Chris Dignan
Chris Dignan is the President and Director of Training for The Dog Saving Network (DSN), an organization dedicated to raising awareness for homeless dogs and highlighting the benefits of positive reinforcement training.
Chris has been training since 1997 with a variety of animals including dogs and most recently, marine mammals at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. While at the Shedd, he was the lead trainer for “Pet Training the Shedd Way,” a stage show created to demonstrate that dogs could be trained with the same techniques that are used on marine mammals. The show was designed around six dogs that were adopted from area shelters and rescues, and became extremely successful in communicating that shelter dogs are highly trainable and continue to make great pets.
This program inspired Chris to create The Dog Saving Network, through which he became the creator, producer and lead trainer for the organization’s stage production, “Life’s Ruff.” This popular canine game show starred regular owners and their dogs, which sought to raise awareness about homeless animals in a fun and entertaining way. The show helped deliver the important message that anyone can take their dog from “sofa to show” with just a few months of practice and determination. “Life’s Ruff” received national attention in September of 2009, when it was featured on the “Making a Difference” segment of NBC’s Nightly News with Brian Williams. The show has been so successful that a new group of owners has been trained and are now currently participating in another impactful show of “Life’s Ruff.”
Additionally, Chris recently developed a unique training group called, Show Dog U, as a spin-off of “Life’s Ruff.” The goal of the group is to teach people training techniques for their dogs so that they are well-behaved and, as an added bonus, learn to do a variety of cool tricks. The tricks that are taught will subsequently be showcased in videos and stage shows to help support the mission of DSN. Although newly formed, Show Dog U currently has over 30 dog/owner teams “training to make a difference.”
Through The Dog Saving Network, Chris hopes to change the way the country views shelter and rescue dogs and looks to provide an easy to follow alternative to some of the more popular, aversive training methods in use today.
Prior to his work at the Shedd Aquarium, Chris worked as a trainer at the Virginia Aquarium and a trainer at the Dolphin Conservation Center in Marineland, Fla. He has been a professional dog trainer since 2004.
Rose Spinelli
Rose Spinelli’s involvement with DSN began upon seeing the premiere of Life’s Ruff in 2009, after which her cheeks hurt from smiling and her brain exploded from the endless possibilities for future productions. She and her own formerly homeless boys, Vishnu and Nelson, began positive reinforcement training under the tutelage of Chris Dignan and Megan Vens, during which they all learned the ropes and joined “the Network” in earnest.
A journalist by trade, Rose soon began working behind the scenes to help breathe new energy into the next production, Life’s Ruff 2011. As producer Rose wore many hats. She was storyteller, crowd sourcer, marketing sorceress, brainstorm buddy, video producer, networking fool, publicist, ghost blogger, creative fundraising strategist, practice space procurer, proposal writer, bossy pants, community outreach desperado, dog advocate, web content creator, nonprofit consultant from the school of hard knocks, volunteer wrangler, and back stage dispenser of chocolate cake and milk. But not for the dogs!
Rose is proud of the work she did to take The Dog Saving Network and Life’s Ruff to the next level. In one or more of these capacities, Rose continues to promote The Dog Saving Network and to work for dogs everywhere. They are indeed our better half.