On Command Dog Training

12/03/2024

Graduates from our final training class of 2024. Let’s hear it for River (Adopted from Harker Heights Pet Adoption Center), Adonis, Kip (Adopted from Gatesville Animal Shelter), Monroe & Bella. Check out River’s cap-n-gown. We’re almost completely booked for our class that starts in January. Contact us for your free consultation at 254-265-7400 and become a part of the OCDT family.

11/21/2024

As many of you know, On Command Dog Training has partnered with the Harker Heights Pet Adoption Center in assisting the dogs there to get adopted. Most recently, we took in 6 rescues that came from the same litter. They’re German Shepherd/Pit Bull mixes and are about 6-7 months old. They’ll be ready for adoption soon. While they aren’t receiving formal obedience training, they are being socialized with people and dogs. If you’re interested please reach out to us at 254-265-7400 or the Harker Heights Pet Adoption Center at 254-953-5472.

11/21/2024

Aw 🥰 Byrdie 🐦 has waited her whole life to give Adonis 👑 a huge hug. 🐕 🤗 🐕
🤣

11/12/2024

I can’t believe that Kip has been with the shelter as long as he has and hasn’t had much interest. Kip is listed as a Carolina Dog Mix and is approximately 1 1/2 years old. What we’ve learned about him:

🐕 He’s sweet and makes those groaning sounds like “omg” 🤤 when you rub his ears.

🐕 He loves people and dogs. He’s been off leash and playing with multiple dogs at a time, some puppies and even adult dogs. In the picture with him play bowing, he’s with a dog who was previously considered “other dog aggressive”. He’s been enjoying meeting new friends here at OCDT.

🐕 He loves to train, work and play.

🐕 He’s motivated by food and pet and praise. He will play ball but prefers affection over toys.

🐕 He’s learned the Place series, Sit series, and Leash Manners. He’s working on dog socialization (which he’s doing great). Crate/kennel manners are great. He’ll learn a lot more in his final two weeks with us.

🐕 Potty trained.

🐕 Come meet Kip at On Command Dog Training and let’s see if he’d be a good fit for you and your family. He’ll come with 4 weeks of in kennel training, a video catalogue showing all that he’s learned and how to get him to perform, as well as follow up/private lessons.

If Kip isn’t adopted by/before 23 November, he’ll unfortunately have to return back to the shelter. Don’t miss out on this rare opportunity on a great family dog that comes with training. Call us at 254-265-7400 if you’re interested in meeting Kip.

11/10/2024

A couple of the cutest graduates this weekend, Coco and Ellie. Congratulations to them and their families on a successful two-week in kennel training program. From the consultation about a month ago until graduation on 9 November, these dogs and their parents learned a whole lot. During our consultation we discussed and gave tips on some how to’s:
🐶 Potty Training
🐶 Feeding Amounts/Schedule
🐶 Crate Training
🐶 Jumping
🐶 Mouthing/Biting
And more
During training, the dogs learned
🐶 Dog Socialization
🐶 People Socialization
🐶 Crate Manners
🐶 Feeding Schedules
🐶 Potty Routines
🐶 Place
🐶 Sit
🐶 Loose Leash Walking
🐶 Not to Jump on People
🐶 Not to bark obnoxiously without reason
And more.
While these dogs learned these things it doesn’t mean that training is complete. It takes 6-9 months of you creating a routine for that routine and your expectations to become the dogs’ routine behavior. The in kennel training program is designed to help build a foundation rooted in obedience and the owners are shown through email updates, videos, go-home lessons, cheat sheets with notes we provide, and follow up lessons how to maintain these behaviors. Our board and train programs also come with most of the equipment we use, setting the parents up for success upon graduation. If you want to learn how to communicate more effectively with your dog, we’d love to hear from you. 254-265-7400.

11/04/2024

Y’all know we had to jump on that suspect challenge. 🤣🤣
It was a real workout too. 😩🐕 🏃👮‍♀️

11/02/2024

Kip, from the Gatesville Animal Shelter and River, from the Harker Heights Pet Adoption Center are training with us for 4 weeks and will graduate on 23 November. They’re ready for adoption and will come with 4 weeks worth of training as well us follow up lessons. If you’re interested in meeting either or both of them, please contact their respective shelters or send us a message and come meet these two sweet pups.

10/28/2024

Found Sunday evening at 8pm on Chapparral and Slauson. Took her to the Bell County Animal Shelter. She did look to have some injuries and open wounds.

10/23/2024

A free lance reporter did an article on us. If you’d like to read a part our origin story, here it is.

HARKER HEIGHTS – Retired U.S. Army Master Sgt. Tremayne Wright wanted to study to become an attorney when he finished high school, but there was one aspect of the law

10/22/2024

Another awesome group of graduates this weekend.
Athena is a 2 year old Cane Corso. She was fearful or nervous around new people. She wanted nothing to do with us. By the time she graduated six weeks later, you’d think we had her since she was a puppy the way we bonded. She was able to confidently meet and be approached by strangers while in public as well.
Mocha is a German Shepherd puppy. She began with zero regard for personal space of humans and dogs and now is understanding how to be calm, polite and socially appropriate. She’s still the same energetic pup she was when she arrived but now she has obedience to rely upon and she’s able to calm herself with simple commands. Her sister, Nutmeg, graduated a few years ago and was back for boarding during Mocha’s final weeks. Mom was away so she isn’t pictured in their photo.
Peanut is a Dane puppy who was about knee high when he came 6 weeks ago. We even had to size up his crate during his stay. NutNut, as we call him, is beginning to display his Great Dane tendencies. Namely, what we call the “Dane Lean” (IYKYK).
Zeus has been a part of the OCDT family before we became OCDT. He even completed training about four years ago and came back for a two-week refresher, along with his newest housemate/sister, Bella. Zeus was performing advanced commands as if he’s been in our program recently. It was very apparent that his owner has been maintaining his obedience. She’s not pictured because she was in her Halloween costume and had just come back from a run. 👹 🎃 Let’s hear it for the graduates of Class 06-24. Stay tuned for our 07-24 graduates in about a month.

10/18/2024

Sometimes I be like, “I should be a phodographer”. 😜
It’s been great working with the two of you, Athena & Mocha. See you ladies in our follow ups.

10/10/2024

Mocha is recalling into an in motion heel, off leash. These are separately taught behaviors, combined to look like one. Here, Mocha is off leash (light line), recalled into a heel position and maintains a heel. This requires her to understand heel, heel position, recall and off leash obedience. I’m always impressed at how these dogs take what they’ve learned and show how they comprehend and apply it. This is not indicative of being a good trainer. It’s indicative of the dog’s ability to learn and apply its learning. Other dogs in this same program don’t have this ability yet. We weren’t good trainers with Mocha and bad with the others, they all just learn differently and at different rates. We realize that and adjust accordingly.

10/09/2024

While the turkeys 🦃 are being carved and the sleigh 🦌 🛷 🎅 is flying high, the holidays 🦃 🎄 💥 are approaching quickly. If you have plans to have company over ☕️ 🫖 🛌 and/or going out of town ✈️ and need your dogs 🐶 🐕 🐩 to be in safe, fun and trustworthy hands 👌🤘🏽🙌🏽👐🏼🫶🏼 we’re available. Call 📞 or message 📧 us for rates 💵 and availability 🏨. 254-265-7400

10/06/2024

Alright, it’s been a while since we posted some of our awesome graduates. Let’s hear it for Taz, Stone, Rocky and Willow. These pups completed 4, 6, 4 and 2 weeks respectively. Each learning valuable social skills, obedience, crate manners and a lot more. Gotta say, Stone stole the show at Lowe’s. Taz exceeded course requirements for his program, Rocky licked and cuddled better than most humans and Willow was able to (mostly) overcome her anxious yelping and whining when not engaging with her directly.

We have very few spots remaining for our 28 October class. And then we begin holiday boarding (boarding only) from 25 November-5 January.

If we can help or you want to find out more about our services, contact us at 254-265-7400.

09/20/2024

This is the fun part about training. Ole Rocky here is a goofy, confident 2 year old Rottie. Well, when we were about to work on place last week, he decided to hop his happy 🍑 on the place bed. When he jumped off, the bed slid and he fell. Since then, we’ve been counter conditioning him to realize that the bed isn’t as bad as it seems. Initially, I turned the beds upside down and then right side up. We’re still working through it but he is at least walking on and over one of the beds to go back and forth to the other side. Sometimes, training is simple and straight forward. When it’s not, I’m thankful for dogs like Rocky that help us grow and expand our problem solving ability.

09/13/2024

Here’s a really cool trick that you can teach your dog.
When your dog barks, do nothing but tell him/her to “shut up”, then, they’ll bark again. And just keep doing that. It’s fun & works every time most of the time sometimes. 🥴

09/09/2024

Male Cane Corso found in Harker Heights at 4:30pm on 9 September 2024. He’s gray and brindle. Friendly fella. Brought him to Harker Heights Pet Adoption Center. No chip.