The Dog Blog

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