Larry Krohn is a special agent for the U.S. Government Department of Homeland Security. He also leads a secret double life as one of Nashville’s top professional dog trainers. Although in truth… that’s probably not a secret to anybody living in the Nashville area.
Larry recently wrote about his morning rituals with his dog, Luca. I think Larry is right on the mark with this approach (below): He makes his dogs work by incorporating their training into his every day lifestyle– which is exactly what I advocate in my dog training books, too. (You can read more about those in this article.)
In fact, it’s something that you’ll find pretty much all top trainers do.
Here’s how Larry describes it:
Luca’s Morning Ritual
“I open his crate in my kitchen and make him calmly walk with me to the garage door or else he will run circles around the table. I enter the garage, have him sit while the garage door is opening. I go outside first, I call him to me and I place him in a down-stay while I fill his water bowl.
He is already working because he is ready to run.
He holds a down-stay while I go to get his ball and chuck it. Then I release him and give him his bathroom command.
After he pees, we are ready to play. Every time before I throw the ball I will have him do a few different commands, mixing things up. I throw and he runs and retrieves.
Sometimes I let him just run around for a while and sometimes I have him bring it right back, it’s never the same. When I am done, I down him, put his toy away while he stays in a down, then I release him so he can drink. The point here is that this all took ten minutes or less and he has received mental and physical stimulation, plus good exercise before he eats and I leave for work. Now he can relax while I’m gone all day. If you have a dog you must do something to feed his mind and body, and it dies not take long.”
Larry owns Pakmasters Dog Training that serves Nashville and Kentucky.