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Michael P. Pumilia is a Judge Emeritus of the American Kennel Club. He actively judged obedience trials for 36 years and tracking tests for 30 years. The photo above from the 1970’s shows his Dalmatians, on the left, Domino’s Winter Midnight, U.D.T. and Sa-Mi’s Buggy Whip, U.D.T. “Winter” and “Witchie” earned Highest Scoring Dog in Trial (HIT) awards while Winter had multiple Highest Scoring Dog Combined (HC) honors. These activities began in 1972 when Michael moved to Pensacola, FL to begin naval aviator flight training after graduating Purdue University with a BS degree in aeronautical engineering. The study of aerodynamics provided him with many thoughts of air movement which he applied to learning how dogs handle scents during tracking.
Michael retired from Lockheed Martin Corp. with a 30 year career working on nearly every airplane the company produced during this time. Previously his military service had ended with a disability after 9 years.
Mr. Pumilia began writing articles on dog training which were first published in 1975 in Front & Finish®. His column Training the Competitive Dog appeared throughout the late 1980’s and a few years later he followed up with From Where I Stand which ran even longer. In 2017 Mike is happy to start his newest endeavor Tracking – A Walk Done Easy for Front and Finish which will be compiled into a book when the articles are completed.