Cinnstar Retriever Training in Lyford Texas

Our training philosophy is that while we have a program that all retrievers can be trained by, each retriever is an individual and the program is tailored and fine tuned to the individual retriever's temperament, abilities, and the owner's goals.

Laura draws from not just her 20 plus years of retriever training experiences, but her 40 years of experience with many different breeds of dogs training obedience, agility, conformation and even horse training. She is always interested in learning new processes/methods. While we have taken seminars and read books from the new generation of retriever trainers, we have also trained with the older generation. These trainers were around before the collar (e-collar) became so popular and they had to rely on drills, "show and tell" teaching, and training by attrition. The Minority Breeds and conformation-bred retrievers require utilizing these methods. Yes, how we train is more time consuming, so we restrict the number of retrievers we train at any given time. Including our own retrievers the limit is about 10 retrievers.

The collar is a great training tool, all of my personal retrievers as well as many client's retrievers are collar conditioned. However we are greatly distressed by many retriever training programs, and obedience programs that stress and promote the collar like some magic wand for better dog training. It is not. The collar is not a teaching tool, it is a correction tool, especially useful for corrections at a distance. But you have to TEACH first. You can not correct a dog for something it does not know. The collar can cause great and potentially devastating emotional harm if used incorrectly. It is not something a beginning trainer should use without constant supervision and training from someone who understands the collar. In training each retriever, I stress the need to understand the individual retriever's temperament and talent/abilities. How to use that knowledge to your advantage. The collar is often NOT the answer to a given problem. Just because they wear the collar does NOT mean they get corrected with it every time they train. Many retrievers go weeks without a collar correction. We recommend Tri-tronics e-collars. They are superior both in construction and ease of use. We are a member of the Tri-tronics Influentials Club.

We strongly believe that your retriever can be a great companion not just in the blind, or at a hunt test/field trial, but in your home. The notion that you have to keep your retriever out in a kennel, not living in your home, and not allowing your children play with your retriever is out of date and wrong. We believe that retrievers are smart enough to understand "work is work and play is play". There is a whole world of difference between your kids playing ball in the yard, and field work.

Read about The Cinnstar Method of Training Retrievers: The Balanced Method, in this great .pdf article!

We invite you to visit the Cinnstar Toller pages of the website. This section includes many articles, including ones on training retrievers, breeding and ethics that will fully introduce you to us.

Ethics in Retriever Training

We feel that our ethical practices reflect on our clients. By reading our article on Breeders Ethics , I feel you will get a good idea where we stand in regards to that topic. The Professional Retriever Trainers Association (PRTA) has a code of ethics that we feel is a good example of retriever training ethics, which we fully support.

We evaluate each retriever fairly to determine that the goal is consistent with the retriever's talents and abilities. We do this on a continuing basis, and will let you, the client, know if the retriever is not capable of the goal you had set for it. Whether in training or at a trial or test, we demand professionalism and good sportsmanship.

We believe in the fair treatment of our retrievers. We abhor the violence we sometimes see passed on as "tough correction" in retriever training. Humans should not take out their frustrations on their canine companions.

We believe in ethical treatment of the birds we use in training. The use of birds is a fact of retriever training. Further, the more birds you use on marks, the better the performance of the retriever. Training birds not used as shot flyers, are dispatched in the most humane way possible, by injection. We value life, and do not want any animal to suffer.

We also believe that a clients ethics, reflect on us as well. We expect our clients to hold and conduct themselves with the same ethical and professional standards as we do.

Retriever Training For The Conformation and Multi-Venue Retriever

We feel we are uniquely qualified to work with the conformation bred and multi-venue retrievers because we show in Conformation with our Tollers, and compete in Obedience and Agility as well. To find out more about Cinnstar Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers, please visit the Cinnstar Toller pages of the website.

Read About Retriever Training For The Conformation Retriever Here

The Training Process

We do not believe that one can do a proficent job of training your retriever in less then three months time. A week or more is used up in the dog adjusting to the kennel, and evaluating what the retriever knows. We train for a level of competency, and we do not believe that a two month program will accomplish this.

Many times clients wish us to train something specific, such as for large water, heeling on the right side, getting in/out of an air boat. We are happy to accommodate our clients and fine tune our training program to our clients needs and desires.

We also work out any behavioral issues be it in the field or home, and encourage clients to tell us about their specific problems or concerns they might have with their retriever.

Our Young Retriever Program In a typical young dog program, the force fetch takes between 4 and 8 weeks to the point where the retriever is delivering birds on marks to hand at heel. In general Minority Breeds will take a longer period of time then a field trial bred Lab as you can put more pressure on the Lab and proceed at a faster rate. This leaves precious little time to get the retriever marking to a point where the retriever will be successful in its first hunt.

In a three-month period, the retriever will: heel on or off leash and sit automatically, sit and lay down off leash with handler 30 feet away, come when called going into the heel position, force fetched and delivering birds to hand at heel, and complete simple, short back-to-back singles on land and water. Begining Retrievers will NOT be fully steady (thou not out of control), collar conditioned (optional) or shore broke. The level of performance greatly depends on the retriever's previous retriever training, and the ability of the retriever to learn retrieving concepts and force fetch. In general Minority Breeds/Conformation Bred retrievers will NOT be advanced enough to compete at a Working Certificate level. This will take another month of training.

Our Junior Hunter Program We estimate that it will take about 6 months training to acquire a JH for a Minority breed/conformation-bred retriever. Field bred Labs may accomplish this in a shorter peroid of time. We try to schedule your retrievers stay with us to corespond with the hunt test season. Retrievers on a JH program will be collar conditioned and forced fetched, obedience required for fieldwork (see Young Retriever Program above for details). Some shore breaking, reasonably, but not fully steady. They will be able to run reasonably complex back-to-back single marks on land and water as required of a JH level retriever.

Advanced Training at Cinnstar With further training we can successfully compete with your retriever in all levels of hunt tests and field trials. We are experts in training retrievers to handle. After all handling is just an obedience exercise and Laura has been training obedience since 1966. Ian, Laura's first Field Trail Retriever and the only Toller to earn Open All Age points in Canada (before AKC recognition) was known for his cold water blinds. Ian took a second in Open All Age at 28 months breeder, owner, trained and handled. At Cinnstar we feel we have the experience and knowledge to train ANY breed of retriever to the highest level of retriever competition.

When to Start

The best age to start serious field training is at 6-8 months of age. We start training our puppy's (Tollers) at 5 weeks of age. But the serious training begins at 6 months when we start obedience training and force fetch. We understand that your retriever might be older, and we accept retrievers of any age and amount of previous training experience (or lack of). The younger a retriever is introduced to the field environment and birds the better result can be expected. Puppies do not have preconceived notions like an older retriever, or acquired bad habits. Obedience training for a CD (or higher degree) degree can be accomplished at this time, but work in the field is stressed. We encourage you to read the training articles presented on this web site. They will further introduce you to our thoughts and methods.

Owner Participation

Training retrievers in the field requires owner participation. Retrievers are run on marks almost every day, and people are required to throw marks. Yes, there are some pretty neat automatic wingers one can use, but they cannot take the place of a real person. While we do hire a few people to help throw, and train with other trainers, it is cost prohibitive to hire several throwers every day. Thus owners (that live in the area) are expected to come out once a week to throw birds. This is even more important if the owner wants to run his or her own retriever or hunt over it. The more an owner comes out to train with us and runs their retriever, the better equipped they will be to handle it at the test/trials/hunting situations. Another facet of owner participation is that it creates a support group. While often it is more convenient to come out on the weekend, we encourage owners to come out during the week. Hunt Tests and Field Trials are on the weekend, so when the retrievers are ready we will be there, not training. For owners shipping their retriever to us (McAllen-MFE is the best airport), we suggest that you arrange three days to a week at the end of your retrievers stay to come out and train with us. Once your retriever finishes training you are ALWAYS welcome to come out and train with us.

Many professional trainers discourage clients visiting or watching their retriever being trained. Especially the force fetch. Not us. I ask you, what are they trying to hide, or what are they afraid that you will see? We at Cinnstar are proud of our training and methods, and invite anyone to come over, visit or watch, and encourage the client to be an active participant in their retrievers training. However, we are not always home, we do not keep regular business hours. We request that you call and make arrangements first. Further some Professional trainers discourage email and phone progress reports. To me, communication on the progress of your dog is Part of the Program. Evenings are the best time to call, and email is preferred. I try to email clients once a week on their retriever's progress.

Meet The Current Cinnstar Retrievers

Where We Train

We live in Lyford, South Texas, in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley, and have the good fortune to have hundreds of private acres and neumerous ponds available to train on. There is also some public land available. The terrain varies from flat to rolling. We are always on the lookout for new and interesting places to train. Click here to see a seperate page of training areas.

Kennel Facilities

Our new kennel facilities are designed and built with your retrievers comfort and health in mind. Our plans are to have 6 runs indoor/outdoor and two 10 x 10 outside runs. Cement with three foot block walls separating each retriever from its neighbor,and heavy gage chain link. 6 x 4 inside, and 6 x 10 outside. The inside has heavy rubber horse matting and carpet or blankets for retriever comfort. Fans keep air circulating. Outside the runs are completely covered, and a mist system will be installed to reduce the high summer temperatures.

News Flash! The first three indoor/outdoor kennel runs are now complete. Click here to go to a separate page of the building of our retriever training kennels.

Good Sanitation is very important for overall good health. Runs are picked up frequently, disinfected and hosed out daily. Waste is removed by a direct line to the city sewer system.

Retrievers are worked hard almost every day; they do not need a large kennel space. The outside of the kennel facilities adjoins the one acre fully fenced (6 foot chain link and board fence) citrus orchard. Retrievers are let out in compatible groups to exercise and socialize during morning kennel clean up. The owner might wish to leave a blanket, toys or bones for the retriever to have in the run. We wash blankets and toys frequently. Every night I rotate retrievers and give them house time if they are housebroken.

Our Dog Truck

Read about the features of our Custom Deerskin Pro 16 dog box on a F350 Ford chassis.

Feeding for Superior Results

We believe that superior nutrition is extremely important for a working dog. Yes, it does cost more, but we feel that the results are well worth it. After years with the Eukanuba/Iams Company and becoming very disillusioned, we are in search of a small, progressive company not owned by any huge conglomerate that offers super premium dog food: No By Products, Fillers, Corn, Wheat or Soy. NO Gluten from any source (ie the pet food recall), No added flavorings, salt or ingredients that are banned for human consumption.

We are happy to work with the owner if you want to feed a different brand of food. There is no discount for special feeding. We also are happy to feed any kind of required supplements you provide. We will consider feeding BARF diets on a case-to-case basis. The Cinnstar Toller web site has a long article on how we feed our Tollers .

Private and Group Lessons

We are happy to arrange private and group lessons. In December we will be starting a new training group in Lyford Texas for all breeds and levels of retrievers. Come and join us for Winter Training. The weather is perfict down here.

YES we are Available for Seminars

Cinnstar has four exciting seminars available. Two are four day workshops and two are presented in a weekend format. I feel strongly that there is no way you can go into any detail, offering a complete training program from starting puppies to a SH (or MH) level retriever in a weekend format. Also the interest in such a group of people is so diverse in this kind of seminar. I feel people benefit the most from a seminar designed around a specific goal, or interest. Please call or email for details

Training Costs and Health Requirements

To View a Photo Gallery of Some of the Retrievers Trained at Cinnstar Click Here.

ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE WRITE, EMAIL OR CALL