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Ryan Matthews (Dog Trainer)
Ryan Matthews (born 1980) is an American author, dog trainer, speaker and veteran of the United States Army. He is currently the Founder of World Of Dog Training and Co-founder of Project Live Your Legacy. He is the author of “The Canine Connection” and an upcoming book titled “The Art of Dog Training.”

Early Life
Ryan Matthews was born in 1980 in Huntington Beach California. However, he moved a lot throughout California in his early childhood. Matthews had a troubled and turbulent early life; as at a young age he lived in a dysfunctional and violent household. Matthews began stealing and selling drugs in his teens and in 1999 Matthews was robbed by a friend and involved in a stabbing both Matthews and the other individual survived. Out of fear for his well-being and wanting to “clean up his act” Matthews enlisted in the United States Army in 2000, becoming part of the Military Police Corps. While on deployment to Croatia, Matthews saw a military working dog for the first time and became inspired to work with dogs. In 2002, Matthews graduated from Military Working Dog Handlers Course at Lackland Air Force Base and worked with Military canines for the remainder of his time in the Army. In 2004 Ryan Matthews graduated from the United States Army Military Police School Special Reaction Team (Army SWAT) Course. While serving in the United States Army Ryan Matthews performed bite protection training, bomb threat sweeps, secret service missions, combat deployment to Mosul, Iraq (with his Military Working Dog, Zito F469) where he worked with Special Forces and Infantry units. After the combat deployment Matthews was honorably discharged from the Army.

Career
Dog trainer Ryan Matthews began working as a dog trainer in 2008 after buying into a Sit Means Sit Dog Training franchise in Colorado. With his experience from military working dog training, Matthews quickly became one of the highest selling members of the Sit Means Sit Franchise. After his two year contract was up Matthews co-founded “Off Leash Dog Training” in 2010. In May 2011, Matthews was diagnosed with stage 3-colon cancer and had to step away from Off Leash Dog Training for chemotherapy. On July 4th, 2011 Ryan had a heart attack from the chemotherapy treatment. Matthews went back to work one month after the heart attack and was involved in an incident where his dog tried to attack him in his efforts of putting a muzzle on her. Matthews was charged for animal cruelty, even though the veterinarian reports state the dog sustained no injuries. For two years Ryan was forced to not work with dogs. In that time he faced severe depression, isolation and no regard for his own life. In 2016, Matthews faced another near death experience (heart attack symptoms) after the wake up call Ryan set out on a self-discovery journey to find a new purpose. In 2016, dog trainer Ryan Matthews launched “World Of Dog Training,” an eLearning video course program that teaches dog training for pet owners, along with in person workshops. To compliment his training philosophy, Matthews wrote a dog training book titled “The Canine Connection.”