What do you do with your toddler when your out training with the hunting dogs?
My oldest had a great time the day we took this picture. She “trained” the dogs for about two hours and was a great help throwing the dog slimed hunting bumpers. I guess I can be proud she started a couple of years before I did with dog training!
Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
I’ve been training with these clients for a couple of months. They called me when the classes they were taking at another location just weren’t meeting their needs. As I’ve said before, dog training is more art that science, and the trainer at the other place they went was a pure “method” trainer and couldn’t work outside her box.
In any case, this lab pup has proven to be a complete joy. She’s been a challenge at times for the owners but she’s really smart and really willing to do what you ask of her. The main issue now is that she has gotten bigger and has TONS of excess energy. So today, in the cool of the morning, we stated training her to “heel” to a bicycle. After they build up her stamina (takes training just like it does for us) she’s going to be a trail running dog at Emma Long Park and will accompany her Dad on his morning bike rounds of the neighborhood. She’s got a good life for sure.
Our next step with Maddie the Lab is to get her off leash trained so that she can “bike” and “run” without the hassle of that darned lead on her. It won’t take her long to get there.
Note of Caution: Do NOT just take your dog out attached to the bike. You’ve got to train them to do this correctly or you’re in for big trouble. Also, be sensible and don’t make them run long distances with you during the head of the day. They don’t handle heat as well as we do.
Enjoy the Picture!
Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
Most of my day doesn’t really consist of dog training. Since Fidelio is a “come to you” service I would venture to say that 50%-65% of my day is spent in the car navigating between clients. I spend LOT of time in traffic and a LOT of money on gas, as I average 100+ miles a day of driving between the 3-4 clients I can actually fit in each day.
Part of the reason we do this at Fidelio is that we believe it is more efficient for our clients. No loading the dog in the car after work, trekking across town to a lesson, then loading the dog back in the car to go home. We come to you, do the lesson, and then hopefully, you take the time you’ve saved by not driving to actually practice what we teach during the session. This type of service isn’t cheap because of all the windshield time we spend between clients.
Most people acknowledge that what we do is expensive, but when you factor in the time you save to be with your family, you dog, your neighbors, and in your home, it ends up being FAR less expensive than spending 3 hours for a one hour lesson. We just happen to spend that other two hours getting to and from your home to the next client.
Enjoy the picture. It’s what I see for hours every day.
Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
I just finished reading a fantastic small article in the NY Times today. They have an ongoing series on life with a new puppy and today’s installment was on dealing with a dog trainer.
There is absolutely quite a bit of “science” in dog training but there is equally, if not more, “art” to it. A lot of dog training involves being able to communicate with the owners AND the dogs and that’s were things fall apart for most dog trainers. The question of method comes up so often and this wonderful quotation from the article is what I repeat so many times to potential clients on the phone. With due credit to the NY Times here it is:
Shawn Stewart said “No one out there can say that any one method will fit any dog or owner.”
I just love it and it is ever so true.
The article is here and I do recommend you take a look if you have time. Article
Also, if you have the time and want to hear a bit more about my “philosophy” take a look at my previous post “No Guru no Method“.
Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
In the world of all things dog training, service dogs rank up there as the most of the most. The people that work with them are incredible and the amount of effort, time, and patience that goes into making a capable service dog is simply mind boggling to the average human.
With that high praise for service dogs and their trainers a given, I ran across an article in the New York Times today that illustrated some new “Jobs” for these service dogs that have previously not been publicized as much as they should. These dogs in the article are doing wonderful work for their humans and the organizations that train them deserve any spare donations that you could provide.
So without further delay, the article is HERE You may have to sign into the Times for a free logon but it’s worth it.
Steve Haynes
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.
—————–
All my best,
Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com
Dog training is all about repetition. Simple enough right?? Well, not really. The problem is that hardly any of us with any semblance of a modern lifestyle have enough disposable hours to do the large numbers of repetitions needed to get the dogs up to speed quickly. Repetition, repetition, repetition is the key.
How many reps are we talking about: well, on average it takes around 2,000 repetitions for a dog to actually learn and process a behavior. 2,000!! Most clients melt when they hear that, but it’s not an impossible task, and there are lots of tricks to get to that number quickly. One shortcut is to use Fidelio’s Fast Track program jump start things. Fast Track is essentially a “doggie boot camp” for your pup without having to send him/her away. We show up at your home two or three times a week for a month, train with lots of repetitions in your neighborhood, and give your dog a fantastic grounding and excellent foundation for the obedient life.
Fast Track isn’t the only way to speed things along though. We have lots of tricks to help with getting those repetitions in even if you decide to train with us for just a few session.
If you need a jump start on getting Fido up to speed take a look at our Fast Track program and give us a shout if it looks like we could help.
Pats to your dog for us!
Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com
They are cute
Yeah, You’re right, they are cute but that’s only half the story. I’m going to preface the rest of this post with the full disclosure that I had a Yorkie for 18 years. It went to college with me, and one summer went to all my classes with me in my backpack. I loved that dog a lot but, I too was unprepared for the other side of the breed. You really do need to know what you are getting into when you bring a Yorkie home.
In dog training everything comes in cycles, and for some reason this month I’ve gotten a ton of calls from clients, and potential clients, that have a new Yorkie puppy, and the calls all go like this:
“when will it be potty trained? This is driving me nuts!”
“When will it quit biting and nipping at me? THIS is driving me nuts”
“When will it stop BARKING at me? THIS IS DRIVING ME NUTS”
It’s almost the same drill with every call.
Well, Yorkies have a few bad traits to go along with their cuteness.
First, the majority of them take FOREVER to potty train. I’ve got some clients that have been working on this for 2 years diligently and still are not there. You’re going to need to be very patient and understand housebreaking is not generally going to happen like other breeds of dogs. These guys take longer…..a lot longer to come around to the idea of going outside.
Second, they mouth and nip a lot. Part of this is their energy level. Pound for pound Yorkies are some of the most energetic pups out there. In a lot of cases they are sort of like an amphetamine enhanced hairy bouncy ball but with really sharp teeth. Starting to work early with them to show them biting isn’t a good idea is essential. And, while I would love to give you a quick one off on how to fix this, the truth is that every puppy is different and we’ll need to approach the nipping issue individually according to each dogs personality.
So, once again, Get used to it. They are going to nip at you and the best we can hope to do is curb it somewhat.
Third, they bark. A lot. Enough said.
If you can’t handle this then you probably shouldn’t be thinking about a Yorkie.
Now, that was a downer kind of a post, and I’m sorry about that, but WAY to many people go out and grab one of these dogs thinking they are the perfect size and they are SO CUTE. But be ready for the other side of the coin, they are a ton of work. It’s not a bad idea to get your dog trainer lined up before you bring the puppy home as well. They can help you get a good start on all the work you’ll have to do to make these little guys a good household citizen.
all my best,
Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com
We work with kids all the time around here at Fidleio Dog Works. Almost every family wants their children to be involved in working with the dog and that’s a great thing. The more the kids work with puppies and older dogs, the more the relationship becomes cemented and the stronger the bonds become.
There is a downside though. Kids have short attention spans, and puppies have shorter attention spans. Sometimes this can cause a bit of friction in the house. When working with your kids, remember to keep the sessions very short, usually 2-3 minutes works great for this. These short sessions are fantastic for the dogs as well.
With puppies, it’s always better to train more times per day for shorter segments. We would much rather have you do 10 sessions of 2 minutes than to sit there and try to get the puppy to work with you for 20 straight minutes. It’s just to much for their little minds to take in most cases.
Along these lines, I’m posting a link to a video of my daughter and me working with a schnauzer pup on the “Place” command.
You’ll notice that the puppy and the daughter have roughly the same attention span on this. Still, I’m proud of both of them. The puppy learned the place command perfectly and my Daughter isn’t bad on the command either! Now, if she’ll just do that when she turns 16…..
All my best,
Steve Haynes
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com
THIS is why you need a dog trainer!
This past week I had a client meeting that shocked me. When I arrived at the client I was told that she had never been able to get her dog into her car. NEVER in 12 YEARS. When she moved to Austin she had to sedate her dog to the point of comatose for the ride and that was the ONLY time it had ever ridden in a car in it’s adult life. Things were starting to get a bit dire because the dog was starting to have some health issues and needed to go to the vet on a regular basis.
A situation like that one is really sad to me. That dog had never been able to enjoy a dog park, go for a walk outside it’s neighborhood or even have the convenience of being able to take it to the vet. That is so upsetting to me.
It turns out she had used 6 other trainers in the last 12 years to try to rectify the situation and none of them had been successful, which is also a sad state. Now, I don’t want to brag or seem like Supertrainer, but this is a pretty simple thing, and suffice it to say that within 10 minutes of my arriving we had the dog in the car and were headed for the local dog park for a walk. All went well at the park and the dog jumped in the car for the ride home with no issues at all.
A few days later, I got an email from the client:
"Just some positive feedback. My dog, Belle, is now a ‘car dog.’ She may hesitate and get balky when asked to get in the car, but it never takes more than a minute and a little gentle coaxing to get her in. What a difference! Thanks so much."
Now THAT is why you need a dog trainer. If your dog is doing something that has been hampering your life, you should do something about it. It will improve your quality of life as well as your dogs.
Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com
Well, I’ve worked with quite a number of upcoming and new parents over the years but this week I had a wonderful experience of working with a client that is having twins AT ANY MOMENT.
This family was a bit nervous about getting their dog ready as he’d had a history of "being loud" and chasing after moving kids. The long and the short of it was that we worked on three different things that all dogs need to learn with babies in the house.
But, I’ll leave it to you to read in her own words. Here is her Blog Post!
Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works
www.fideliodogs.com
Working on the place command
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
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