Rising Stars: Meet Adam Halleck

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Halleck.

Hi Adam, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Five years ago, I found my dog on the side of the road in rural Northern California. She came to me with a host of behavioral issues, namely aggression towards people. I knew that if I were to keep her, she would need training. I began training her and the more we worked together the closer we became and the deeper our relationship grew. I saw how much our bond was solidified and how much our whiling of life increased through the training. When I moved to Los Angeles, I had a dramatic life shift and reassessment of my values, diving deep into spirituality. My dog, Lala, was my greatest teacher. I felt that I had found something unknown in our culture. I felt a deep calling to share this with others, to help others find what I had found with my dog. Within a few months of moving to Los Angeles, I met a mentor, a far superior trainer than me named Fahim. He began teaching me and taking me even deeper into the mind of my dog and in turn into my own mind and heart. I attended a month-long training boot camp in Cleveland, OH where I was introduced to training other dogs and dealing with severe behavioral issues like aggression.

Upon returning to LA I began to work full-time training dogs for the company that put on the boot camp. Over the next year, I worked with hundreds of dogs, fully immersing myself in the art. Although I was continually training all day everyday and even caring for animals at night, I was not making even a living wage. I was always broke and could barely afford to feed my dog or myself. At a certain point, it all came crashing down. I couldn’t pay my rent and the company forced me to resign because I wasn’t making them enough money. I was heartbroken and scared. With the support of my family and friends, I was encouraged to continue on. I started my own business training dogs and within the first week my business, as well as my dog and myself, was thriving. I was very blessed to have an incredibly supportive clientele. They truly felt I was making a difference in their lives and shared my passion for spreading the joy of dog training. Today I have begun to expand from Los Angeles into the Bay Area, everyday sharing what I love, helping dogs and people reach their fullest potential.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This has truly been an emotional and spiritual journey. My entire path is predicated on my spiritual path. This road has been incredibly lonely and riddles with stress and setbacks. Above all, working as hard as I did while impoverished made it all the more difficult. The biggest challenge was continuing to say “yes” to life every single day. Even when things didn’t go my way, didn’t go as planned, I made a commitment to myself to accept whatever came my way. No matter how difficult it became, I would ask myself in each moment if I wished to go on, the answer was always “yes”.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I train dogs professionally. Although I do everything from service dog work to protection work, I specialize in deepening the bond between people and their dogs, using a therapeutic and systematic approach. I tell my clients, “I’m great at training dogs, but I’m the best at training people.” Most issues from dog training stem from an imbalance in their relationship with the owner. By taking the owner through a rigorous and educational program, I can begin to reshape that relationship, restoring harmony. One by one, my impossible goal is to shift the way our society views our dogs and how we integrate them into our culture. It’s a spiritual bond, so we must bring attention to the spiritual aspect of the relationship. To me, training dogs is a meditation and our dogs are the best gurus.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Personal and spiritual growth is the most important thing in my life, besides my dog, although they’re quite inseparable at this point. My entire journey has been a testament to the power of personal growth. We must grow to meet our full potential and to live a fulfilling existence. This is the key to happiness, to inner peace and to a healthier and more successful society.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @adamtrainsdogs