Central Texas Dog Trainer

16/11/2025

And people wonder why I call them Maligators and act confused when I say I don’t train them because I like my fingers.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

04/11/2025

I was just speaking with a customer who owns a heeler puppy I did some foundations training for.

I worked with this customer, who is a vet, to put together a puppy pre-obedience foundations training program that I'm soon going to offer to everyone. (It should be live on the website soon.) It's designed for busy professionals with new 8-week-old puppies and focuses on home manners, recall, leave it, as well as emotional stability, socialization/normalization, house breaking, etc., but does not include formal obedience training (at that young age, a puppy is just too young for formal obedience.) Because of the time commitment required, I'm limiting this program to one puppy at a time.

We were discussing heelers, boundaries, and their level of persistence. She sent me this photo of the puppy, Dahlia, who can be seen here trying to push the boundaries of the place board. Then she followed up with the text I added to the picture, which I found hilarious because it pretty accurately describes your typical blue heeler.

I'll add to it the following warnings for those thinking about getting one:
“Getting a Blue Heeler is like signing up for Survivor: Canine Edition. You’re a contestant, but the Dog isn't. The Dog is actually the host—and the tribal council—and the one voting you off the island if you can’t keep up.”

“Blue Heeler ownership is basically CrossFit with fur.
If you don’t wake up ready to justify your place in the pack, the dog will immediately schedule you for elimination.”

This sounds like hyperbole, Human > Dog, but if you think that, welcome to tribal council!

26/10/2025

just got this wonderful note this morning from a previous student. it kind of made my day. i love getting these kinds of messages from students!

05/05/2025

COngratulations to PIper who went home recently! PIper is a very energtic lab (and pushy - but that's par for the course with a young black lab) who was getting a bit hard to handle.

05/05/2025

An Amazing note I received from a previous customer back in March. The dog I trained for him is Winston, an extremely tightly wound Vizsla that came in on anxiety medication with resource guarding issues and a previous bite on the owner as a result.

I'm not an aggression specialist and I generally do not take dog's who have bitten another dog or person, but I made an exception in this case because of the situation and my experience with hunting breeds.

It is very rewarding when I get messages back like this. It warms my heart and lets me know that I'm helping to make a difference in the dog and human's lives.

26/03/2025

congratulations to Riley who went home yesterday. very nixe Vizshla from Georgetown, TX. She did fantastic！very proud of that girl!

19/03/2025

Congratulations to Phoenix, who went home yesterday. Phoenix is a very enthusiastic and energetic golden retriever puppy who loves to play, but was also a disaster to walk on a leash. I’m happy to report she went home walking very nicely on a leash, and i received a nice message from her owner this morning (attached) they did their first walk today practicing all of the conditioning exercises we teach and it appears to have gone well.

23/02/2025

Is your pup stressing out when you leave? 🐶 Learn how to help your dog overcome separation anxiety with our expert tips and strategies! Read more here: https://wix.to/RixV4Q7

What is Separation Anxiety?Separation anxiety is not merely a case of your dog whining or whimpering when you leave the house. Dogs with separation anxiety have full-blown episodes of panic and distress when you leave your home – to the degree that they will do anything to get to you, including es...

13/01/2025

Posting an old video of a training session with Maggie, a lovely little GSP from a few years ago. (b/c I need to free up space on my computer.)

The following example video shows a training session with a nice little GSP named Maggie who was to become a GunDog. Maggie came in with a lot of energy and some anxiety but made great progress. The the video shows some on and off-leash skills and the remainder of the video shows what I call the inside board work skills portion of the training program. In this video, we are using Maggie's food to lure, position, and reward her. After she has the hang of it reliably and can do it all off-leash, we fade the food. Despite the fact that Maggie is going to be a working dog, I prefer my training to be as fun, low-stress, and positive as possible. Because she came in with some anxiety and training itself is stressful, we work hard on building skills and confidence simultaneously.

You will see in this video some basic conceptual awareness of Whoa and moving left and right (preparatory to her going on to do quartering-type training in the field.) We also demonstrate some basic steadiness in sustained sit and place.

I don't do the gundog portion so I cannot proof or fully advance the gundog skills as I live in the city (and those typically involve working with and even shooting live birds, something neighbors from NY and CA won't look too kindly on.) So, I only introduce the concepts that a future gundog trainer can pick up on and work with.

This video was not originally intended as a public demo video, but was instead for a customer update. It's also 4 years old now fyi.

https://youtu.be/EvmH_EnxMsg

The following example video shows a training session with a nice little GSP named Maggie who was to go on to become a GunDog. Maggie came in with a lot of en...

02/01/2025

It's that time of year! Puppies for Christmas! As a christmas gift, I've published large parts of our puppy manual on our website which you can find here:

https://www.centraltexasdogtrainer.com/post/so-you-have-a-new-puppy-this-is-what-you-need-to-know

Let me know if you have any questions below!

Congratulations on your new puppy!Having new puppy can be a challenging, but rewarding experience. I'm posting this guide to help both new and experienced dog owners get a good start on owning and raising a well adjusted dog. This article assumes that you have brought home an 8-week-old puppy, howev...

23/12/2024

Congratulations to Rio, who went home on Saturday. Rio came in with a large number of anxiety-driven behaviors. She went home much more comfortable, less nervous, and with a lot more confidence when working in different environments, not to mention obedience skills! Proud of this little monkey!

05/11/2024

Yes another note about Rusty, trained in 2023. Rusty’s owner wanted him to be a well-rounded dog who could point and fetch as he is hoping to make him his bird dog for hunting. He also specificed that place training, fetch, and loud sounds are things he'll need to be comfortable with. I also want him to know to stay close to my hip (right side) while walking so I know where he is while out hunting. I'm starting/planning to take him to/near capital city clays to give him exposure to shotgun noises (slowly get closer. I encouraged him not to do that). He wanted distance control and recall over him with an e-collar using tone and hand signals.

Some Behavioral problems were: digs in the yard, Doesn't come when called, Jumps on furniture, Nuisance barker / whiner, Pulls on the leash, Urinates when excited or afraid. Generally doesn’t listen.

We worked with Rusty on all of the obedience, sustained positioning, basic casting, basic introduction to whoa, introduction to whistle and hand signals, and started with basic hold conditioning and retrieving to hand (previously on a retrieve he would drop whatever was in his mouth.)

In a text message discussion about hunting training techniques his owner commented.

“He’s probably the best-behaved dog I’ve ever owned, and am hoping that trajectory will continue.”