People travel from all parts of the world for the opportunity to work with Terry Ryan, dog trainer and founder of Legacy Canine Training and Behavior.

Surprisingly enough, students that work with Ryan don’t always learn to train dogs, but chickens instead. Ryan hosts “chicken training camps” where students learn universal training techniques and the shared science behind learning. In Ryan’s most recent camp, students from Brazil, Germany, France and Venezuela attended.

The students attending were not only culturally diverse, but have differing careers and interests, including two zookeepers and a psychologist.

“I love networking with different people and this is an opportunity to bring people together to talk about dogs, cultures and scientific techniques used in training,” Ryan said. “The average chicken is faster than the average dog and as dog trainers we need to be coordinated and respond quickly.”

Erika Seather, Ryan’s assistant at the chicken camp, has been working with Ryan for many years and feels Ryan has a large and diverse following because students aren’t just learning to train their dog, but they are gaining some of the scientific concepts behind all learning, despite the type of species.

Also, because chickens often are a species people don’t have previous training experience with, all “egos and baggage from other training methods are left behind,” Seather said.

For more information, visit legacycanine.com or call 683-1522.