Houston DogWorks

07/03/2025

July 2025 Group Class

Reminder: We are closed for the 4th of July

Not listed: July 12 GunDog Garage Field Steadiness Seminar

06/17/2025

TOMORROW- Next order of Ruff Land Performance Kennels goes in, Wednesday June 18. This will include limited edition Lilac as well as standard production colors.

Reach out if you haven’t already to preorder.

06/15/2025

Fact… and that’s a BAD idea.

06/10/2025

NO, your dog does NOT have to be altered to train with us.

06/03/2025

We will be placing an order on the 16th. Get in touch if you need lilac!

Back by popular demand! Lilac is making an exciting return this month! Available on June 16th, this fun color is here to bring a fresh shade to your summer plans! Don't delay, available only while supplies last!

05/20/2025

Congratulations to our latest Foundations Obedience graduates, earning their AKC Canine Good Citizen certificates!

05/16/2025

Replace horse -> dog and have a few reads.

When you’re ready to find the common sense middle… actual training, a real partnership, and real reliability form your dog, we’re here.

I worry for the middle -

I remember a time, not too long ago, sopping wet horses with defeated eyes. I remember horses flipping over from pressure, and a total dismissal of the horses physical body, as if they were too strong to break. “You can’t hurt them,” one man said, “it’s like spanking him with a sock.” They did their job, with eyes shut.

I see a time, now, where horses can’t manage the pressure of the world we brought them into. I see horses, equally stressed, who are coddled, babied, so much they pull back at the slightest trouble. I see horses who can’t get in trailers, can’t tie, can’t stand for the farrier, no life skills. Horses that bite and charge.

I see these every day, maybe they’re the extremes I’m called out for and not the norm, like a firefighter who’s daily experience involves disaster, where putting out fires is a daily habit -
I see unhappiness still- lack of confidence and fear encouraged, curated by human hands, mostly well meaning.

I worry for the still space between too much and too little, where a horse can get by. I worry for peace, which lives between the lines of dominance and permissiveness- I worry for guidance, and reading expression, and experimenting, and I worry for feel.

I worry for nuance, and catching meaning in the written word before emotional response. I worry for handiness and horse sense and wonder, if there will ever be a time again, where folks need to ride out to do a job and find out just how much is missing - and how much value there is in that small inbetween space. I’ve found much fulfillment there, but it’s also saved my life on many occasion- to have a horse who is handy, confident, and soft.

05/08/2025

May 2025 Group Class Schedule-

Tuesdays:
6:30 Foundations Obedience
7:15 Polishing & Off-Leash

Thursdays:
May 8 Open Gym
May 15 Patio Pups @ Cottonwood
May 22 Large Group Social

05/02/2025

Barrier frustration is a real thing, including hiding behind walls. Your dog isn’t stupid; it knows there are other dogs present.

To be totally honest, VERY tired of seeing dog owners come out of “special” “Reactive Dog” group classes run near by who do that very thing and think leading a dog around with a cookie on its nose is a solution for reactivity and a lack of actual reliable real world obedience.

Lol. If your group class "trainer" has you and your dog behind a "naughty screen" (a barrier or partition) because they don't know what to do about your dog's behavior, you need a better trainer.

That's all.

PS. This group was several years ago.

Almost every dog in it was "reactive."

Nobody bled, nobody died, everybody learned.

You need real dog training. Not "naughty screens."

02/20/2025

Two Labradors and a chessie walk into a bar…

Just kidding! Worked some delivery positions for the field… fronts and finishes for the ring, with the retriever gang this morning.