'Spuds MacKenzie' trainer from Downers Grove has special touch

Frank Brader thought his dog was a goner.

He and his wife Mary had just returned from the restrooms atop a mountain at a Wisconsin park to find their Doberman, Bruno, missing. Looking over a 3-foot ledge, they discovered their pet, who was training in agility, had jumped over the wall.

"He fell between two and three stories and hit some trees, which broke the fall," recalls Brader, who trains dogs in the West suburbs.

Brader hurried downward, but Bruno was gone. "I came down the left side of the mountain; Bruno came up the right," he says. "To show you the drive in a dog to get back to his owner - he climbed up with two broken legs."

Dog and owner were reunited soon after, though, with the help of a park ranger who had picked Bruno up.

Brader has always known the bond between dogs and their owners is a special one. That's why the former Marine, who lost an arm in Vietnam, has made it a life mission to foster that relationship. With more than three decades of dog training under his belt, Brader is popular among students in the West suburbs.

"You're really training people, not dogs," he says.

Brader's connection with animals began early. He had several dogs growing up, and he worked at the Brookfield Zoo each summer beginning at age 14. But joining the military was his real career goal. "I thought the zoo was just a steppingstone," says Brader, who lives in Downers Grove.

At 18, he signed up for the Marines. He was in Vietnam when a mortar struck him, and doctors had to amputate his left arm. The period was a blur, as Brader spent three months in recovery in Philadelphia, relearning to feed and groom himself.

He remembers playing a lot of ping-pong. He remembers asking God why. And eventually, he remembers feeling gratitude.

"I looked at my situation as more or less something good," he says. "Three Marines on my team were killed. I might never have made it home."

Brader eventually was awarded a Purple Heart.

To his surprise, the zoo called, offering him a job while he was in the hospital. That marked the beginning of a lifelong career as a zoo keeper and trainer. Brader was right - the zoo had been a steppingstone.

It is where he met Mary, an art school student who loved sketching animals. The couple locked eyes over the guinea pig pen and married three months later.

It wasn't long before Brader began applying training techniques to their own dogs, a few Yorkies and a Doberman. Having gone through obedience classes, the couple realized they could create their own courses to help dog owners "become good pet citizens," he says.

No growlingThe couple began small, training friends' dogs. But the business kept growing, and they eventually found permanent spots at VFW posts in Naperville and North Riverside.After three-plus decades, the couple has a lot of advice to offer through Haus von Brader Dog Training.For example, a good pet citizen knows that the older the dog, the harder it is to change behavior. The best time to begin class training is between 3 months to a year old, Brader says.And, a good pet citizen knows small tug-of-wars can lead to aggression. "People come in with scratches all over their arms and think that's OK," he says. "But what happens if it's an infant?"Signs of aggression often are present before the first bite. "No dog comes out the first time and bites a person," Brader says. "It starts with a growl, and if it's not corrected, the dog has asserted himself. Next time, it will be a louder growl or a swipe."As a teacher, Brader is known for being strict -- and direct. He tells people from day one to be open-minded about the process and that he's really training them as handlers. "I'm cutting to the core," he says. "That's the truth."His honesty isn't always welcome. Some owners take offense when he says their pets need to lose weight. Or be put to sleep. A Rottweiler who was to be shown at a county fair once sank his teeth into Brader's forearm. He later discovered the dog had semi-paralyzed a previous trainer."Knowing how aggressive this dog was, it really needed to be put down," Brader says. "The owners didn't agree. They were livid with me."Owners often deny the problem may be with them. They'll watch in awe as Brader tames their unruly dog after struggling with the animal themselves, Mary says."They get frustrated and say, 'My dog won't do that for me.' Frank will take the dog's leash and the dog will settle," she says. "He says to the owner, 'It's not the dog.' That's why we're training predominantly people.""Any trainer can come into the home and make your dog look good," Brader says. "The idea behind training people is that they understand the fundamentals it takes and the patience to have a well-trained dog."Dogs seek leadership and respect in their owner, and they sense Brader's confidence and fearlessness, Mary says. The key to successful training is consistent discipline and "a lot of love," she says.A believerCindy Bickle of Naperville is a repeat customer, having taken several dogs through Brader's training."His is not a cookie-cutter class," she says. "He understands that people and animals have different personalities and that everyone's not going to work and operate the same."Still, owners are skeptical when Brader tells them at orientation that their dogs will someday be able to sit still as a live animal is placed by them. "Many people will roll their eyes, or say, 'I can't believe that; my dogs have already killed rabbits in the yard,'" he says.But Brader works gradually to desensitize the pets to the chaos of everyday life - squeaking toys, crying babies. He slowly builds their tolerance, eventually working up to the point where dogs will stay calm when he provides distractions such as running a potato sack over their heads or putting dancing stuffed animals and live rabbits near them.In a recent Naperville class, he placed rabbits in front of the dogs, whose owners had ordered them to lay down on the ground. Some animals sniffed curiously and others lifted their heads, but not one got up or showed any excitable reaction.In all his years of teaching, Brader has never seen a trained dog go after an animal. "I'm not saying their eyes aren't popping out of their heads," he says. "But they never break."Creating special bondsOver the years, Brader has successfully trained hundreds of dogs. He has worked with deaf and blind dogs and trained dogs to become therapy and service animals. He helped a deaf girl train her golden retriever."It warmed your heart to see their bond," he says.He worked with Spuds MacKenzie, a Bull Terrier who became famous as the Bud Light dog in the 1980s. In real life, 'Spuds' was a female named Evie from North Riverside. "That dog had charms," Brader recalls. "She was very photogenic."Brader and Mary, who have a grown daughter and one dog, a Golden Retriever, at the moment, also have bred, raised and trained numerous champion Rottweilers, many who have won in national show and specialty categories.Once in a long while, Brader gets a surprise during class. "A woman once asked, 'How do I get my dog to stop licking my naked body?'" Brader recalls. "Not only did my jaw drop, I had to keep my composure. I don't even remember what I said."For more info, visit: www.dogtrainingbyfrank.com or call (630) 964-7688.False10981024Dog owners work with their pets during Frank Brader's dog training class at the Naperville VFW hall.Paul Michna | Staff PhotographerFalse