I’ve been spending a LOT of time down at Town Lake the last few days. Several of my clients have made it to the point in their training where we have to start practicing with LOTS of distractions and craziness going on and there’s no place better than under the Mo-Pac bridge at town lake.

Last night I had a rare and wonderful pleasure. A client that I had worked with several months ago wanted to meet me down there to work with her six month old Golden named Friday. The last time I saw Friday he was tiny pup of 10 weeks that was doing well with his training but he was still a pup. Well, last night, Friday heeled with his owner right up to me and sat down like a perfectly behaved dog and waited for me to pat him. Even being a trainer is still amazes me when one of my client’s dogs shows such skill and good manners! I was thrilled.

Friday heeled around the lake with us, fetched some sticks in the water and generally was a fantastic dog. The only thing the owner was concerned about was his biting the leash after he got out of the water and was bouncing around in an excited state. We worked on that for a bit and then Friday heeled back to the cars like the perfect gentleman.

So, I’ll miss working with Friday but I’m sure I’ll see him down at the lake with his owner while I’m working with other clients trying to get them to his level.

So, if you see me down at Town Lake working with clients come on over and say “Hello”. We’ll use you as a distraction for the pup we’re working with!

Steve Haynes
Austin Dog Trainer
Fidelio Dog Works