Who Works here?

Matt Connell - Owner & Trainer

I live in Norwood, MA, and currently have two dogs of my own (below). My path to becoming a dog trainer was anything but clear. Before starting this business, I obtained Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at two universities in a totally unrelated field. While managing security at a Cambridge biotech company and not enjoying it at all, I began volunteering my time walking dogs at an animal shelter. While rewarding, I found it sad to see good dogs surrendered for problems that seemed to have obvious solutions. Often those dogs had been there before and would recognize me from their last stay. Having been through difficulties of my own with Murphy, the most common issues seemed to pale in comparison.

To help keep dogs out of shelters and prevent unnecessary euthanasias, I began Connell’s Dog Training in May 2015. I left the security field and took a job at UPS to pay the bills and maintain benefits. The rest of my time was spent training as many dogs as I could. I quickly realized that providing home visits meant I tended to get a lot of the “difficult” dogs as clients. The ones with bite histories, families at the end of their wits, and a roster of trainers who had given up on them. I found that I enjoy being the one to turn things around for dogs that may otherwise have been surrendered to shelters or euthanized.

Working another job didn’t allow me to help as many dogs as I wanted. So in March 2018, I resigned from UPS (and my Teamster benefits) to run my business full-time. I continue training pet dogs of any age and with any issue, and particularly enjoy the “lost causes.” My goal remains to provide safe, happy, and well-adjusted dogs according to the priorities of Manners—Obedience—Mindset. Above all, I want to keep dogs in their homes with the humans that care for them.

I am a professional member of the International Association of Canine Professionals.

Murphy

Murphy is my senior dog, a mutt of about 62 pounds, and has been with me for 10 years. He frequently travels with me to lessons as a helpful decoy for others. He can be relied upon to be the calm, stable presence that demonstrates good behavior to reactive and aggressive dogs, and tolerates their nonsense while they learn. He’s also totally child-proof and is happy to tolerate overly rough and forward people as they learn to interact better.

His good-natured demeanor was hard-fought: When I first got him as a rescue from Kentucky, he was incredibly dog-aggressive. Even 100 yards away, he’d go berserk trying to get at another dog. After struggling with this and learning to overcome it, I can say with confidence that I never would have started this business without him. He’ll continue to be a guiding presence as long as he remains healthy and happy.

Marlow

This guy is the newest addition, joining Murphy and me in October 2022 at about a year old. He was found wandering Alabama, brought to me by my trusted friends at Operation FAVOR. He’s demonstrated an incredible curiosity towards everything he encounters, and picks up on guidance very quickly. Good-natured and playful, he’s doing a phenomenal job keeping Murphy acting like a much younger dog. When the time comes that Murphy is no longer able or willing to work, Marlow will be more than capable of stepping in to assist. For now they make a formidable duo.