My background is pharmacy. I’ve earned a degree in pharmacy (registered pharmacist) from Zagazig University just outside of Cairo in Egypt. I have been interested in animals the entire time I was growing up. We had a weekend home in the country where we had dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens, goats. You name it, we seemed to have at least one of them. I was always interested in dogs.

A vacation in Boston provided an opportunity for me to visit CPI. Little did I know John and Bogomil would have me in a bite suit the very first day.  They both claimed I was a natural. I wasn’t convinced but it sure was fun.  I extended my first stay to include the entire summer vacation. My new hobby was CPI!

I spent the following two years training in Boston whenever not in school in Egypt. The problem was while in Egypt trying to study all I would think about is Boston and training dogs. I needed a fix! Bad!!

A relative of mine worked in police work. They contacted the Egyptian K9 law enforcement center and arranged a visit. It wasn’t long before I was instructing them on how to improve performance in obedience, protection and even detection work. Keep in mind I had no previous experience with detection.  I ended up taking a formal course in explosive detection while still in pharmacy school.

My involvement eventually led to the sale of dogs in Egypt for CPI. John visited and fell in love with our culture, especially the shisha (hookah) cafes.  We ended up setting up a satellite facility to increase sales and expand into the Arab Gulf countries.

The decision was made to close the training center in Cairo when CPI opened its facility in the Czech Republic. Ahmed and “Little Moo”, Ian, Katherine, John and I moved the facility, including 12 dogs, from Cairo to Prague.  I think we turned the airport upside down. It looked like an entire country was being relocated.

We all loved the Czech Republic, it was an amazing experience. I had already decided that Boston was my home. Boston is where I wanted to be. So did everyone else. We finished getting the kennel set up, turned it over to Jirka and we returned home.

At this point I am the senior most trainer at CPI. It’s interesting to have been a part of CPI over the last ten years. Many parts of our training program John and I developed together. We’ve always all learned from one another as we do today.