Darshan Herrán

Darshan Herrán grew up in a dog training family, the son of José Herrán– a veterinarian and prominent trainer, and a co-founder of French Ring in México. Darshan handled a dog in French Ring competition for the first time at 10 years of age, and subsequently competed with personally-trained dogs at the highest levels of French Ring competition in México and the US. He posted his most recent victory with his dog Pacheco, 2025 NARA Western Regional Ring III Champion. As a young man he showed exceptional talent in the bite suit, and placed second in the French Ring Decoy Super Selection, and served on the juries for important ring trials in Mexico and the US, including the 2011 Mexican French Ring Championship. Now he wears the suit to build dogs rather than to test them– he is a brilliant technician of young dog development– and he is working towards gaining his license as a French Ring judge. On the leash, Darshan is no less technically brilliant, and he is fierce in his advocacy for dog welfare and progressive training. Darshan’s orientation is strongly operant, and he has trained dozens of service dogs for clients with special needs, beginning with puppy selection and foundational work and building to technically demanding operant conditioning of specialized tasks such as mobility assistance, PTSD alert, and crisis response. Darshan’s operant emphasis is the foundation for all of his instruction, whether behavior modification for pets with behavior problems, training competition working dogs or law enforcement patrol dogs, or developing well-mannered family dogs or active companions. Darshan is known for quickly reading a dog’s temperament, tailoring his approach to the animal’s needs, and bridging the gap between dog and handler with clear communication, modern techniques, and respect for each dog’s individuality. An admired veteran of 30 years in the industry and many hundreds of meticulously-educated dogs, Darshan is also widely known as one of the “good guys” of canine training—as courteous and respectful to the people he meets as he is kind to the dogs he helps to teach.