I’ve had a lot of people pay me a lot of ways over the years, but one of today’s clients did it up right!
Here’s the setup:
A great golden retriever puppy that is 14 weeks old.
A very cool client family with 2 kids which are fantastic and work a lot with the puppy.
A lot of hard work done over the last three weeks training with the puppy.
So, after the lesson today the Mrs. says “hey, we need to pay you for the lessons, let me get the checkbook” and walks inside the house. When she comes back outside Stella (the puppy) runs over to her on the front porch and waits while she writes the check. After she finishes signing everything she rips the check out, hands it to the puppy and yells at me to call Stella over. One quick “Here” command and Stella flashes across the yard to bring me the check! No chewing, no slobber, no running off with a multi-hundred dollar check, just straight to me in that wonderful Golden Retriever “I’m doing the right thing” way. Amazing.
Now, I ask you, is that a well trained puppy or not?
So, if I can have a wonderful ending to any Monday I think this would be it. A Golden puppy running across the yard bringing me a check. That makes today a VERY good day indeed.
Steve Haynes
A very PROUD Austin dog trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com
Proof of the power of Place command
Well, this is proof of what can happen.
This puppy, a full bore border collie was chasing the poor cats around like crazy in the house before he learned the place command. The cats were getting a bit fed up, the people were getting a bit fed up and well, the puppy was just doing what puppies do…. which is wreak havoc.
After working on the command for about 30 minutes, this little bit of peaceful coexistence came about. Can you say happy dog/cat owner or what?!
And, just to toot my own horn a bit, here is the email I got from the owners a couple of days after the lesson.
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Steve,
Thank you SOOOO much!!!! I think Monty had a great time with the lessons (yay treats!). He is certainly having fun practicing with us!
We were so impressed with you that we are telling all of our friends who have dogs about you. Thank you for being so helpful and friendly…we are eternally grateful! We’ll keep you updated on his progress!
Brittany, Scott, and Monty
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Once again, Place command saves the day!
Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
www.fideliodogs.com
In the last few weeks I’ve had a number of emails from potential clients asking what “methods” I use for training. Well, I just responded to another one of those emails and thought it’s time to put my response in the blog.
So, here is the text of the email with just the name removed. I think it will clear things up for a lot of people on the “method” type of trainers and where we at Fidelio Dog Works fall in the continuum of dog trainers.
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Well, to tell you the truth, I’m not a “method” trainer. I don’t subscribe to a single method or rigid dogma. I’ve found over my years of training, especially working with clients who came from other trainers, that the “only one way” trainers can help about 60% of their clients. The other 40% of time, their “method” doesn’t work either for the dog or for the owner.
What I try to do with Fidelio is to find out what goals you have for your dog and then work within a framework you are comfortable with to achieve those goals. As a couple of examples, I’ve had clients in the past have insisted on NEVER having a leash on their dog, and others insist on only positive methods, while still others who insist on using remote collars. All of these are valid methods and I’ve got no issue with any of them as long as the clients are willing to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each. Every owner needs to understand that some techniques take longer and require more practice and repetition than others. It’s just the nature of training. The thing that’s most important for us at Fidelio is to make sure that the relationship between you and your dog is strong.
With all that being said, I’m familiar with and implemented most of the major “Method training” and Techniques out there, and will be happy to work with you using any approach you would like to try. Or, if you need guidance, we can discuss things together and map out a strategy that works for everyone.
As a final note, dog training is an exercise in repetition. There is no way to get a well behaved dog without practice, patience, and lots and lots of repetition.
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All my best,
Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com