Ivan Balabanov, owner of Ot Vitosha Malinois Kennel, and a highly renowned breeder and trainer, regularly lectures around the world, giving seminars in his specialties:
Personal Protection Training, Police K9, Schutzhund,
Ring Sports, Search and Rescue, and Advanced Obedience.
Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, Ivan Balabanov began learning dog training at age of 17 through a friend who was a K9 police officer, and with whom he also trained his first dog. They won several nationals in Bulgaria.
He then began traveling to other countries to seminars and dog events to learn more, since he always wanted the best breed of dog for training. He learned a great deal about the various breeds and their qualities. However, while he consulted with breeders, he also researched the issue (very difficult without the Internet). During his intense research, he discovered that the Belgian Malinois was an upcoming breed that was beginning to challenge German Shepherd, Doberman, and Rottweiler breeds.
While popular with the Belgian, Dutch, and French Ring Sport people, the Belgian Malinois was not so interesting to others, but little by little, people at European competitions began watching them with awe.
Balabanov moved to Belgium and bought his first Malinois
from the famous kennel, des Deux Pottois. This dog became the foundation for Ot Vitosha Malinois. In Bulgarian, “Ot” means “from,” and Vitosha is the name of a mountain near Sofia.
Living in a small Flemish-speaking town, opened up many dog training opportunities in several different Belgian clubs. He never had to drive more than two hours from home to reach a club anywhere in Europe. He avidly learned all he could, happy to be evaluating dogs and handlers in person rather than just reading about them.
An electrician by profession, Balabanov moved to San Francisco in the early 1990s, and by that time was deeply involved in the dog world. Before long, he decided to make this world his profession. His first significant change was working as an apprentice for a San Rafael, California guide dog instructor. Eventually, he became a guide dog instructor, training over 200 dog teams.
From there, he became an Animal Behaviorist for the San Francisco SPCA, evaluating and rehabilitating dogs. He went on to found the San Francisco SPCA Dog Trainer’s School, writing all curriculums. During this time, he also focused on his own training style, carefully analyzing why what he was doing was different in the field of dog training, and why it appeared to work better than what other top trainers were doing.
He took a break for a continuing education course at Cornell University, earning a diploma in “Solving Canine Behavior Problems.” Meanwhile, he competed often in the U.S., and people noticed his unique style of dog training. This led to his giving lessons, and, as that business grew, he eventually had no time for the SPCA.
By the end of the 1990s, after helping dog trainers learn training in such areas as search and rescue, and police K9, his training system was pretty much complete. He began showing and winning championships, wrote a book, Advanced Schutzhund, and filming videos on “Obedience without Conflict,” and settled in the Tampa Bay area of Florida to build his kennel and training business.
Recommended by top trainers, breeders, and veterinarians around the country, Balabanov has appeared on Animal Planet and National Geographic numerous times, and has trained personal protection dogs for celebrities such as Barry Bonds. He has won every protection championship between 1998 and 2007 in the U.S., and also became a two-time world champion in 2007. He is also an instructor for the U.S. Police Canine Association.
Today, Ot Vitosha, which he operates in partnership with Carrie Silva, offers breeding and the finest trained dogs, primarily in the area of personal and family protection. Balabanov continues to travel throughout the world competing with his Belgian Malinois and giving seminars in Protection Dog, Sports, Police K9 units, Search and Rescue, and Competitive Obedience.
He almost exclusively uses Belgian Malinois because of the breed’s excellent characteristics in the fields of training, temperament, intelligence, and longevity. But he can find and train any specific breed a client might need. Ivan is highly respected and trusted by all top breeders in the field.
Click here to see a list of the many achievements of Ivan Balabanov and his Ot Vitosha Malinois.
