Posted on 09/24/2007
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The Excel Academy Dog Program
Gordon Zentz, g_zentz@yahoo.com

The staff and students of the Excel Academy who attended the 2007 PREMIER – all the way from Conroe, Texas. From left to right, staff member Tim McTier, Samuel Dugan, Nick Wheeler, Ryan Bernstein, dog club coordinator Gordon Zentz, and Mark Matthews. Missing from the photo is Bryan Smith, who was off showing a dog.

What began as an impromptu request for an off-campus visit has turned into something that, to be honest, at first I really was not prepared for. In June 2006, I presented a request to Excel’s administration that would allow interested students to attend a dog show being hosted by the Greater Southern Kennel Club. The show was actually a transplant to our area due to the recent hurricanes in the Gulf Coast areas. I typed up a small request, and once presented, was hit with an offer that has since changed my life.

To give a little background, I work at a private boarding school in Conroe, Texas called Excel Academy. It is a facility for troubled, problematic and underachieving youth from the ages of 11 to 18+. Excel is a 24-hour facility that houses both male and female students, providing a family-like setting with separate homes for groups of students and staff. This familial setting sets the foundation for the growth and transitions for many of the students to be able to return to a normal school, home and college life. With a high emphasis on academics, Excel students were able to score an average of 23 points higher than the national average on the SAT. The focus of structure, schooling, acceptance and individual reflection allows many of the students a place to find themselves and for their families to find their child again.

I was introduced to Excel after my wife began working there on their horse program. We had just had a litter of American Bulldogs, and one of the Administrators was interested in a dog for her daughter. I was able to bring the puppies and, in the process of finding one for the daughter, we were able to find three other owners at the school for the remaining pups. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was actually the foundation for the rest of the story.

Going back now to the hurricanes. I had presented the request to the administration for some of the students to be able to attend the GSKC dog show. I thought it would be a good outing for the students who had been on task with their program and doing well in school. I was called in and asked if there was a way that rather than just watching that they would be able to show the Bulldog puppies. I replied that UKC had a great Junior Program and it was possible, but I only had a week to teach them. To my surprise, I was given a list of young men and told I had the next week from morning ‘til dark to get them ready; and that is what we did. I sat down with this group of nine young men, and we literally went over everything I knew about dogs and showing. This was not much, as I had only been showing my dogs for a few months.

The week went very well, and on the day of the first show they were amazing. With graciousness and poise you don’t see too often today in youth, these young men were able to make impressions on people who had been in the dog world for a while. What started with seven of my Bulldogs soon turned into a group of Boston Terriers and a Poodle. Owners had seen how good these boys were and were also interested in helping out. As we continued to show, news traveled and we were able to delve a little deeper into the dog world with help from Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Golden Retrievers and Vizslas, and in the process were able to bring more dogs into the school program as well. We currently have four American Bulldogs, two Russell Terriers, three Chihuahuas, two Boston Terriers, a Labrador Retriever and a little Pomeranian that are all owned by staff at the school.

With the growth of the program going as it was, we were able to reap the benefits of a visit to our campus by Butch Bennett, who made a trip out and worked with the youth to prepare them with more information. Butch is an amazing man who has helped in so many ways and continues to assist in any ways possible (we are trying to implement our own club at the school). With his help and the help of so many others, we have been able to see five of the students make it to the 2007 PREMIER in June, with two of my juniors making it to the Top Junior Competition. I am so proud of my students and the hard work and dedication they have put into this program.

I consider myself lucky to be able to have the job I do. I tell the students they are giving me the opportunity to put two things in life that I love together, kids and dogs. If you have ever been around a dog and a child, you have had the blessing to witness a bond that will hold true for a lifetime. I have the opportunity to see this more often than others as I continue to work with these students. I see the growth and changes in personality, self-confidence, and in their social skills. I get the opportunity to see them change from children to young men and women. I get the opportunity to see fireworks go off, as one of them wins with a dog that has never won before. I have the blessing to work with young men and women who teach me more than I will ever teach them, and for that I am eternally grateful. To my students in the dog program at Excel Academy, thank you, and to UKC for embracing us as individuals and supporting this program, thank you!

Here are some of the things that students have written about the program.

“I personally believe the dog club will help me greatly. It will teach me patience because the dogs are not always going to do what they are commanded to do, and I will learn how to deal with a situation like that. It will also teach me kindness. When the dogs are not doing what they are told, I will be able to patiently and kindly work with them. The biggest thing this club will teach me is maturity. It will teach me when it is okay to just play with the dogs, and when I have to be serious and pay attention.”
Rita C.

“Being around these dogs has really helped me grow and develop here. I have learned responsibility by feeding and taking care of them, and by training them I can learn valuable teaching skills. Also, having heard some of the feedback from girls who have participated in the dog shows, I think it will be a good learning experience of which I can have the opportunity to encounter new situations such as meeting new people, feeling a sense of accomplishment from competing and possibly winning shows and growing a connection with the dog I will present.”
Christina S.

“I was sent to Excel Acedemy because I got into drugs and I had a bad habit of breaking the law. My parents were looking for a place they could send me so they could rescue me from the dreadful life of drug addiction. I arrived at Excel Acedemy three years ago. When I first stepped foot into the doors, I was defiant towards the staff and to all the people around me. Later on down the road, I started to adhere to the rules that staff had set up to give the students the best chance at staying sober. I also started to work towards a high school graduation and a good future, but after this time my stay at Excel was boring and the days seemed to last a lifetime. This was until the day Gordon Zentz started to work at the school. Before I met him and saw his American Bulldog, I had heard of an American Bulldog but never actually seen one in person. I thought it was the coolest dog I had ever seen. I started to talk to him, and he told me he wanted to start a program that trained dogs. I kept telling myself that only nerds trained and showed dogs, but I decided to sign up for it to see if I would like it.

“I never thought the dog program would change my life forever. Gordon started to teach us how to train dogs to perform basic commands like sit, lay down and roll over. Later he started to tell us about the United Kennel Club. He explained to us what they do and what programs they have that we were going to participate in when we started to show his American Bulldogs. When the dog program first started, the only dogs we had were Gordon’s Bulldogs. We learned the history and the anatomy of the dog so we could get familiar with the breed. While at our first show, we stuck to ourselves and showed only our dogs in conformation, but on the second day of the show we met Terry, a lady who owned Boston Terriers. She had more dogs than she could show so she asked us if we could show her dogs as well as ours. We did, and that started the trend of us showing other people’s dogs as well as our own.

“The dog program has been going for about a year now and we just got back from Michigan after participating in the PREMIER. The school now has two Chihuahuas, a Labrador Retriever, a Boston Terrier, a Pomeranian and lots of American Bulldogs. One of the Chihuahuas, Rocky, was given to me by the director of the school. We have also expanded our program into weight pulling and are looking into obedience and agility. I have just recently started weight pulling my Chihuahua to attempt to get him on the cover of BLOODLINES magazine. He has been getting pretty strong and pulling him is becoming a popular event at weight pull shows. Mostly we show in Hutto, Texas, near Austin, and in Denton, near Dallas, but we have shown in other parts of Texas and a few times in Oklahoma.

“This dog program has earned us a reputation at all the UKC dog shows we attend as well-mannered, well-behaved young adults who help out anyone or any dog that needs it. Personally for me, the dog program has led me to a hobby that will help entertain me while staying out of trouble and keep me sober. I am now nineteen and graduate high school in December. After I leave Excel Academy, I plan on getting a male American Bulldog from Gordon to show for conformation in UKC, and later get a female and start breeding American Bulldogs to help improve the breed and to get them to be more popular in the south. I plan to keep showing dogs with my friend Bryan Smith for as long as I can. Without the dog program at Excel Academy and the help of Gordon, I do not know if I would be graduating high school in December or if I would have a future. The dog program has shown me a life of excitement as well as responsibility and I hope it will continue to help teenagers in need at Excel Academy.”

“My parents sent me to Excel Academy a little over two years ago due to my drug addiction, anger and self-destructive behaviors. Like all new students, I did not have much of an incentive to stay sober, but after being here for about a year, something new came into my life. A man by the name of Gordon Zentz began working at Excel in the summer of 2006. Through a tremendous amount of hard work, he managed to set up a ‘dog club’. At this point, I was still not in the club. A week before their first dog show, they put on a mock show for the student body. While I was watching the show, I told myself ‘only nerds would do this.’ About three months later, I became one of these so-called ‘nerds.’

“Today we have traveled all across Texas showing our dogs in UKC conformation shows as well as weight pulling events. We have also driven to Oklahoma to attend a conformation show/weight pulling event and to Michigan to attend the 2007 PREMIER. However, the point is not that I became a handler, but once I started showing dogs, it has given me a motivation to stay sober. Today I have an activity I can enjoy without using drugs. I also believe this club has helped me become a more responsible person and has helped my integrity level. My parents have become ecstatic over my new hobby because they believe it has helped me in many ways. My best friend (Nick Wheeler) and I have shown together for almost a year now, along with some other students at Excel. He too struggled with drug addiction and I can tell the shows have helped him with his problems too.

“As I stare into the future, I can tell I will continue to show in conformation until the day I die. I will turn 19 in October and will graduate high school in December. At that point, my life will begin a new chapter. I will be leaving Excel soon afterwards. For one of my graduation presents, I will receive my first show dog, an Australian Shepherd puppy. I am planning to show German Shorthaired Pointers at some point down the road. My best friend and I are planning to show together for the rest of our lives. Once I have shown in UKC for a while, I hope to start showing in AKC and become a professional handler.

“Oddly enough, handling dogs has played a big role in shaping me into the man I have become today. It has worked so far, so I think I will try it again tomorrow.”
Bryan Smith


Article originally appeared in the October 2007 BLOODLINES.