“Rick” as he is known to friends, opened his first training kennel for dogs of all breeds in 1975 and quickly began importing dogs from Germany primarily for police work and sport. Within two years the business was importing more than 20 dogs per month from Germany and working with Police Departments from New York to California as well as sport enthusiasts. These were the early formative years of both Police dogs and the German Sport of Schutzhund now known as IPO in the USA.

Titling his first Schutzhund dog in 1976 and competing in his first Schutzhund III National Championship in 1978. He has been active since that time titling multiple dogs to Schutzhund and AKC titles, competing in several Regional, National and International events.

He has qualified for Four WUSV/WUSV Universal World Teams as well 4 times scoring 100-point performances in IPO III tracking; once at the RSV2000 WM World Championship and at The GSDCA National Championship with various “V” performances overall and in all IPO III categories.