--- title: "Denise Willis, Dog Trainer and Behavior Consultant | DW Dog Training" description: "Denise Willis has trained dogs since 2001 and competes in Schutzhund and IPO, Mondio Ring and AKC Competitive Obedience. Everything she has written on dog behavior, in one place." url: "https://www.dwdogtraining.com/author/denise-willis/" lang: "en" modified: "2026-10-01" image: "https://www.dwdogtraining.com/og/author-denise-willis.jpg" --- # Denise Willis I train dogs in the Baltimore, MD area and I write everything on this site myself. 123 guides so far, most of them about aggression, because that is most of what comes through my door. ## Why I am the one writing this I started training dogs in 2001, after my one year old shepherd dragged me down an icy sidewalk chasing something I never did see. He injured me on the way. I got him trained fairly quickly, got a puppy on the strength of it, and then discovered that everything which had worked on the first dog did nothing at all for the second. My trainer, who became a mentor, had me teach that puppy a completely different way. He had a different thinking process and needed a different approach. That is the single idea underneath every article on this site: the dog in front of you decides the plan, not the method you happen to prefer and not what worked on the last dog. Since then I have worked with a lot of dogs that other people had already given up on, which is why 70 of these 123 guides are about aggression, reactivity, guarding and biting rather than about teaching a sit. That is the work. The rest of the site is where you find out what it costs and how it runs; [the full version of this story is on my About page](https://www.dwdogtraining.com/about-us/). ## Chewy Chewy is the dog who started all of this for me. Always in my heart, my baby boy. 2002 to 2009. That is the two of us in June 2004 at a Southern Maryland Kennel Club obedience trial, holding a placing ribbon. I keep the photograph on this page because it is the honest version of what I do: years of showing up, being scored by someone who knows more than you do, and going home to work on whatever the sheet said. It is also the reason I do not write anything here I have not actually had to make work on a real dog. ![Denise Willis standing with her German Shepherd Chewy at a Southern Maryland Kennel Club obedience trial, beside a club official presenting a placing ribbon.](https://www.dwdogtraining.com/images/chewy-denise-willis-first-dog.jpg) Chewy and me at a Southern Maryland Kennel Club obedience trial, June 2004. ## What I believe, so you can weigh what I write I am a balanced trainer. I use e-collar work and structured socialization alongside obedience, and I say so plainly rather than burying it. I do not use a remote collar as a shortcut through fear or aggression: I fit it, condition it properly, and teach you to handle it rather than handing it over. I train where the behavior actually happens. A dog that performs in a training hall and falls apart on your own street has not been trained for your life, it has been trained for the hall. You will find that running through the articles too, which is why so many of them talk about your street, your hallway and your front door rather than about drills. I will not promise you an outcome, here or in person. Results depend on the dog, the history, the household, and how consistently the work continues. Be careful with anyone who guarantees otherwise. Where something is past what training can do, the article says so and points at a veterinary behaviorist, because the alternative is selling somebody a plan that cannot work. ## Where I compete, and who I belong to I am a proud member of the American Working Malinois Association, and I have competed successfully in national and international sports trials including Schutzhund and IPO, Mondio Ring, and AKC Competitive Obedience. Sport is not a sales pitch and it is not the same thing as pet training. What it does is keep me honest: competing puts my own handling in front of judges who score it, on a schedule I do not control, against people who are very good at this. Maryland does not license dog trainers, so anybody can use the title. These are the bodies I am actually connected to, described exactly as the relationship stands. Follow the links and read about any of them rather than taking my word for it. - [International Association of Canine Professionals](https://www.canineprofessionals.com/)affiliated - [Federation Mondiale Bergers Belges](https://www.fmbb.be/)affiliated - [American Working Malinois Association](http://www.workingmalinois.org/)member - [American Working Dog Federation](https://www.awdf.net/)affiliated - [E-Collar Technologies](https://www.ecollar.com/)listed dealer and trainer ## The dogs behind the writing These are real clients, named with permission, and they are where the articles come from. **Ridgely**, a terrier mix, came for off-leash obedience and is a runner. **Maple** came in October 2022 for reactivity behavior modification. **Millie** came in January 2022 for obsessive licking, an OCD-type behavior rather than a training gap. **Tuffy**, a bully mix, arrived in February 2021 with crate fears and no loose-leash walking to speak of. When a guide here describes what a dog does at a threshold, or how long recovery actually takes, it is describing dogs like those rather than a study I read. [More of them, with photographs, on my About page](https://www.dwdogtraining.com/about-us/). ## The writing I have published 123 guides here between September 2020 and October 2026. They are not summaries of other people's articles. Each one is the thing I would tell you on the phone, written down, which is why they are specific about distances, timings and what to do when it goes wrong rather than general about being consistent. [Read the full library](https://www.dwdogtraining.com/blog/), or call me and skip ahead. ## If one of these describes your dog Reading about it only gets you so far. Tell me what your dog is actually doing and where it does it, and I will tell you honestly what I would do about it and what it would cost. I answer 6 AM - 7 PM, 7 days a week. [Call Today](tel:+14434290445)[Send a Message](https://www.dwdogtraining.com/contact-us/) 6 AM - 7 PM, 7 days a week ยท Baltimore, MD area