JOHN BENDER has been involved with pigeons for 50 years, having won several titles, including 2nd place in 1992 All Ohio State Fly, 10th in the world cup finals and a first in the regionals in 1993, and the rolling pigeon world champion title in 1994 along with a second place in the regionals the same year. He also took 1st place for eight years in a row in his local Portsmouth, Ohio, flying competitions from 1987 to 1994, then again in 1996.

John is a seventh-degree black belt in martial arts who has run his own martial arts school, Bender Karate Academy, for over 30 years. He has trained students for international karate competitions and trained fighters for toughman competitions. He is also an Eastern USA International Black Belt Hall of Fame inductee.

In addition, John worked as a professional dog trainer for ten years, training dogs for obedience and guard work. He is currently writing a unique approach to his dog training methods.

Prior to writing The Pigeon Trainer & The Birmingham Roller, John became a collaborator with Ben Novak, the lead scientist for the Revive and Restore Project, which is dedicated to bringing back the extinct passenger pigeon.

John has also released various pigeon ledgers for record-keeping. He will be writing a new book pertaining to the passenger pigeon project.

Learn more about John Bender

Visit his website at JohnBenderAuthor.com 

What Inspired you to become an author?

Jaime Vendera said to me one day that I should write a book. I had done several things in my life that fascinated him. We first talked about my career in martial arts. But once he learned I held a world championship flying roller pigeons, he urged me to write a book about raising and training birds.

Initially, my brother used to mention that I should write a book. But when Jaime encouraged me to write, it inspired me to do the work to help people who were racing pigeons for competition. But it went much more profound. So many little things go along with getting your birds prepped for competition. It also involves breeding, feeding, housing, raising, and training champion birds. So as I started writing my first book, I enjoyed that I could help so many people save time and money in the pigeon world.

As passionate as I have been for decades, this book wasn't hard to write. But it was much work. I enjoyed adding something of value that other pigeon enthusiasts could learn from. Finally, it all came together, and I released a book that I am pleased with.

What are your books about?

Of course, my first book is about pigeons, with another in the works. But I have also trained dogs and have a system that can help anyone quickly teach their dog the basic commands. As well, martial arts I've been a huge part of my life. So don't be surprised if you see a book on other subjects from me soon.

What are you working on now?

Everybody wants a dog to mind them, but they don't know how to go about it usually, and I've come up with a system to teach your dog to heel, sit, stay, lie down, and stay calm; just basic obedience to help one get along better with your dog. You need your dog to understand what you're talking about in life. Especially if you need to take your animal to the vet or don't take your dog for a walk, enjoy your dog and have them behave around others. You want to avoid chaos when you walk down the street. Once your dogs understand what's required for a "good dog" walk or when visiting the veterinarian's office, it will make the dog owner's life much easier.

Training your dog with this system is more straightforward and will cost much less than sending your dog off for a week to a trainer.

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