Ms. Angelika Balk has been formally studying dogs and training them for 23 years, though
she has had dogs all her life. She worked fi rst with the Cynology Club (which focuses on
the study of dogs), then Eckhardt Lind, and finally with Martin Ruther of Germany. Ms. Balk continually updates her training techniques.
She has been offering training for 20 years from her own ‘dog school’ teaching owners how to handle their canine friends. Since 2005, Angelika has been working mainly with the Hovawart breed. She works with individuals and their
HCNA club members were first introduced to Ms. Angelika Balk in May 2014 when she conducted a training workshop in Cherry Hill, NJ. She has since returned to the North America to work with hovawart owners in October 2014 and July 2015.
Ms. Balk is also mother to 4 daughters and grandmother to 7 grandchildren on Earth and
one in Heaven.”
She currently lives in Schagen, Netherlands.
Ms. Angelika Balk ~ Hovawart Trainer
Hovawarts, teaching them the importance of bonding, respecting the breed, obedience training, and dealing with difficult behaviors. Ms. Balk also works with Hovawarts and their owners in group settings, aiming for these same goals while facilitating and encouraging positive socialization with their dogs.
For several years Ms. Balk has worked with her own Hovawarts as therapy dogs in
institutional settings with people suffering from dementia and other cognitive impairments – visiting them weekly for ‘therapy-dog’ sessions. She also uses her dogs to help socialize other dogs or to help other dogs during training. Ms. Balk founded Stichting Therapiehond Nederland (Therapy Dog Foundation Netherlands) to train dogs and their owners to work in Animal Assisted Therapy/Animal Assisted Intervention (Stichtingtherapiehond.nl).
More about Angelika’s training ethic, which includes the following concepts:
1. “Attachment” between owner and their dog is foundational. She teaches individuals
how to work with their Hovawart such that they take what the Hovawart is and what
characteristics he has by nature, and use that to their advantage, including its guarding
behavior and instinct to defend. For example, taking into consideration that the
Hovawart is an independent self-thinking dog, who will want to work for you if you work
with him in positive ways in getting across what you want from him.
2. Understanding phases in a Hovawart’s lifetime. She prepares owners to expect certain
behaviors at certain periods in their dog’s life and how to handle these behaviors
accordingly. She provides individuals with the tools to solve and resolve problems that
they may run into with their Hovawart without causing distress or losing the bond that
exists between owner and their Hovawart.
3. Nonverbal communication is important to the Hovawart breed. She explains how
nonverbal communication is essential in not only maintaining eye contact and a unique
bond with your Hovawart, but also in ensuring that your dog’s attention, interest and
desire is to be with their owner, to ensure they are connected with their owner and
check back on their owner on a regular basis.
4. Interpreting aggression and insecurity, where it comes from and how to help prevent
it. In cases where it already exists, she teaches how to best handle these diffi cult
situations, taking into consideration the Hovawart breed’s basic instincts.