The Dog Blog

This has been a puppy month at Fidelio Dog Works.

I’ve got a number of clients that have gotten new pups in the last few weeks some of them brought from as far away as northern Canada. Getting these little guys shipped is no small task and we had a number of days where we were wondering if we would ever manage to get the the little guys and gals to their new homes. But, by this past week all were here and settling in nicely and it was time to start training.

If you’ve read any of this blog you know that I’m a HUGE believer in getting puppies into training early. I really like to start with them at eight or nine weeks old as they are generally really receptive to the training we do at that time and we’ll get roughly eight weeks of training during their imprinting phase which is enormously important.

Sammy, one of the lab puppies I’ve been working with for five lessons now just graduated to walking with me off leash yesterday. He’s 12 weeks old and already has his place command, come, sit, heel, finish (come around to the heel position when you come to me). This is pretty impressive even for a 12 week old dog. Needless to say, is owners have been putting in a LOT of work with him but it just goes to show you what can be done if you start training early and do it the right way.

Hannah is a little Golden puppy that we’ve done just two sessions with at this point but she already has her sit, walk on the correct side, sit when the handler stops moving and come commands down quite well. I had worked with Hannah’s owners before with another of their dogs but they are completely amazed and how quickly little Hannah is picking up on the training we’re working on. I fully anticipate Hannah will be off leash trained by the time she’s 16 weeks old at the rate she’s going.

So, if you are thinking about getting a puppy in the next few months book your trainer now (doesn’t have to be me but book someone) so that you get the amazing benefits of working with the pups when they are young. You won’t be sorry and you and the pup will have a much happier life together.

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com

Here are the basics:

 One nine month old daughter that started walking two weeks ago.

One Welsh Springer spaniel that needs MORE JOBS!

One very tired dog trainer daddy that spends all day standing around with dogs.

 

What’s a dog trainer to do?

 

When you add all of these things together there’s just one answer that makes sense.  Teach to spaniel to go get my daughter when she ventures to far away or, as is more often the case, ventures toward the "danger zone" of whatever it is on the playground, house, yard, or deck.

We started off getting Gwennie, the spaniel, to go over and touch Iris when I asked "where’s Iris".  After I startd this I though it would be a good idea to break it into two commands.  "Where’s Iris" means just take me to her.  Then I started adding "Get Iris" which means that I want Gwennie to go find Iris (usually not to terribly far away) and to gently "herd" her back in my direction.  We’re still working on the "herding" part but things are going well and I should have it in another week or two.

Now, with all that being said another though has popped into my mind, and that is my daughter will have wonderful stories to tell her therapist when she older about how her dad trained the family dog to "fetch" her.

Like I said, I’m a lazy guy so…..

 

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com 

I had a great time watching MythBusters tonight on the Discovery Channel. They did a whole show on dog myths, everything from getting away from tracking dogs to teaching old dogs new tricks. It was a wonderful example of what training can do for fantastic dogs.

For those of you who have access to the Discovery Channel, I really recommend you watch this episode. The MythBusters team did a whole series of tests using guard dogs and tracking dogs to see if, the common myths everyone has heard of are true. My favorite segment was the one where Adam tried to defeat the tracking dog. No matter what he did, running through streams, using pepper, climbing trees, nothing worked. The dog found him every time.

Another section of this show dealt with old dogs new tricks. They picked brother and sister dogs that were seven years old and started to teach the new tricks. I get the old dog new tricks question all the time from clients and you can absolutely positively teach older dogs new skills. I was thrilled to see what both dogs were trained using different techniques and the with the outcome being virtually identical. The dogs were given a test at the end of the show to prove that they had learned their basic commands
sit, down, heel, stay, and shaking of the paw. These old dogs learned all the techniques within a week which proves how rapidly you can teach older pets valuable skills. Both of the guys on the show used professional trainers during the week but that shouldn’t diminish the fact that these older pups learned everything very quickly.

So, as a professional dog trainer I was just thrilled to see such a fair treatment of training and see fantastic results from the training they put the dogs through. So if you get the chance tune into the Discovery Channel and take a look at the MythBusters show on dog myths. They will make you smile and it’s a great hour to spend on the couch with your pup.

Steve Haynes

Austin Dog Trainer

Fideliodogs.com

I would never have thought when I started FIDELIO DOG WORKS that we would make it to the point of being reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. FIDELIO was initially meant to be a small boutique dog training business. I wanted to have a limited number of clients daily and provide the best possible training for those clients.

Over the last few years Fidelio has grown dramatically. We now have a full-time office assistant and a specialized puppy trainer. We are honored to feel that our clients trust us and believe in what we do. Our goal is always to do what’s best for the client and their dog and we were encouraged to read that the Wall Street Journal portrayed that.

I’ve been written up in several different magazines and newspapers in the past, but I have to say, getting reviewed by the Wall Street Journal was a special highlight. The review is a validation of a job well done and an indication that my clients appreciate the work I do with them. Being recognized nationally was just icing on the cake.

So, even with our appreciation for our five minutes of Wall Street Journal fame, it won’t really change the way we do anything. Fidelio will still remain a small focused group which attempts to do our best helping people enjoy their dogs and dogs enjoy their people.

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com

Baby is coming…what do you do with the dog

or

Getting your dog ready for the Baby’s arrival.

I’ve had a number of calls lately from people wanting help getting their dogs ready for a new baby in the house. Now I’m all for getting a baby instead of a puppy but there are a few things you should know. Dogs and babies can be a natural mix, I mean, you should see my spaniel push my newborn in her baby swing when she’s crying, but you do need to do a bit of work pre baby if you want things to go smoothly.

To give you an idea of what some of these future parents have asked for in the past year

Having the dog not bolt out the door as soon as it is opened (helpful when the UPS driver comes to deliver all those baby gifts),
teaching dogs not to jump when strangers come in the house,

All manner of walking related activities for parents with full hands (strollers, diaper bags, hats, coats, booties……).

These things above are pretty specific to any individual situation but, you may ask, What are the absolutely necessary things you need your pup to do once the baby arrives? Well, here are my picks in order of importance according to a dog trainer.

Necessary commands with a new baby in the house:

Down-stay– and I mean down and stay there until I say it’s ok to get up, not just put your belly on the ground for three seconds then hop up and jump around.

Walk on a loose leash– an ABSOLUTE imperative when you are trying to walk around with a baby in your arms and get the dog a tiny bit of far to infrequent exercise. To a dog trainer this means NO PULLING YOU EVER.

Heel– walking right next to you and staying there. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to try to walk a dog in combination with a stroller if the dog won’t stay right beside you? You’re going to be walking that baby all the time anyway, wouldn’t it be great if you could exercise the dog while you’re doing it? I mean Fido is going to be suffering from lack of attention anyway when the baby gets here so do yourself and the dog a favor and get this one worked out.

Sit when you stop moving– Just sit there once you stop moving. Trust me, you’re going to be fussing with the stroller, baby, neighbors, mailbox, pacifiers, hats……and everything else and you don’t need your dog pulling you over backwards to run over and sniff that pile of deer poo in the next yard while your cleaning off the pacifier after it hits the sidewalk for the fourth third time in twenty minutes.

To me these are the bare minimum toolbox of dog commands you’re going to need if you are expecting a baby. And I mean bare minimum. This will keep you sane and probably save your dog from lots of yelling.

Now for the hard part. Don’t wait until you are eight months along before you start working on this stuff. Dogs need lots of practice and repetition before they master commands, so if you know a little one’s coming make the commitment to get your dog in shape BEFORE arrival. After that baby gets here you just aren’t going to have the bandwidth to deal with training a dog so do it now! Trust me, I’ve got a new little one in my house and if my dog’s weren’t reliable with their commands things would be total CHAOS.

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com

Technorati Tags: Babies and Dogs, dog training

Which command for your dog is most useful?

Well, I guess that varies with every client and dog but I can tell you what previous clients thank me for most often when I run across them in the grocery or a restaurant.

It’s the PLACE command.

For those of you not really familiar with the place command (you’re probably not one of my clients if you don’t know what it is), it’s where we teach to dog to get on a dog bed and stay put until we release it. It sounds amazing and most clients are just astonished when their dogs pick it up after ten minutes or so. The applications for this command are enormous and I’m constantly amazed when people tell me how they utilize this command with their dogs. Some have the dog stand on it whenever they open the front door for deliveries or guests, others use it at their kids soccer games to keep the dog in one place while the watch the game…. just tons of uses really.

Teaching the command isn’t so easy though. Most of the books and videos that are out there make it seem as though you can teach a dog using just a rug, blanket, or towel, and you can, but it’s not simple to do. The dogs have a hard time differentiating the “rug” from the carpet underneath it. Professional trainers use a special tool (bed) that has textural differences, color differences, and height differences so that dogs can more easily learn where they are supposed to keep their feet when learning the command.

I’ve tried all sorts of beds and there is only one type that I consider a true Place bed. We keep them in stock here at Fidelio for clients that need one fast, and using one of them just makes learning the command much quicker for the dogs.

So, if you need your dog to stay in one place for more than two seconds, place command is the one for you! Give us a ring and we’ll get you fixed up.

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com

It’s been a while since we discussed the deaf dog training but it looks as though i’ve somehow become some sort of an expert on it.  I’ve gotten calls and emails from all over the country from people that want help working with these dogs and I’ve done my best to steer them in the right direction.

This week though I have an old dog trainer friend coming to town to learn some of the finer details of training these hearing impaired dogs.  She’s got a client that has never been able to work with her dog and we think this type of training will help.

I’ll keep everyone posted on the progress.

 

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com 

The NYTimes reported today that Gov. Schwarzenegger passed quite a bit of pet related legislation this week to protect our dog and feathered friends.

The legislation is quite similar to some that the Austin City Council is contemplating and with which we at Fidelio strongly support. Dogs should never be left tethered to an object for any longer than one hour and that shouldn’t even happen if the temperature is about 90 degrees.

So, take a look at the Times article above and shoot an email to the city council members to remind them to support the ordinance against tethering dogs.

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com

A couple of months ago I got a call to work with a client that had a particular dilemma. He is a hunter and last year a deer that he had wounded managed to escape and he wasn’t able to find it. Now for hunters this is a VERY bad thing. It’s not managing the wildlife correctly and it’s wasteful.

So, Ken, being the good, responsible hunter that he is decided that he would never let that happen again so he wanted to train his new Patterdale Terrier pup to track wounded deer so that he would never loose another one.

I won’t go into detail of how we did all this tracking work (lots of time out in the cactus studded woods gives you some idea) but this little dog was a natural born tracker.

Zada, the pup, has the true traits of all great Patterdales, she is VERY TENACIOUS. That means that if the trail of the deer went over a cactus, so did Zada. It just didn’t matter what she had to go through to find the deer, she would do it!

Imagine my surprise last night when Ken sent me some pictures of little Miss Zada tracking a Squirrel. Well, now, I’ve never exactly taught a dog to track squirrels but it looks like Ken’s been working on this and, as expected, Zada is doing her dogged best to find whatever she’s told to look for.

So, take a look at the pictures below of Zada tracking her quarry and know that she is only the second dog I’ve ever seen that can literally climb trees!

And, by the way, Zada doesn’t need the fire department to come help her down from 20 feet up in the trees.

Enjoy!

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com

Technorati Tags: puppy, Tracking dog

A lot of people wonder how I keep up with running a dog training business, there’s quite a bit more to it on the technology side than most would think. Overall, we are pretty sophisticated at Fidelio Dog Works. We’re exclusively Macintosh computer based around here. I learned how to use Macs in the beginning and continue to think they’re the easiest for small businesses like us to maintain and keep working. All of our Accounting software, contact management software, video conferencing software (for remote client visits and meetings), and everything else that keeps us close to customers technologically is done with Macintoshes.

On a daily basis I’ll use a Macintosh Mac Book in the car to take notes on client meetings and the progress of the dogs during lessons, In the office I have a large Macintosh desktop to answer e-mails, prepare invoices, and do our blog entries. Also, I use a micro cassette recorder while driving between clients to quickly jot down thoughts and ideas for blog reports so I don’t forget them. When I get back to the office I connect this tiny recorder to a computer and have the sound files converted into text so that we can quickly edit it and post to the blog.

Most dog trainers I know aren’t quite into using technology the way we do. But, over the last serveral years, we’ve found it makes us more efficient, helps our customers get more out of the training, and helps us get our message out in a much more timely manner, and makes the business run as seamlessly as possible.

One thing that many of our clients don’t realize is that Edye, my assistant, isn’t here in Austin at all. She actually lives in rural Kentucky. With the help of the Macs and fast DSL lines she manages to keep track of all my appointments, and works with all of our wonderful customers remotely. The only clue that gives her way is the return address on the thank you cards, and the area code on the phone that she dials from.

There’s so much technology behind the scene of our little business that sometimes it boggles the mind. I often wonder how my competitors and Associates managed to keep it all together using the limited tools that many of them have.

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com

This post is a little delayed but I had so much fun at this lesson I just had to get it in here.

Last week I was working with a fantastic client who has a six month old Great Dane named Lola. Lola is a wonderful 106 pound puppy that is very well trained and walks around Town Lake with her owner off leash.

The thing is, the owner wanted Lola to tell her when she wanted to go out. So, off we went to dog training work. Lola had a small bell like the kind you see in movies on the hotel counter. The kind you slam down and the little bellhop jumps up from behind the desk. We though we would do the same thing with Lola and her owner.

Initially, I started teaching Lola to touch the little ringer with the tip of her nose, and while she was doing very well at that she had other more efficient ideas. Very soon (within about 15 minutes of working) Lola figured out that she could hit that bell A LOT harder using her foot, and once she really put together that ringing the bell with her foot got more treats and tons more excited laughter out of myself and her owner she started doing it repeatedly. Over and over and over and over again. Montana, the owner and I were just laying on the floor rolling in laughter and Lola’s new found skill and understanding of what we were asking us to do. At one point neither of us could talk we were laughing so hard while the bell went DING, DING, DING.

Loads of fun and a new skill for Lola the very large puppy.

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works

I’ve been spending a LOT of time down at Town Lake the last few days. Several of my clients have made it to the point in their training where we have to start practicing with LOTS of distractions and craziness going on and there’s no place better than under the Mo-Pac bridge at town lake.

Last night I had a rare and wonderful pleasure. A client that I had worked with several months ago wanted to meet me down there to work with her six month old Golden named Friday. The last time I saw Friday he was tiny pup of 10 weeks that was doing well with his training but he was still a pup. Well, last night, Friday heeled with his owner right up to me and sat down like a perfectly behaved dog and waited for me to pat him. Even being a trainer is still amazes me when one of my client’s dogs shows such skill and good manners! I was thrilled.

Friday heeled around the lake with us, fetched some sticks in the water and generally was a fantastic dog. The only thing the owner was concerned about was his biting the leash after he got out of the water and was bouncing around in an excited state. We worked on that for a bit and then Friday heeled back to the cars like the perfect gentleman.

So, I’ll miss working with Friday but I’m sure I’ll see him down at the lake with his owner while I’m working with other clients trying to get them to his level.

So, if you see me down at Town Lake working with clients come on over and say “Hello”. We’ll use you as a distraction for the pup we’re working with!

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works

Sometimes the work I do really turns out well. I’ve been training the deaf boxer dog Ginger for the last few weeks and I’m happy to say that I got a call from Austin Boxer Rescue today. It looks like she’s being adopted by a family that has committed to continued training for her! All of us are so happy that these folks found her.

Take care Ginger and enjoy your new Family!

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works

I get to meet the most fantastic people and dogs being a trainer in Austin.

Jenn and Sara from Austin Boxer Rescue contacted me a few weeks ago asking if I had worked with deaf dogs before. I guess they had been reading the blog, about the other pup I worked with a couple of months ago with such great success. It seems they had spoken with several other trainers here that just didn’t have experience with these deaf dogs, and thats a shame.

So, the next several Sunday afternoons are donated to the folks at Austin Boxer Rescue and Ginger their latest hearing impaired addition.

Ginger started using my favorite tool for working with deaf dogs, a Dogtra collar with a vibration feature. We use the vibration feature of these collars to “call” the dog and to get it’s attention so that we can give it other commands such as Sit, Down, Come, Heel… It’s kind of a slow process in the beginning but by the second session with Ginger she was starting to sit when we “buzzed” her twice with the vibrating collar and started doing a down when we gave her three short buzzes with it. I honestly believe that if she keep us this pace of work she’ll be well trained in the basic obedience commands within the next month or so.

That means, if you are looking for a boxer that is well trained you should contact the Austin Boxer people and go take a look at Miss Ginger. She’s a great dog that needs a good home and it won’t matter one whit that she’s hearing impaired once we get her training finished.

All of Austin Boxer Rescue’s contact info is here:

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works

Yesterday was just full of interesting activities for the old Austin Dog Trainer.

My first client of the day is moving to Japan so we worked on what was going to be necessary to get the dog moved and then what we needed to do once the pup was in quarantine in the country for three months. It seems that Japan has cancelled their “fast entry” program for dogs that they had and now every incoming pet must be quarantined for three months. Luckily the quarantine facilities there are supposed to be fantastic but still….it’s at least an hour away from her new home in Tokyo and that’s with no traffic!

Second dog of the day was a pup I visited for the good folks at Austin Cocker Rescue. This pup had recently gone deaf and the new owner needed some help because the cocker had begun barking at strangers on their walks. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on with this guy (he didn’t want to bark at anyone with me around) but we worked on a few basic behavior things that I noticed and hopefully we got that under control.

Third dog of the day was my most recent Rock Star client. Can’t tell their name (privacy you know) but I can tell you that this person is an amazingly good dog trainer, and I believe it’s because of their innate laid back attitude. Lots of fun training with this person and their dog is just a fantastically smart little pup.

There were a couple of other clients in there that just needed some basic obedience work and then my fun lesson of the day with a Senior VP of Dell and his wife. We had a great time working with their lab puppy. The weather at 7 last night was perfect for dog training and nothing could have been better than teaching this pup to heel off leash and to start doing recall, down, sits, and drops as the sun went down over the hills.

As I finished with my final client at 8:45 last night, I drove home thinking “I’m the luckiest guy in the world” I have wonderful clients that love their dogs, and I get to spend all day with these people and the pups. What could be better than that?

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works