If you're downtown on a Saturday and you see a pack of dogs heading your way, don't be alarmed. They're in training, and in the lead is a man nicknamed Dog.

Every Saturday morning for nearly nine months, Luke "Dog" Allison has offered a free basic training course to dog owners. At times there are as many as 40 to 60 dogs and their owners attending.

"I love it," Mr. Allison said. "Money is not my aspect. I love to take people who are totally frustrated with their dogs and offer a free program to help them and show them there is an easy way. People get mad at their dogs and spank them or put them in a kennel, but the dog doesn't understand."

The mistake, Mr. Allison says, is that people try to treat their dogs too much like humans.

"It's easy to train the dog, it's harder to train the human," he said.

Mr. Allison began training dogs in the military a little over 19 years ago when he was a Ranger in the Army's 75th Range Infantry 3rd Battery.

While deployed in Iraq during the first Persian Gulf War, Mr. Allison came across some wild dogs in the desert, and in nine weeks he trained them to search for people and bombs.

"Love is the main factor in all my training," he said. "If that animal loves you, they will always love you and they will respect you."

Mr. Allison is around dogs day and night. When he's not downtown teaching for free, you'll find him at his home and business, USA K-9, a boarding and training facility specializing in obedience, protection and drug detection.

"My son is 17 now so I don't have children anymore. These dogs are my children."