He was extremely young when Christopher Banke realized his true calling. That was when he demonstrated an aptitude and a strong love of dog training. It happened when he was training his Doberman, Dana. When he was just 15, he founded the Algemeiner Schutzhund Club. While he was there, an older, more experienced trainer named Margarete Iaquinto took him under her wing and encouraged him to direct his training skills to German Shepherds, which turned out to be a fortuitous change that made a difference. Soon, he was considered to be among the finest trainers in the United States.
Over the next 30 years, he maintained that distinction by working hard and training a lot of dogs. He also honed his skills when he opened his own dog training business, “Chris Banke Protection Dog Trainer” before he turned 20.That training facility, located in northern Vermont, is still going strong and is very busy.
Christopher Banke has accomplished a lot asa dog trainer, such as the year he became the first American to successfully compete in the RSV2000 World Championship with his dog, Iriac vd Maineiche in the IPO 3- handler-owner trained (HOT) category. Later, Christopher's dog "Dino von der Maineiche" (Dino) received a trial score of 297, which is the 2nd highest Schutzhund/IPO 3 score in United States history. With Dino, Chris reached another milestone when Dino was featured as a guard dog in the Oscar-nominated film, “Frozen River,” directed by Courtney Hunt.
A while back, Christopher Banke also founded his own breeding kennel, which was also successful, with many of those dogs entering competitions at the regional and national levels. Chris has also trained numerous dogs for careers in law enforcement and the entertainment industry, besides his own.
