DFW Duck Dog Training

Marks-A-Lot Kennels, Zion Kennels, Wolf Creek Retrievers, Cripple Creek Retrievers to name some. There are a TON in East Texas. Those listed above are in the upper tier in gundog and Hunt Test Training. Stick to someone with a good reputation and operation. Stay away from hillbilly backyard trainers who have only been doing it for 2 years and have no accolades, there are plenty of them out there.

What interaction or incident with Dan Kielty brings you to that opinion?

Obviously, I disagree, I recommended him. I have ran multiple tests along side Dan and some of his assistants and have never had any negative interactions. I also have had 2 puppy buyers send dogs to him with good results.

I'm curious to what he did for someone to bash him on a public forum like that. If it is a serious issue, I would possibly not recommend him again.

FWIW When I send a dog off, the trainer's people skills are the last of my concerns. As long as there are no money/business concerns, the dog's health and attitude are not neglected, and the training is up to my standard than I couldn't care less if the guy tips the Sonic girl or not in his free time. They're dog trainers, not necessarily the cream of the crop when it comes to people skills.

Dan is by all means very successful at passing dogs at AKC events and knowledgeable at his trade. However, the guy is a first class dick IMO. I Purchased and had a golden trained by him for a brief stint. Mind you this was not my first golden or dog to be professionally trained. I feel I’m knowledgeable enough to know how trainers work with each having their own system to an extent which is all fine.
In a nutshell, I had a 6 month agreement signed with him for gun dog training. Checked in monthly as to not bother him too much. Came 5 months of training and the dog was 11 months old and I wanted to see where she was at because he was being vague and I had a feeling things were not great. After being avoided I finally got a date to visit his kennel and my dog. Needless to say, I felt like the dog was just there to rent a kennel space. She would barely retrieve short marks and didn’t do much else besides possibly fetch a fun bumper. I told him right there that I was not pleased and he could have told me early that the dog didn’t have the drive or something. I told him we were not going to continue her training, but to finish out the 6 months and I’d come pick her up. Well he went off, mother f’n me and the dog until enough was enough. He cussed me for not staying “committed”, then cussed the dog for being less than talented and a POS. Funny part about that was it was a pup from his Tide breeding and I suppose in the moment he forgot. After that, paid the $650 and peaced out on him. Maybe he was having a bad day, maybe he has other issues, just maybe he was a dick.

Any thoughts on Roger from Landmark in Ennis, TX? People keep referring him. He claims the basic gun dog will be done in 8-10 weeks and most trainers seem to think it will be 4 months. I’ve spoken with Cripple Creek and they seem to be a good outfit but the number of dogs there at a time kinda scares me off. If I’m spending what these folks are charging I damn sure don’t want to kennel space.

Define ‘Basic Gundog”???
Lots of definitions are made for tv bs and don’t mean squat to most real trainers. Sitting in an outdoor expo listening to pretend dog trainer repeatedly tell his animals to sit. I would make him cry with my critique of his program.

Anderson Gun Dog Ranch

They trained my GSP and she is amazing. they are very patient and will definitely work with YOUR dog as opposed to your dog working with THEIR program. If they can train a gsp they can train most anything. I can’t say how happy I am with how she turned out.

Good Luck!

It’s not the money. The 8-10 week program is more than the 4-5 month programs. Everyone keeps steering me back Landmark, so I’m sure he’s produced great dogs. Just skeptical of the time frame.

Go look at his 10 week dogs and then look at others 5 month dogs. Setting hard time lines when training animals is a rule only con men use to shake money trees. Most problems occur because the guy with the money has zero clue what he is supposed to see until he compares what he paid for versus another better trained animal.
One really good pro can train 20 dogs MAX by himself, 30 MAX with a hand. If he doesn’t summer north, cut it back to 15/25 but any real pro is going north for the summer. I’m willing to bet those who are pimping your guy have no clue.

Tough situation to make an outside decision on being that I know how that situation/story often occurs from both sides. Sounds like you know dogs, but Dan has solid performance record, so that's a tough one to digest without both sides. Could be that someone's upset that they bought a plug puppy, or it could be that the trainer was just cashing checks.

I've been on the same side as you with ridiculous money tied up in dogs and not being satisfied with results. It's a shitty feeling, especially being that my puppy was a once in a lifetime breeding. I'll never know if the dog got a fair chance or the dog was just a POS, a major missed opportunity. I learned my lesson though and now keep my dogs within reasonable driving distance and go monthly for hands on evaluations.

How'd your pup end up after you pulled it? What was the end result of the dog?