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French-born Clement Dubosq, 23, wants to leave a lasting impact through his dog training expertise. The world of dog training, he believes, has unlimited potential. Estimates project that the global dog training services market will be valued at $41 billion by 2025; and that the U.S. dog training services market will surpass USD 820 million by 2026.
Clement travelled to the United States as an expert in protection dog training recently to help U.S. resident Spencer Bowman train his dogs as champions in the French Ring Sport. Spencer’s dog Lycan was crowned U.S. champion in 2022 and 2023; and Sub-Zero, 2024 champion, a testament to Clement’s expert training skills.
The French Ring is a highly demanding dog sport that tests a dog’s obedience, agility, and protection skills. It originated in France and is primarily used to evaluate working dogs, particularly Belgian Malinois and German Shepherds.
The sport consists of three main phases: obedience (tests for heeling, retrieving, food refusal, and control exercises); jumping (requiring dogs to complete high jumps and long jumps); and protection work (including controlled bite work, guarding, escorting, and defending against an aggressor).
The talented Protection Dog Trainer was introduced to Spencer while working with acclaimed French dog trainer Stéphane Brière in France. Realising Clement’s aptitude for training dogs, Spencer entrusted him with his dog for the 2020 selectives. The rest, you could say, was history.
Clement then spent three months in the United States preparing the dog. These training sessions with Lycan clearly proved to be fruitful with Lycan and subsequently, Sub-Zero’s victories.
Producing champions of the future
Clement hasn’t just trained U.S. champions. In France, he has competed extensively with his dog Ollie. Ollie competed together with Sub-Zero in a new Prestige Ring Sports Club competition in California, with the dogs receiving the first two steps of the winners’ podium.
Says Clement: “After the success and victory in the U.S. Championships with Sub-Zero, we continued to train intensively to be able to achieve good results. The training sessions were successful, since our team finished with a 1st place for Ollie and a second place for Sub-Zero in a California competition. These performances showed us that with hard work we can succeed.”
Recognizing Ollie’s exceptional qualities, she was paired with Litz au Paradis d’Orsy, a renowned dog that competed in the 2019, 2020, and 2022 selections. Clement decided to keep one puppy while selling the rest to both professionals and individuals. One of the puppies was sent to the United States for training in the French Ring, while another became part of his team under the handling of Stéphane Brière.
His friend, Éric Servant, a well-respected breeder, mentored him through the breeding process in northern France. Servant has bred many high-level competition dogs, including his own, Hancock, who competed in multiple finals from 2015 to 2019, ultimately reaching the 2019 championship.
During his time at the kennel, he was responsible for training Servant’s dogs for French Ring competitions, including Nirvana du Domaine de Kertanka and Nawak, both of whom qualified for the 2022, 2023, and 2024 selections.
As part of his training journey, he also collaborated with Bernard Boutonnet, a two-time French Champion (2019, 2022), Sébastien Corbin, the 2024 French Champion, and Philippe Desamblanc, a regular finalist in national competitions.
He has also collaborated with Sébastien Corbin, reigning French champion (2024) and double regional champion (2022 and 2023), and Philippe Desamblanc, and was able to train with them and their champion dogs. Praxus, the dog of Sébastien, is now reigning French champion (2024) and double regional champion (2022 and 2023). Philippe’s dog Ganja has been a finalist several times in the French championship and his dog Ovni, has been a regular participant in the selectives.
Another dog which is close to his heart is V’Gnarly. This is the champion dog of Trisha Olson, an American dog handler who lives in Minnesota and who contacted Spencer to ask for assistance for her mondioring competition in California.
She subsequently joined Spencer and Clement in training their dogs as champions.
“Mondioring is a sporting discipline which is similar to the French Ring,” explained Clement. “The difference is that mondioring events are more diverse, with scenarios that change at each competition, for example, through using different sets and accessories.”
Trisha won 1st place with her dog in California and also in Oklahoma, with an astonishing score of 292/300.
Clement’s ability to understand dogs has allowed him to adapt to various training disciplines, and he proved himself as adept at training dogs for mondioring as for the French Ring. With Clement’s assistance, Trisha won first place in the California competition with V’Gnarly.
A dream to create even more impact
Clement’s career, which began at 16 years of age, has been filled with many such powerful, life-altering moments. He said one of the turning points of his career was on January 11, 2020, when French dog trainer Stéphane Brière and his son Quentin invited him to participate in a training session with them, which he accepted with enthusiasm.
“Stéphane Brière is a double French ring champion (2008 and 2013), crowned with his dogs UDEX and FEDZARRO. He has also trained many dogs which have reached the finals of the French championship.”
He said his career has allowed him to experience cultures around the world; and he hopes that his success as a trainer will make him a leader and ambassador for the French Ring Sport.
