time, I’m 24 years of age. I was living a wild side type of life and thinking I want to become a dog trainer and there weren’t many dog trainers back then.”

Warren found himself in Southern Colorado in the 90’s. “I moved here in 98 to get away from Boston because the big dig was going on in front of my facility. I really should’ve looked at a map better and done a test drive, I thought Vail was closer.”

Warren says that puppies born during the pandemic were more shy and nervous, presenting new obstacles for the experienced trainer who develops training plans based on the individual dog, not the breed.

“The only way to look at the dog is to look at that dog not the breed, not the mixes, not anything else… It’s all about the individuality of the dog.”

The key to success for Bob’s Mutt Masters K9 Academy is “We’re very serious about the things that we do. We’re very serious about doing dog training better and correctly, but we really don’t take ourselves too seriously, so if you’re really going to enjoy something… Especially a job working with dogs.”

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