A DOG NAMED CHOMSKY - brilliant!

Damn, I had this idea YEARS ago... but no dog.

Oakland dog training works from the heart

Edward Guthmann, Special to The Chronicle

Monday, August 31, 2009

Francis Metcalf is the one-man band of dog training. He runs Friends of the Family, a dog-training business for private clients, but also consults at the San Francisco SPCA and the animal-assisted therapy program at UCSF Children's Hospital.

Occasionally, he entertains at children's parties with his exuberant American bulldog, Chomsky. He also trains police dogs for odor detection and criminal apprehension, and trains both cats and dogs for film and TV.

Metcalf, 36, lives in an 1888 house in Oakland with his wife, Norma, a volunteer services director at the San Francisco SPCA, and their three dogs. He spoke while training Chomsky in a large exercise yard behind his house.

I like to bring out a dog's magic. I do card tricks with my dog, Chomsky. I'm working on this mailbox trick where she opens the door to the mailbox with her paw, takes out the mail and then lifts the door back up with her nose. She's really digging this.

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/31/DD3B19ELGQ.DTL#ixzz0PmTE9MJq

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