Instructors
Starmark Academy Training Directors and Instructors have been successful in many aspects of dog training: companion obedience, competitive obedience, schutzhund, agility, police K9, retriever training, search and rescue, and assistance dogs. Academy Instructors have instructed others at many levels of dog training and competition. Academy Directors and Instructors are active trainers and competitors and can be seen training young prospects and seasoned champions daily.
Keith Benson
Keith is a certified professional dog trainer and animal behavior specialist with over 20 years of experience. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with continuing education in Animal Behavior. He is the President/COO of Starmark Animal Behavior Center, Inc, which is one of the largest, most comprehensive training and behavior centers for dogs in the world. As President and Academy Director for Starmark’s school for Professional Dog Trainers, Keith oversees the school’s international curriculum and growth. The school attracts students from around the world seeking to learn the art and science behind a career as a professional dog trainer. Using client and behavioral research from these two corporations Keith helped found Starmark Pet Products, Inc., which designs award-winning training and behavior tools that are distributed in over 40 countries around the world. In addition to his executive role in these companies, Keith frequently provides media commentary and consulting for companies throughout the pet industry.
William Garrido
William is lead instructor for Starmark Academy for Professional Dog Trainers, Inc. He has assisted in the training of many police, personal protection and explosives detection dogs. For 18 months as an instructor for several canine teams, William was responsible for the qualification and validation of these teams in the Eastern and Western region of Afghanistan. He has also helped many people and their dogs achieve their goals. William trains and competes in PSA and is a certified decoy for the sport. He is the training director and main decoy for his PSA club, and has decoyed in several trials for all levels of the sport. He and his dog have competed in the PDC and PSA 1 levels. William is a graduate of the Canine Training and Behavior specialist program at Starmark. He will instruct students in all areas of training while at Starmark Academy for Professional Dog Trainers, Inc.
Derek Beckelman
Derek has been in the dog training industry since 2015. After graduating Starmark Academy’s 12-week program and earning the title of Canine Training and Behavioral Specialist, he returned home to work as the head trainer at a daycare facility and lead their training program. When he was not training, he helped supervise the daycare’s socialization groups, which ranged from 30 – 60 dogs a day. Upon leaving the daycare, he started a successful business with his brother, who also graduated Starmark’s 12-week program, where they worked with all different breeds, ages, and temperaments of dogs. Their business was structured to be more like a school for dogs rather than a daycare, with the dogs going home with their owners at the end of each day. Their “Dayschool” was extremely popular and always had a waiting list to get in. The main focus of the “Dayschool” was based around teaching dog’s obedience, structure in a home like setting, and how to make better decisions. Derek’s love of dogs and his desire to help owners and dogs form stronger, better relationships ultimately led him back to Starmark to impact the dog training world on a bigger scale.
