Introduction · Wolf Tribe

Introduction

Hi everyone. I have been a member here for quite a while, but I have been remiss in introducing myself. My name is Michael Todd. I am a dog trainer. I have trained hundreds of dogs over the years, including service dogs for veterans with PTSD, therapy dogs for firehouses, and countless shelter dogs. My training philosophy comes from the idea that we must respect the fact that dogs descended from wolves and they need to understand their place in the pack, which requires the owners to learn how to be the Alpha. The life lessons that people learn when they begin to effectively work with their dogs often change their lives for the better.

I am also the Founder and Executive Director of a nonprofit called New Start Enterprises which exists to remind everyone that they are the heroes of their own stories. We primarily operate inside prisons in California, teaching people about trauma and how it (combined with lifestyle, upbringing, and bad decisions) leads people off the straight path. We pair developmental psychology with a heroic mythos and trauma understanding with Dante's Inferno. We also provide them with a philosophy for life, based on teachings and vales of the ancients, which we sum up in the RAIDD Code: Responsibility, Accountability, Integrity, Discipline, and Dedication. My personal journey has led me to champion the idea that we need to return to the wisdom of the ancients and embrace those traditions, qualities, morals, and values that they understood made us heroes.

I shall leave you with a tenet that we hold dear at New Start Enterprises: Life is like a choose your own adventure book. In these books, you reach a point where you are required to make a choice. If you make the wrong choice, there is nothing you can do except keep reading and wait for the next place where you are able to make a decision and strive to make the right decision at that point. No matter how many times you make the wrong decision, the book is going to keep giving you more opportunities to make the right decision, because the book, like life, wants you to be the hero of your story. So, stay the course and keep looking for the next opportunity to make the correct and heroic decision.

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