Lianne Shinton (00:00)

Hey everybody and welcome to my podcast. I am Lianne Shinton from Automation Dogs and today I am going to be interviewing Felix Rosado. Hi Felix. I love your name. And he is from Dog Training Beyond. And then as I mentioned, I'm from Automation Dogs. I'm a dog trainer myself. I love to talk with other dog trainers and then my system that I built for dog trainers.

Felix (00:12)

you

Lianne Shinton (00:28)

we help dog trainers to have better customer service. So let's get started in talking about dog training beyond. And I see like your tagline, superior results, superior services serving. And I'm probably gonna enjoy saying this one, because it's fun word to say, pookeepsey.

Felix (00:52)

⁓

You want to what's even worse than that? Try to spell it.

Lianne Shinton (00:59)

Did I say it right? Because I had to say Pookeepsie. Pookeepsie.

Felix (01:01)

said right, said right. No, you said it right, Poughkeepsie. But

when I first moved here, I had to learn how to use the word, I had to learn how to spell it. Now that's a pain in the butt. I've been saying Poughkeepsie for a long time, I just had to learn how to spell it. Poughkeepsie, yep.

Lianne Shinton (01:14)

I'm in a...

So it's Poughkeepsie. Okay,

New York, and you've got that wonderful New Yorker accent. I just love listening to people with accents, so I'm really gonna enjoy our talk today. So thank you so much for joining me.

Felix (01:33)

How

you doing?

Lianne Shinton (01:37)

I like it, I like it so much. It's always enjoyable for me to listen to someone with an accent from wherever. And then I find that I'll start mirroring people. So by the end of the podcast, I may have a bit of a New York accent. Awesome. So ⁓ tell me a little bit ⁓ about you and Dark Training Beyond. Give us the gist.

Felix (01:50)

No, but that's fine with me. That's fine with me.

Well, first off, if you were to ask me, you know, a long time ago, if I was about being a dog trainer, I would never have guessed that. So dog training came out of nowhere. I guess started at beginning. I got my first dog and I wanted to learn how to

be a better dog owner. I'm very psycho, very weird. ⁓ Before I even got my first dog, I was doing research. I was like, what type of balls to get? Where should I feed him? Should I get elephant? What's the best food? What type of dog do I want? And then I decided Jim Shepherd. Okay, what kind of Jim Shepherd do I want? What kind of look do I want? Do I want this or that look? So I spent hours and hours on the computer. ⁓

Unfortunately, it didn't work at the time, just researching what dog I wanted. And then ⁓ eventually ⁓ I went through a few trainers myself, just like everyone else. And then I ran into my first mentor and then he's like, I was telling him I wanted to bring my dog in for born training, because he did born training type of thing.

and he's like why don't you join my trainer's course? I'm like okay he's like you'll be able to get more out of it I'm like all right I was I was currently in the police academy at the time and as soon as I finished the police academy um I did his course and then I stayed with him for like almost three years hands-on and um what really drove me to uh

become a dog trainer was I wrote with the canine department in my county. And ⁓ I saw lot of mistakes, a lot of that shouldn't be going on. Even though I wasn't really skilled, I didn't know what I was doing, but I knew it wasn't right. I'm like, I could do this. I could learn how to do this myself. So I did his course and stayed with him for almost three years. then after that, separate, apart ways.

and then start learning from different people, different trainers. And now you know there's such a world out there.

Lianne Shinton (04:33)

Yeah,

it sounds like you're kind of well with researching that you did to find your first dog. I'm a planner and I really enjoy that that time when I may be planning a vacation or a trip, buying a house. I love planning. So I totally get that process. I think a lot of pet owners though don't plan and

Felix (04:58)

They

do the opposite I'm like the technology is so much out there then I'm talking about 2006 I Was online there's so much more information out there now so much more stuff That people don't know what the game don't know What even to begin the right things and now I was running stuff like that back in that back then

Lianne Shinton (05:14)

Yeah.

Felix (05:29)

and ⁓ I have more information I don't know I don't know some people they just get a dog and wing it

Lianne Shinton (05:32)

Yeah, that's.

Yeah, I totally hear you. And I've had a lot of podcast episodes and this topic has really not come up to dive so deeply into the research and the knowledge basis out there. One thing that comes to mind is we as dog trainers commonly have these cool videos of my dog jumping a job or biting a bad guy and she looks really cool and athletic, but she's a purposely bred working dog doing the work.

And I would think a lot of folks out there probably see a cool video like that and they think, I want my own malinois. And that's where we need to take a little step back and maybe ask Chachi Petit pros and cons of...

Felix (06:24)

Well, now,

nowadays, now, chat, but even like five years ago, there's still a lot of information out there to judge better. Um, that wasn't out there now 20 years ago. Like I said, um, it's just that people just not doing it. They just don't, they're just, unfortunately people are going to be that way. And that's the way things are going be. And unfortunately, you know, people are going to get the wrong type of dog. They're going to get the wrong type of this to go do the wrong type. It'll be doing the wrong thing.

Lianne Shinton (06:27)

Yes.

Felix (06:53)

You know, they're gonna do the wee wee pads to puppy pad thing. They're gonna be doing the, you know, ⁓ laying the dog eat freely type of thing, laying the dog get control of the house type of thing. They're gonna be doing this. It's going to happen because that's what people are. ⁓ I'll fight it. I'll try to fight it. It's just the way it is. It just sucks.

You know, it's just like, you know, any business owner, got a lead, you get some good leads and you get some bad leads. You get, you get everything. And I've had them all. I've had the craziest everything. I've had the craziest leads. had the craziest appointments ⁓ go on. And it's just, it's just, unfortunately it's my luck or it just happens to me, but you know,

You're have it all. You're gonna have it all. And you're have the people that just get the wrong dog and just do everything possible wrong. You're just gonna have it.

Lianne Shinton (07:55)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, you just gave such a great short list there. And that's where I think someone like you is a really good resource because you're very blunt about these things. And sometimes that is what people need to hear, especially if you can catch them before they get that dog. Because I think to elaborate on that, it's not that it's the wrong dog, it's the wrong dog for your family, like square peg, round hole, just like me going out and getting

a dog that doesn't want to work and wants to lay on the couch. And then I'm like, come on, buddy, we're going to be a world champion doc dog. Like I need to make sure that I have criteria and that that that dog checks the boxes for fitting my needs.

Felix (08:44)

I don't

even bother anymore. That's not bad, but I don't bother anymore. Because I used to try to help people with that and warn people and they still do it. They get the wrong dog. And the part is sometimes they're lucky. They have success so far. But they just get the wrong dog. I try to warn them and they just don't listen to me and they're just...

Lianne Shinton (08:57)

Yeah.

Felix (09:14)

They get the dog in and lucky for them, they've worked so far, they've had the dog for a few years and nothing's happened so far. you know, people, I don't bother them anymore because people will do what they want to do. I have people I work with, they love me and stuff like that and they still, I'm like, why you do that? Contact me. I tell you, call me, find out. know, you know, I had this dog, beautiful Jim Shepard, female, very high energy.

Lianne Shinton (09:34)

Yeah.

Felix (09:44)

Um, you know, what, what will you do with a high energy dog? Simple. When you're, when you're not home, you put the dog in the cage, right? Based upon that, the vet decided to put the dog at Prozac. It's like the dog doesn't need Prozac. The dog is just a high edgy dog that needs to be maintained and controlled. That's the dog. She, she a young, I think she was under, she was around one, under one.

I'll say jump shopper high-end dog will destroy the house. So you put the dog in the cage when you're not home. The dog, that doesn't mean they need Prozac. And I'm like, I was like, why didn't you call me? Why didn't you get, let me know. I'm like, this dog's not Prozac for no reason. And it was never do anything. So I get to a point that I I don't even bother because I'll let them know, but they'll take it. So it doesn't bother me.

Lianne Shinton (10:22)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I get where you're at, but I think it's good, like some of the, to put it out there in hopes that maybe someone will benefit from this conversation today. Some of the lists that you brought up, like the PP pads, the free feeding, I'd like to dive into some of those, like why as trainers are we not super fond of those options?

Felix (10:42)

Yo, that doesn't matter.

Well, absolutely, I hope so too.

Lianne Shinton (11:11)

Throw a couple more out there and feel free to jump on like the topic that you'd like to kind of jump into but ⁓ Purchasing two puppies at the same time that our siblings

Felix (11:24)

I've actually had that a few times and they work with me and it actually works out very well. it or not, it works out very well. They just have to do some additional stuff but it works out very well. Actually that's one of the ones that doesn't bother me that much because if they do the work it works out well. I've had that a few times. I had this really nice guy.

He took, I guess his 50s or something like that, retired. What does he do? He buys two puppies, two Jump Shepherd puppies. He literally bought one, went down the street and bought another puppy, you know, and they were same age, they were very close. And he's like, this is I want to do, I'm retired, I want to celebrate in a way and this is I want to. I'm like, okay, let's get to work.

And it turned out very well. It turned out very well. You just had to do some extra work, but it turned out very well. That's one of the ones that don't bother, that really doesn't bother me too much.

Lianne Shinton (12:34)

Yeah, ⁓ I think as trainers sometimes we can see fights ⁓ with the two puppies as maybe they go through adolescence, even if they're not related. But I have a stepsister, you know, and you become like siblings and you're going through adolescence at the same time. you know, it's like, you don't want to share. So something can come up.

that can cause some conflict within the sibling rivalry. So I think that's why as dog trainers, you know, we're like a little bit triggered. If someone calls, they said, I have two puppies. I've, you know, I've got them at the same time. But I love that you're, you know, it's okay. It's okay that folks have not done the research and they've kind of got themselves in a bit of a bind. I am here and let's deal with it. I love that.

Felix (13:24)

Yes,

I always tell them, I'm like, let's get to work. Let's just do it. It's too late already. You got the two puppies, right? not gonna get rid of one, put it in the shelter. So they have, no, the dogs, you just have to work harder and that's what they have to do. Either work harder or pay the consequence of not doing the work. no, so far I've had success.

Lianne Shinton (13:27)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Felix (13:52)

with that and it's not very often but it has happened a few times and they put the work into it because they really want it and it works out nicely so ⁓ that's one of few. You know if I had to think about it which one is the one that gets me the most like the one that I hear on the phone and I'm like ⁓ what like I don't know which one would get me the most.

Lianne Shinton (14:17)

got one.

Livestock guardians in like an apartment type situation. That's kind of triggering for me because that's a tough one sometimes. Sometimes like a great Pyrenees, you get the lazy ones that are just wonderful and they just want to lay around and they're so perfect. They want to sit in the backyard though. They don't like to be in the house. But that can be really challenging even with a German Shepherd in an apartment if it's

Felix (14:34)

Yeah.

I

haven't had that really. I haven't had that one really, a guardian dog or a herding dog in the apartment. Because this is my area. It's less apartments than housing and stuff like that. The one that gets me the most, I think it would have to get me the most probably, I would say this one gets me the most. It's happened a couple times, believe it or not.

Lianne Shinton (14:54)

Mm.

Felix (15:11)

They have a dog, a small dog. They had the dog go inside the house for seven years. And then all of sudden, they're moving in two weeks. And they want a house break to talk. I'm like, you've been allowing the dog to go back for seven years inside, and now you want, in two weeks, you want to have the dog not go at all? Okay, good luck. I actually told them good luck.

Lianne Shinton (15:37)

Yeah.

Felix (15:37)

I was like, goodbye. I mean, I'll see. I think it is possible. But in two weeks, I'm like, yeah, good luck.

Lianne Shinton (15:46)

Yeah, diapers.

Felix (15:49)

I don't know what they're doing but then I have to have dog house broken in two weeks after seven years.

Lianne Shinton (15:51)

Hahaha

I think the sense of urgency is fairly common. I would commonly get phone calls with, I'm having a baby and I want to prepare my dog for the baby's arrival. Great, is the baby due? This week. And the dog's never met another human child and the baby is due next week, this week.

Felix (16:19)

I got, you know what, is, I don't know, but I haven't gotten that. What I got is, ⁓ get having a baby, having a puppy and a baby, and then they just don't, they don't put the work into the puppy. ⁓ and then the puppy is suffering and the puppy is being bad and stuff like that. That, that's the one that I, I, I might, you, you have a baby and you got a puppy?

Lianne Shinton (16:30)

Mm.

a lot.

Yeah.

Felix (16:47)

don't you have your hands full um and a lot of times even even people in the patty even once they have like young kids i'm talking like three four something like that five maybe even um their hands are still full they don't have another dog um you know so i i i they just they just they all think it's too small i think they saw the end of uh

Lianne Shinton (16:49)

Yeah.

Yep.

Felix (17:15)

I don't know if you saw the movie, the of the movie, she's having a baby and she has a jump shepherd. I guess they saw that as something because that's like the wrong mistake.

Lianne Shinton (17:18)

Yes.

Yeah, it makes me think, like did you grow up with dogs when you were young?

Felix (17:38)

I want to dog I want to dog very very bad it was I wasn't so 26 27 that dog

Lianne Shinton (17:38)

Alright.

Wow, yeah, I think that it is really cool for a kid to be able to grow up with an animal. It doesn't have to be a dog, but I think it is cool.

Felix (17:57)

But you know

the thing is, I will tell you, this is not only in Dog World, it's also in other...

Other I want to say industries, but I want to say other Hobbies are I don't know what the right word would be but I Think I mean I haven't thought when I was younger. I appreciate it more Than if I had had dogs since I was like 10. I Think I put more work into it Because I didn't have a dog

I think I've done more into it, everything, more research, more education, more everything, because I didn't have the dog than if I was 10 years old and had dog.

Lianne Shinton (18:44)

like deprivation.

Felix (18:46)

Yeah, so I'll give you another example like like um more short what I do more short so more short right wise I struggle not struggle but I have to pay for I have to go and find what I want and pay for what I want

then if like someone has the kid and they have a martial arts school and the kid has access to the martial arts, whatever they want for free, you know what mean? They'll have to that struggle. I have a friend, he's a great martial artist, he has a school, but his oldest son never trained, no one to train. And then now,

Lianne Shinton (19:19)

Yeah.

Felix (19:32)

He's now he's in position. He wants to be he wants to be in the military. He wants to be about maybe even named seal and he's gonna have to learn how to fight in martial arts. But he's had his whole access all this time. He didn't have that struggle. He didn't have that.

Lianne Shinton (19:45)

He had access.

Felix (19:50)

He just, had the access, actually he had the access, he just didn't take it. And I think it's the same with dogs. I think if you have the dogs there, especially young kids, they'll appreciate it as much.

Lianne Shinton (20:03)

Yeah, yeah, that's

Felix (20:05)

Maybe,

maybe, it all depends. It depends on the way they're raised or the way that things are. It's like, it's within the family. People that, I don't know, maybe train dogs or have breed dogs, their parents, they do it type of thing. And they really, really make sure everything's done right. I don't know, I guess it depends how they're raised.

Lianne Shinton (20:27)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, interesting. It's making me think too when I was a kid and you know, I had a dog, family members that had schnauzers and chows and just really like getting excited about the different breeds and things. But yeah, I get why people would want to have a puppy and a baby, but maybe wait until the baby's not so much of a handful and the baby doesn't even know what's going on anyway. At that point, I'm sure I don't know a lot about babies, but.

Felix (21:02)

Yeah, they

don't know what's going on. like I said, I don't think I would have appreciated dogs as much if I had one when I was 10 years old.

Lianne Shinton (21:18)

Yeah.

Felix (21:18)

compared to Leon. Having that struggle, wanting that so bad type of thing.

Lianne Shinton (21:21)

Now you mention.

Yeah, the deprivation. Yeah. So you mentioned that in your area, not a lot of apartments. What types of dogs do you commonly see in that area?

Felix (21:28)

Yeah.

Nothing unique. We're not, no, not everyone. We're known for lot of the pitties, the bully breeds. That's common. It's like, you know, some parts, I guess the South are known for like, uh, uh.

Lianne Shinton (21:56)

hounds and

Felix (21:58)

Like, uh, uh, uh, caroos. You know what mean? Up here is one for the breathing pits and stuff like that. So, but I get, I get everything. mean, I get a reasonable amount of everything. I, don't, every once in I'll get an unusual breed that I'd never had before. And I consider I've been doing this, um,

Lianne Shinton (22:00)

Yeah.

Felix (22:23)

Shoot, it's gonna be 16 years. So considering I've been doing 16 years learning to train dogs, I've been in the dog world 20 years. No, what was it? What's, 2006? Yeah, 20 years I've been in the dog world. I consider my first dog being me going to the dog world, entering the dog world, learning more about the dog world.

But as far as training other people's dogs, it's been 16 years. And I rarely get unusual breeds that I don't run into, haven't ran into already. I don't see, I don't think, I don't think there's one breed I can say that I get 90 % of the time.

I get everything and I want want market to everything even though like ⁓ Sorry there's a fly in here. Even though this even though I Love my breeds, Jerma Shepard's. I love Jerma Shepard's love Belgium Milawas Those are my breeds. would say I loved all breeds, those are my favorite ⁓

Lianne Shinton (23:12)

Yeah.

Felix (23:39)

I'll work with any dog, doesn't matter. And that helps me actually because I have people come to me and they're like, I call this trans, I told what breed I had and she's like, no, I get that, it or not, I've told that quite often to notice it. Like they won't work with some breeds, they won't work with some behavior dogs. I'll work with everything. I don't care if the dog has a bite history.

Lianne Shinton (23:50)

Mmm. Yeah.

Yeah, I've heard that as well.

Felix (24:09)

I don't care. I don't care. I will take precautions. would do all kinds of stuff, but I am going to help that dog no matter what. And that's just me. I don't say everyone should do that. I don't think everyone's built to do that. But it just helps me that I take every breed. I don't focus on one breed per se. Maybe it's a good thing or bad thing. So that way when that training is like, I'm not doing that breed, I do that breed.

Lianne Shinton (24:24)

Yeah.

Felix (24:39)

And I've had, like I said, I've had enough times come up to me that they're like, ⁓ wow, know, they took me down and you didn't. So I like that. I like that a lot. ⁓ Everything I tried to, tried to, business-wise, I tried to ⁓ be more, I guess open or more possibilities.

to work with me than not to

Lianne Shinton (25:13)

Yeah, it sounds like you're such a great resource for that area. Maybe share where folks can find you, like your website URL, and then what that first starting point looks like. Is it a phone call? Is it an evaluation?

Felix (25:30)

Well, first off, number one, they could could find me almost anything. have have whether I have a little thing or have a lot of stuff material. I'm on every social media platform. I'm on Facebook. You have YouTube videos at tons of I have a bunch of YouTube videos. So if you like once, how does he try? How does it it's on their Instagram, all that stuff. So I'm out there.

Lianne Shinton (25:57)

And what would they look up? So I see your website is dtbeyond.com.

Felix (26:02)

Yeah, my

website is dtbeyond.com. could Google that. Just Dog Train Beyond. Just Google that. They could Google that and they'll find, hopefully, I'll be one of the top ones on the page. ⁓ But as far as everything else, they could do just Dog Train Beyond and they should pop up. ⁓ Instagram, ⁓ Facebook, or YouTube.

I usually recommend YouTube because YouTube has tons of videos of me working dogs from every breed to every size. So you want to see how I train the dog? Look that up. If you like what I do, great. If you don't, good luck. Simple as that. If you don't like the way I do things, then that's fine. I'm not, mean, there's plenty of people to help. So they can find me on all that stuff. And then they contact me, we'll talk.

Now depending on how people need help, I need help now, right now. I had that yesterday in fact. That's what, she signed up right on the phone. And they're coming Monday. All right, great. You're not sure, you want to get to know me, we'll talk on the phone and then you guys can come and meet me and we'll do a free lesson, eval. ⁓

I do that for mainly, I'll be honest with I do that mainly for the people, the leads. I'm going to say, I'm gonna work with your dog. I'm not gonna say I'm not gonna work with your dog. I've been here long enough that I've seen enough dogs that it's a blur to me now. You know, do so many emails and work with so many dogs over the years, ⁓ it becomes a blur. And that's not a bad thing, but you know, it's just I work with so many dogs, I'm like.

I know exactly what's going on.

Lianne Shinton (27:56)

Yeah, just to kind of elaborate, because I think I totally get what you're saying. When you've been a dog trainer for a length of time and someone calls with, you know, he's jumping on the family and he knocked my mom down. I get it. To them, this is very unique and it's very personal. But to someone like us that's seen this a hundred billion times, ⁓ we've seen it.

Felix (28:16)

And I went through it.

Lianne Shinton (28:25)

Don't worry, we got you.

Felix (28:28)

Yeah, and oh the one that gets me the most And this is the one that gets me those When I have a car issue right I go to my mechanics Listen my blah blah blah is doing this blah blah blah doing the sound but I don't know what's going on or the lights going blah blah blah blah blah Whatever I tell them right they're like, okay. No problem what they tell you

Bring it in, let me check out, let me look at it. They probably always know what it is, they know the issue. They've gone through a million issues like we have dog wise, they've gone through a car. As soon as they see the car, they know exactly what's going on most of the time.

Lianne Shinton (29:21)

Yeah, the make and model, you can kind of see

the same patterns with the same vehicles.

Felix (29:25)

But dog wise,

we've gone through a bunch of stuff and, you know, got through a bunch of issues and I know how to fix it. I know what's going on. And I push and the thing about is it doesn't I guess it does bother me is that, you know, people call and like, I want you to come and see this. I won't see that 100 times.

And they only want you to come to the house and work with the house. And I tell them the benefit. then, I mean, there are people on the trains that do work in the house, go from, I don't do that. I've had bad experiences with that. I feel like I did do it. I felt like nothing was getting done. The work was not, the dog was not getting any benefits. There was getting the work done and...

We're in the dogs territory. That's my personal opinion. I've worked with the dogs in the house, great, fine, but I usually have the dogs come into me. But when they like, you know, I need you to see this problem. I'm like, I've seen the problem. I exactly know what you're going through, but they are so insistent and sometimes I have to tell them, I don't need to see it. I don't train people at the house. And then I pass up on those leads.

I don't need no because the thing is

You know, oh, they're jumping, they're doing this. I'm like, I've seen it million times. I don't need to see it again. It's a waste. Money is time is money. Saying to everyone. So, I mean, I'm willing to help you, but I see it. It's like the doctor. Doctor, I have this. Oh yeah, I'll give you prescription. I know exactly what's going on. I took my dog a couple years ago. He was going blind. He had his eyes were all cloudy.

And I thought he was blind. Doctor checked, I know exactly what's going on. I think you're not. Two seconds, he's a specialist of course. He's like, I know exactly what's going on. Give him medication, clear up the eye. I'm like, thought he was blind. ⁓ But it's the challenge that bothers me. like, I know what's going on. You're coming for help. I don't need to see it.

Let's move, let's go on, let's start fixing this issue. But sometimes they think that they've never seen it, so you've never seen it.

Lianne Shinton (31:57)

And I think what bothers me too, as someone who's very solution oriented and I know that that extra repetition that the dog now has to show me is not good. Because the more repetitions they have, the harder things are to clean up. And if you come to us and you say, well, I have a husky and he's running away. That's what they do. You're not going to unclip the leash and be like, see?

Felix (32:16)

Yeah.

you

Yeah.

Lianne Shinton (32:28)

So we don't need to see and add another repetition of

maybe, I've had it a lot where it's like, come over to my house. I want you to see how aggressive he is when you come in the front door. And it's like.

Felix (32:37)

Yeah, good.

I seen it. I know what's going on. You know, it's like, I don't need to go over and see it and put myself in a situation that is below the dog. Now I'm on the dog's home turf and the dog feels more empowered. Like they don't understand that, but yet they call you for help. They know what's better.

Lianne Shinton (32:40)

Yeah.

Felix (33:07)

Like I said I was saying before, get the good leads, you get the good people and the bad people, you know? For me, when I was a dog owner, I used to travel 45 minutes to an hour to my trainer. 45 minutes, it wasn't like, oh how far are you? You're 20 minutes? Oh I gotta find a trainer closer. I have that all the time. It's like, I've had people say they're half hour away.

Lianne Shinton (33:31)

Yeah.

Felix (33:38)

And they're too far from me.

half hour away. I used to an hour away. I used to travel an hour away. I used to work, doubles, double shifts, and then take my dog in the morning to go train. And he was an hour away. I traveled when I first got him. I did a boy train. I went three hours away. Not every day, but I did a couple times. And then,

When I was growing as a dog trainer, I had mentors. My mentors were around here. They were hour and a half, Northwest, New Jersey. New Jersey is like, I had a guy I was training with.

Lianne Shinton (34:18)

Mm-hmm.

Felix (34:32)

two hours away, three hours away, sorry, three hours away. You know, so it's funny, these people, they're like, oh, you're 30 minutes? Oh my God, oh, you're too far. 30 minutes? It's like, it just, that gets me a lot too. I'm too far. I was a dog owner, I didn't even say, oh.

You know, is that too far? It's like, can I do that? You know, and I still made it. I still made it happen. Like I said, the guy was about our way for me. The guy, my trainer and I used to go there once a week and we trained and I still went about our, I was training underneath him every week, I still went about our trained all day with the dogs and him and then came home.

Lianne Shinton (35:04)

Yeah.

Felix (35:31)

You not our home. I just don't get it. It all depends on people. People are funny, like I saying. You're going to deal with all kinds of people, you're going deal with all kinds of issues, you're going deal with all kinds of stuff, as you know. you know, it just doesn't bother me anymore. I just think it's funny. My friends, my other trainers think I'm crazy because I kept the old Lululees. I don't know if it's because of New York or what.

Lianne Shinton (36:01)

You're funny.

Felix (36:02)

I don't

know what's New York. think it's just because it's New York. really do. Not even New York. They're in New York. Wanda was in New York. She's in Pondham and she doesn't get the crazy like I do. It's true. It's true.

Lianne Shinton (36:18)

I think too, I'm glad you brought up the, to us as dog trainers, we're like, we're all in on dogs. I love dogs. Dogs are so cool. Like 40 hours a week training my dog, let's do it. So it's hard for us to wrap our heads around people that are like, ⁓ 20 minutes, that's too far. But I think on the positive side, if you think about it, if you're one of those people that are like, I want it to be really convenient, like within five minutes of my home.

Felix (36:25)

Yeah.

Lianne Shinton (36:45)

This isn't something that you need to do for the rest of your dog's life. You're going to learn the things, you implement them, and then it becomes a way of life and you don't need your hand held by that trainer all of the time. So yeah, it might be a few weeks of driving, ⁓ maybe longer, but the end result is going to be better because you're with a trainer that is going to get you the results.

Felix (37:07)

I had one woman had pet told by two trainers in her area. She was ⁓ Queens, I think she was Queens, something like that. Which is far for me. I only have two hours away, right? Two trainers told her, put the dog down. Put the dog down, can't help you.

Lianne Shinton (37:26)

Yes.

Felix (37:36)

came to me she trained for months ⁓ I mean she trained for months months and months and we got this dog to a point was the dog perfect absolutely not but I will tell you what we did get would have that dog would have been dead and unfortunately and unfortunately and unfortunately he did he did pass away but he passed away of cancer he did not pass away because he was put down

⁓ this dog, they had, ⁓ she done trained with me and we did everything, porn, college, economy, all that stuff. No hope dog. She lost power in her, in her house. Con Ed guy came on land on the property. He left and he never told that he was going to come back. Let the dog out.

Dog had nothing on the dog. The dog had nothing. No equipment, no e-collar, no prom collar, Dog, a Ed guy comes on property. Dog's right there. Like she was telling me the story. She had her baby in her arm, her little girl. Her mother was at the door, in the house, the door. And the dog was right in front of the Con Ed guy. Before that dog would have bitten that guy. prob, no wild question.

Lianne Shinton (38:33)

⁓

Felix (39:03)

Well, she had the baby in her arms, don't eat cow, no equipment, close the door, come to her, go in the house. Dog did exactly that. Her mom was able to close the door, dog was safe. That would not have happened. Now, ⁓ it was luck or whatever, but that saved the train, the dog.

Lianne Shinton (39:18)

Wow.

Felix (39:27)

And she told me that story and that was great. And that's what happened with Munster Training. That Munster Training saved that dog from being put down. Because that dog would have bitten that guy and I know it would have been a mess, a disaster, and that dog would have been put down. Most likely that dog would have, and that dog was a tough, strong dog. He would have gone after that, bite and then run away. Bite and attack.

Lianne Shinton (39:34)

Mm-hmm.

Wow.

Felix (39:58)

nothing happened. Dog had a happy life, got to grow a few years with her baby, her little girl, who could do anything to a dog, dog died of unfortunate cancer, which is not great, but at least it's better than being put down because, you know, had bitten someone, you know, so.

Lianne Shinton (40:00)

Wow.

Felix (40:25)

But I like that because she put the work into it. She came in. She drove an hour and half, two hours. Traffic sometimes. She put the work into it. Meanwhile, I get these people, you know, I need help. Please help me. Help me. You want help? I'm going to help you. And I will help you. But you got, you got, no, it's got to you got to really want it. You got to really want it. If you want it, I'll help you. And I will be there to help you as much as I can.

But you got really what? No, 20 minutes. Oh, it's too far. 20 minutes too far. Me and my sister drove an hour and half, two hours, months, almost probably a year. And she did that for her dog.

Lianne Shinton (41:00)

it.

The two parts of that story that really stood out to me, because we talked earlier about how you don't train in their house. So she came to you, you mentioned that a bunch of times, that she's come to you. Now the situation that you just described, everybody could understand why that could have gone south very, very, very, very badly. So she did the work and then she was able to get the results in her house without you there.

Felix (41:26)

I love you, man.

Lianne Shinton (41:34)

So that's kind of like, yeah, you may have to drive 20 minutes to get to Felix, but you're gonna be able to handle extreme situations like that where someone just lets your dog out and you could call them back and you're holding the baby, which makes the dog a little bit more protective. You're in your house and the dog didn't bite anybody. And she was able to handle that without the equipment and the baby in her arms. So that's empowering.

Felix (41:58)

Yeah, no, nothing

on the dog. The dog was completely, completely naked.

Lianne Shinton (42:06)

Yeah, that is quite a dramatic transformation and also empowerment that it's worth putting in the work because it's going to be lasting.

Now, is there anything else that you wanted to share about dog training beyond?

Felix (42:28)

Well, the one thing I can say is, ⁓

I can definitely help people. I can help them as much as they want to help. If they want the help, I can help them. ⁓ I try to understand people for when they need it, what's going on with them. So I understand. They'll have to... ⁓ perfect example. Let me just give this one thing.

I get I I I've had a local and I'm put the slate down. I don't know her name so I can't say her name but she's a local trainer and she yells at people. She yells at people. They make mistakes or they do something wrong. They yell at people. She yells at them. I'm like what the what kind of kind of trainer are you? What kind of person are you to be yelling at um people that are looking for your help?

Why are yelling at them for? Because they don't know what you know? Because they make mistakes? They're gonna make mistakes. They're all making mistakes. That's why they pay you. So, I'm not like that. I'm really laid back as far as that goes. You're here, you're all gonna make mistakes. You know, and I had people act like, I had people come to me and they are, they're confused, they don't know what they're doing, blah, blah. And I'm like,

Lianne Shinton (43:30)

Yeah.

Felix (43:59)

That's why you're here. That's why you're here. So don't worry about it. You're gonna mess up. You're doing a horrible job, but that's because you don't know anybody. And that's what I'm gonna help you with. So that helps, that helps them. So if you work with me, I'm ready to lay back. I'm here for the dog. As long as you put the work into it and you're here for the dog, I'll be.

help you guys that I help whoever and I've done it before and I could continue doing it you know if the ones that people have to need they they like they have that means like this I'm good I need you tell me what to do I'm gonna help you but I'm not gonna yell at you that's that's one of the worst things I ever heard you know yell at the person that the people are asking for your help

Lianne Shinton (44:47)

Yeah, yeah.

Felix (44:48)

Like, you

know, and people take it, I think some people, some trainers take it too seriously in a way. Like, you gotta take it serious, but you can't take it so serious that you like yell at the person or you're like angry. It's not gonna make things any better. It's not gonna make things better. You know, I've been around other trainers and stuff like that and I've learned what I don't wanna be like. I've learned that what I wanna be.

Lianne Shinton (45:02)

You're not having fun.

Yeah.

Felix (45:18)

the way that I would want my training to be. And hopefully I can picture that. And I do that. know, like, her Nellie, she talks about her personal life, most of the lesson. People are there for one hour.

They want to hear what my favorite TV show is and whether he won that episode or he won that thing that was winning the world, saving the world. Don't get me wrong, I do talk about this and that. We fall into conversation. But I'm not saying, you know what, listen, I got this personal issue and I need to tell you about it next half hour, 45 minutes. It's like, no, let's talk about the dog. Let's get to work. Let's do the dog. And in the middle, we'll talk about...

Lianne Shinton (45:43)

You

Felix (46:04)

You know, I've talked to people about TV shows and stuff like that. We had Saint-Sylvain favorite TV shows and stuff like that. But it's like, I'm not going to talk about my personal life, 45 minutes, and 15 minutes talking about your dog. When people come train with me, it's like, we're going to get to work. We're going to get to work with your dog. And we talk, and I've had this, we talk 45 minutes. But guess what we talked about? The dog.

Not, not, not, Noah. You know, I got this personal issue and you know, and the sky's falling and you know, stuff like that, you know, so. And then I another train I worked with. This one, he didn't want to answer my questions. Why am I, no, what do you feel? What do you feel? What am I supposed to feel?

Like, he didn't want to answer my questions. He didn't like, why are we doing this for? Later on, I figured out why we're doing it before. But at the time, I was like, why are we doing this for? You know? And I get people answers. I don't make them mystified or anything like that. We're doing this for this reason. And this and this and this. I might go into a tangle, but at least I tell them. So my point is just that I try to give them the value of what they deserve and what they need, the dog needs. Give them the information.

have some fun doing it. actually yell, I do yell at people I work with when they start not having fun. When they start getting upset and stuff like that, I do yell at them. But the thing is, as you know, the dog will feel that. The dog is gonna feel, the dog is not enjoying it. If you're not enjoying it, the dog's not gonna enjoy it. So, you know, it's, I think some trains take it too serious, like the same in the world.

Lianne Shinton (47:42)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it's not fun.

Felix (47:54)

You know,

my eyes, and I've seen this in other industries, they're helping these people, save the world type of thing. You're not saving the world. Even more important jobs out there, you're still not saving the world. People are not gonna know who you are. You're not gonna be written in the books. So don't act like you're saving the world from aliens or something. You know what mean? Take a breath.

Lianne Shinton (48:19)

You

Felix (48:23)

and help the people as best you can, help the dog as best you can, without doing these outrageous things, not yelling at people, not telling the answer because you think you're so much higher than my ear. ⁓ Stuff like that. I give them the answer as much as I can. I try to give them as much information. We're going to get to work. ⁓

You know, stuff like that. And have fun with it. Like I said, I, like I said, I tell them, I yelled at them, like, stop, stop doing that. too tense, relax. You know, the dogs will feel it. The dogs will know you're not having fun. Have fun, enjoy it.

Lianne Shinton (49:05)

Well, let me throw a scenario at you because I've encountered this as a dog trainer. from what you just talked about, it's as we know, it's so important to not just be a coach for the dog, but to be a coach for the people. ⁓ one of the pain points that I see sometimes is where husband and wife, they're kind of squabbling over the dog. The dog behavior is causing friction. Now they get into training with us as the trainers, we're trying to help them.

Dad's not listening and it's just causing a lot of friction within the marriage. Have you encountered situations like that?

Felix (49:46)

Unfortunately, yes, have, I've seen it. They weren't even my client and that's ⁓ Not sad, sad. I shouldn't say sad, it's disappointing. I saw a situation in which the wife, the kids wanted to help get the dog better and the husband sat down, folded it like this on the sofa, his legs, and this is why I don't.

do home lessons, but this was a zoom and he was his thing. His pie was so thing that he wanted to say that it was not gonna work. So I what happened was this was like lesson two. This happened before lesson two, lesson three, which, you know, that's nothing. the dog bit someone and he's basically insane. But, know, I told you that could work.

You know, meanwhile the kids want to save this dog, the wife wants to save this dog, but the husband's like, it's not gonna work. I told you, I told you it's not gonna work. Instead of being like, listen, we're gonna help this, we're gonna be together to help this dog. So yeah, I've unfortunately encountered that. And I've actually had a case one time, this...

Lianne Shinton (50:46)

Yeah.

Felix (51:16)

family brought this dog, wife was bringing the dog, working the dog, husband never want to work the dog. Husband never did the commands. So a place wasn't, he wasn't using a place as a place command, right? He was using place as having the dog walk next to you, close to you. So a let's go, heel. So his definitions weren't right to

what we usually use for like say place or but that's okay because I'll tell people I don't care what the command is you use you can use donut as place as long as the definition is right I don't care what the command is right so if you if you say donut and the dog places and that's what you want and that's the right thing I don't care that's fine but the problem was that the the family the wife wasn't using the same as him he was just

Lianne Shinton (52:01)

Mm.

Felix (52:15)

doing, saying whatever, and it was what she's been doing. And she walks with the dog a lot. So he came in one lesson and he got upset because I was telling him he's not right and she was telling him he was not right. It wasn't just me. I was telling him he's not doing the right thing. And she said, you're not saying the right thing. It's not the way we do it. And he got so upset. He was like, this is a man.

Lianne Shinton (52:32)

Hmm.

Felix (52:45)

He got so upset and said, listen, what's the right thing? What should I be doing? Okay, I got it now. I'll do it now. No, he left my place like a two year old and then canceled the rest of the training. Canceled the rest of the training. And mind you, I help people with payment plan. I shouldn't do this, but I do it to help people. And I know there's a risk.

Lianne Shinton (53:03)

off.

Felix (53:15)

I do payment plans so they can't get it financially through a firm or something like that. I will finance it myself. I'll do payments with them. If that helps them. I was doing payments with them. So I took a chance by helping them and he sort of kicked me in the butt by now saying, oh, we're not going do it no more. We're done. It's because he couldn't take criticism. And she even told me, the wife, he couldn't take criticism.

Lianne Shinton (53:44)

Yeah.

Felix (53:45)

Instead of being there to help the dog and help the wife and help the family, help everyone that loves that dog, Hila has probably gotten in the way. Hila has probably gotten in the way. And I'm used to guys like that anyway. Because I was a cop and I dealt with a of cops that fool crap. It's not because they're cops, they're cops, but they have that personality.

So instead of saying, listen, okay, what am I doing wrong? Okay, I'll go fix it. No, he ran out, like slammed the door, leaving, like a two-year-old, and then, and me and the wife was talking, yeah, he doesn't do it right. He says the wrong things, and I try to correct him, he will listen.

Lianne Shinton (54:18)

Mm-hmm.

Mmm.

Felix (54:42)

And I cracked him. when he was there, I cracked him. No, I'm like, this is not the... You could do it at this point, but you can't do it at this point. You could do it this point, but you can't do it this point. And he's like, he just didn't... He's like, what? It's because he wasn't following the training or he got this confused. Whatever it was, and he couldn't take it. And then she was saying the same thing. And he just, he let his emotions take over him. And then he canceled training with me.

And then he blamed me. Meanwhile, she was saying the same thing.

Lianne Shinton (55:13)

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And that's why I asked you that question because I figured with the police training de-escalation and just the way you're talking now, I'm like, bet you would probably be very successful with these kinds of situations where we have our husbands and we know that...

Felix (55:33)

If

they're to help and take part, will help. I will work with anyone. I don't care who comes. I will work with anyone. But the thing is, you're not going to make a horse drink water. You're not. You're just not. I don't care who you're. know, there's a lot of these trainers out there, a lot of these people, they think that they say something and it's going to change the world. I hate this. And I don't want to sound like, you know, bad.

It's not gonna change the world. put your voice out. If I do put my voice out there, it's just ⁓ a self thing of laying my lease, if you will. But I don't think I'm gonna change, because listen, we can't allow these dogs to do this. No one's gonna listen to me. They're not gonna listen to me. So a lot of these trans, they think that their wood is gold and no, it's not. So, and...

Lianne Shinton (56:18)

Yeah.

Felix (56:29)

Going back to the owners, it's the same thing. If I say something, they're not gonna take it. They might take it, they might not. But if they don't wanna take it, I can't lead them to war. And I've seen this husband thing a few times. I even see the wife, it happened to the wife that she was doing same thing. And they just get this ego thing. Instead of focusing on what needs to be done,

They're focusing on themselves and their emotions. Give me one more real quick thing. You might have seen this.

Lays in the home depot. Her dog gets attacked. She's with a friend.

And her dog is getting attacked and she goes on the ground instead of stopping helping her dog, she goes on the ground like that. Her friend or family is still helping the dog. The dog gets out, they break the fight and she's still on the ground like palling and not care and her back is to her dog.

Right? So she doesn't know if her dog's loose or what. But she's so into her own self instead of helping. What's task at the point? Save your dog. That's the task. No, she goes to this fit. She's like, her dog's behind her, it's going on behind her.

Lianne Shinton (57:55)

Mm-hmm.

Felix (58:05)

And they release, they separate the dogs, the dog's fine, but she doesn't know that because her back is to them. So she's allowing her emotions, instead of doing what has to be done, she's allowing her emotions to take over. And unfortunately, people do that all the time, not in that drastic thing, but they allow that to happen. And that's what happened with these other, these husbands.

You know, and I see great husbands, see great families, I see great owners, I see bad owners. I've them all. you know, they, like the first one was saying, he's like, I told you I right. I told you. I told you. And then instead of jumping in to help, help them. He's just, he's laying back on the sofa, his arms crossed, his legs up. And he's like this. Me and the kids and the wife were trying to train the dog.

Just saying that dog, dog had bitten someone. Right? Husband's just like this.

Lianne Shinton (59:04)

Yeah.

I would think that that would be a big motivator sometimes in a family with a dog that is causing friction in the family, just like kids cause friction in families. And, you know, someone reaches out to us dog trainers because they want someone in their corner. They know what needs to be done. They know they need a trainer. They know they need help, but maybe their spouse is making things more difficult. So I think having someone like you in, in their corner to help navigate that you've explained some

more extreme situations, I'm sure you're fantastic with helping people in this situation who wants someone in their corner. But it's good for me to hear as a fellow dog trainer because I've been in that situation before with male chauvinistic folk and it's challenging for me and I'm like, boy, how do I deal with this? So yeah, you sound like a fantastic trainer to have on your side.

Felix (1:00:00)

And it's kind of,

it's, you know, it happens with partners. It happens a lot of times with husband and wife, so partners, it's happened. I've seen it, but unfortunately, I just deal with what I have, and I help them as much as I can. But, you know, that was a recent one, the one that the husband walked out.

I have your wife telling me the same She's telling me the same thing. And you can't, she's telling me what's, you're not even doing the commands right. You're telling, you're saying place when there's no car around. You know?

Lianne Shinton (1:00:44)

Yeah, it's kind of like

lying to the dog at that point because it's confusing. Yeah.

Felix (1:00:48)

Yeah, you you're

saying the commands the wrong way. The dog doesn't understand. How's the dog supposed to be successful? And then when they come there, he doesn't want to train, work with the dog. Okay, fine. You don't want work with the dog, You feel, whatever. But don't get upset when I tell you, you're doing something wrong. No, that's not the right way. And then he got upset. I tell you, I never saw anything like that. Ran that stormed out like a two-year-old. Like really slammed my door.

like close the door hard. And I'm like, look, know something's gonna happen out of this. know? So I had another thing years ago, same thing. You know, the door, the husband didn't want help, they had a puppy, very high-energy Jim Shepard, didn't want help, and I was like, ah, like, you you're...

Now I was playing with him like, oh, you know, you're a strong guy, but you you used go soft spot for that puppy and blah, blah. I must've said something because he turned out to like me. I was over their house to help them. And I said something, I forgot why it was all time ago. I must've said something and he didn't like me. And then I take you not right after that. All right, we got another dog trainer we'll send her to.

Lianne Shinton (1:02:10)

Ego, yeah.

Felix (1:02:11)

Yeah, I must have said something because I I know you're strong will but you got soft spot for that puppy bubble I said something like I remember saying something and he must have didn't like it whatever because I'm telling you right after But he was a dumb one just

Lianne Shinton (1:02:17)

Aww. Yeah.

Felix (1:02:29)

You know, just, ⁓ But then again, don't do that, but then complain that you're right when you're not even getting into it.

Lianne Shinton (1:02:31)

Yeah.

Yeah, I think it takes an experienced dog trainer because I remember like when I was 17 and I was a young dog trainer and you know to encounter scenarios like that where you're trying to help and you know you're trying to assess you're trying to teach and you're hoping they want to learn and you have someone just looking at their phone and it's rude and it's it's hard. So I think it takes experience.

Felix (1:03:03)

That's why I was doing it the house because the very first one, the first one I had, the owner was laughing. Like everything I tell is, I'm just a grown adult. Everything the dog, everything.

Lianne Shinton (1:03:05)

Hmm.

Felix (1:03:19)

Everything I did, everything, everything I did with the dog, ha ha ha. And then it was like grand central station. Everyone in the house was through the living room. Everyone was going through it. Like that, it kept on getting interrupted.

Lianne Shinton (1:03:24)

my god.

⁓ yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Felix (1:03:36)

I'm like, I'm like, I'm not, I, really, we had a couple lessons, right? I did like small, small, small package. I'm like, if she wants help, she's gonna call me. Right? We had like one or two more lessons. She calls, she calls me, she's going, she don't call me. She don't call me after. And what am I supposed to do with that? If you, if you laugh at every, every little thing the dog does, the mother,

Lianne Shinton (1:04:00)

Yeah.

Felix (1:04:05)

I'm like you're feeding the dog too much, dog's overweight. ⁓ the dog has to eat, blah blah. They're giving the dog kibble all day and then they're giving him these big meals, chicken and beef and rice. And then the owner is laughing at every single thing I'm doing. The whole family lives there, so they're going through the ruin.

Lianne Shinton (1:04:11)

Yeah.

Felix (1:04:29)

So it was a disaster. like, I'm not doing this no more. It's not gonna work out. The dog's not learning anything. I'm on his turf. And there's interruptions after interruptions. And she doesn't care. She's laughing. She's asking me for help. And then everything that happens, she's laughing. So, you know, I stopped doing that. And I started doing, she's like my mentor. I had them come to me.

And you know that way we work the dog in a strange place they don't know and they could overcome I have a puppy first lesson today came here before for a free lesson actual first lesson today guess what the puppy was scared of everything the car everything when he left he was more comfortable way more comfortable they didn't want to in the car much more got progress

very scared puppy, Bernaduro. Nice dog, but very scared. And that's why I do it. Now that dog is with a strange place. So now this week, the owner's gonna walk him at home. So now that's two places the dog got worked. And you know, that's benefit for the dog.

Lianne Shinton (1:05:39)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Good point, yeah.

Yeah, the story you just shared before the puppy, you know, having the struggles in someone's home and saying, all right, there's some cons with training in the home. I'm going to shift, I'm going to pivot, and I'm going to train at my facility. I like that you're so solution oriented and because a lot of us dog trainers, you know, we just keep trucking and that's where we get burnout. And it's hard because

Folks can't learn, so you're putting them in a different environment that's more like school. So very solution oriented. So yeah, kudos to that.

Felix (1:06:27)

Yeah,

it's all about the dog. It's always about the dog.

Lianne Shinton (1:06:31)

Yeah, yeah, excellent. And we are at the top of the hour. So unfortunately, we have to wrap it up, even though I love the stories you've been sharing. ⁓ I think it's easier for folks to pay attention when they're listening to stories. And I felt like your stories were quite entertaining too.

Felix (1:06:39)

I could do this all day.

man I got so many stories

I got so many stories ⁓ one last one real quick one. Why did I learn to be more engaging, more active? You know where I learned that from? police academy. I went to Westchester police academy first right and this was 2003

Lianne Shinton (1:06:56)

Okay, yep, yep.

or what?

Felix (1:07:18)

The instructors, some instructors were so bad, people would fall asleep. Like there was one that came in and said, listen, if you're gonna fall asleep, stand up. Because he said the year before, someone slammed their head on the table so hard they knocked themselves out. So my point is that ⁓ I learned to try to be...

Lianne Shinton (1:07:24)

Mm-hmm.

Oops.

Felix (1:07:47)

It's interesting and engaging and stuff like that because I saw what it was like, the opposite was like, it was just bad. mean, people like you have a whole room for people.

Lianne Shinton (1:07:49)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yep.

Felix (1:08:03)

They knocked

out. They're they're falling asleep. So that's why I learned that one from.

Lianne Shinton (1:08:10)

Yeah, and that's part of teaching people too.

Felix (1:08:14)

Oh, they were bad.

They were bad. They were bad. mean, teaching is teaching should not be everyone should not be everyone. Everyone can be a teacher. don't think I'm a great teacher either. think I got lot. Oh, let me just tell you, I have to shout out one thing and I will say to that. But there's all this others out there, but I'm trying the best instructor out there. my opinion, as far as teaching, he could teach.

Lianne Shinton (1:08:23)

Mm-hmm.

Felix (1:08:43)

He can teach me about flowers and I'll still be entertained, engaged. Michael Ellis. I'm telling you, I don't know what it is. I've been listening to him for at least 10 years. That freaking guy, I met him once, I met him a couple years ago. He's such a nice guy. Such a freaking nice guy. He gave me a tour of the school for no reason. Just because I call his wife, I'm listen, I'm big fan, I just wanted to say hello to him.

Lianne Shinton (1:08:50)

yeah.

Yeah.

Felix (1:09:12)

And I was in California, I was driving by and I had a little bit like little bit of time. And he said, and she's like, yeah, come in. And she forgot to tell him he's at the place. He's like, yeah, yeah, come in and I'll show you the place. He took him a tour, really nice, really, really nice guy. But I can listen to that guy all day. If you want your dog trainer and you want to learn how to teach people, listen to him.

Lianne Shinton (1:09:28)

Mm-hmm.

Felix (1:09:37)

He is fantastic. I don't know if it's because of his voice, the way he acts, or what, he is just, I talk to, I talk to my friends about him all, my friends about him all the time, and she loves him too. Just, he could, he could, like I said, he could talk about seeds, and I'll still be entertained. Like, it's amazing. Love, and come back.

Lianne Shinton (1:09:43)

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I love listening to him talk

about ⁓ his pigeon, the pigeon racing. If you've ever heard him, I did a podcast with him and he talked about his pigeons. I'll send you that one. Well, ⁓ speaking of dog trainers that, you know, you have followed and have helped shape you as a dog trainer before we got on the podcast, we did talk about Molly and I would love for you to share a little bit about.

Felix (1:10:02)

⁓ you did? I know I didn't hear. my God. That freaking guy, he's amazing.

Molly was not my dog mentor, mentor. She was a business mentor. have had a them. Molly was so, so, so nice. She was always really nice. How you doing? She was always nice. When you were with her, she gave you attention. I was with her on and off for years.

Lianne Shinton (1:10:29)

Mm-hmm.

Felix (1:10:49)

I telling you, I started with her so far back when she was either giving away or selling CDs. I had the collection of my car, my old car. I had the multiple CDs and you could shift between them in the car. And I still had them. She was great. She was really great. She was a really nice lady.

Lianne Shinton (1:10:58)

It's a long time ago.

yeah.

Felix (1:11:19)

She was one of my business mentors. She was really nice. I was jealous of her because she was living in Hawaii and stuff like that. I'm man, you live in nice places. But I'm freezing here, and you're a nice woman. But yeah, she was really nice lady.

Lianne Shinton (1:11:29)

Yeah.

Felix (1:11:42)

It's so bad what happened to her and stuff like that because ⁓ she was a good one. You could trust her. You could definitely trust her on helping you.

Lianne Shinton (1:11:57)

Yeah, I hope that Jason, her husband, I'll reach out to him because I would love to have him on my podcast to chat more about what he's got going on.

Felix (1:12:04)

Yeah, I talked to

them a little bit, not much as her. But yeah, they were really nice people. But yeah, it sucks. It just sucks. And she was definitely a good one.

Lianne Shinton (1:12:15)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Well,

I appreciate you sharing. I'm glad you shared about Michael and about Molly at the end there.

Felix (1:12:27)

Oh my god,

I'm telling you, he's, you know what I like about him too? He's not, he doesn't interject into anything. He just does his thing. He just does his thing. He's not, he's not trying to make waves. He's not, but I can listen to him about stuff. And whether he's 100 % right or not, I just like listen to him and learn from him. And I'll tell you, I used to get the DVDs, little book DVDs, three hours long.

Lianne Shinton (1:12:37)

Yeah.

Yep.

Felix (1:12:55)

I

watched three hours. I can't watch 20 minutes of a TV show nowadays. And I used to watch three hours of him, healing, whatever, it was just magic to me. And listen, he's a really good, talented instructor. He was a talented, and that's something, that's another topic, but.

Lianne Shinton (1:13:09)

yeah.

Absolutely.

Felix (1:13:19)

I don't care if you ever won a competition. I don't care if you ever won anything. Whatever his knowledge is was amazing. Just was really engaging, amazing. So he was like a top of my opinion, one that he still is. I think he's one of top guys out there. He's not, I'll say he's not business guy. He's just dog training.

Lianne Shinton (1:13:34)

Mm-hmm.

Felix (1:13:48)

And I think you could get such value from him. ⁓ Yeah, he's a great guy. And like I said, he just does his thing. As far as I know, he just does his thing and that's it. And that's the way we should all be. I think it's a little too much ⁓ putting everyone's opinion on everything else.

Lianne Shinton (1:14:09)

Actually, that is something that I recall. was a while ago I had Michael on my podcast and that was something that we talked about as well is I ⁓ think we talked about letting other people kind of shape the direction of your life. It was quite motivational. So I will send that one over to you. So for anybody listening, definitely listen to the Michael Ellis podcast.

Felix (1:14:27)

I it.

But once again, if anyone wants help in the New York area, I'm about an hour New Jersey, 30 minutes from Connecticut. I'm here to keep seat. You know, need help or anything like that. But I definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely here for the dogs.

Lianne Shinton (1:14:35)

for Kipsey.

Go to DT.

DTBeyond.com and thank you so much, Felix. I really enjoyed our conversation. You're super fun to listen to.

Felix (1:14:58)

I

could do this all day talking about dogs.

Lianne Shinton (1:15:01)

I know the last time we talked on the phone, it was like an hour and a half.

Felix (1:15:07)

I could do it. could go on. Whether you talk about dogs, business, if it's my area, I could talk about it.

Lianne Shinton (1:15:15)

Yeah, I think the last conversation we had was more business oriented because that is my jam. I'm a dog trainer, but I also like to help dog trainers with their business. yeah, you definitely are ner-

Felix (1:15:27)

And

also a lot of trainers need to learn more about business. really do.

Lianne Shinton (1:15:33)

Definitely. Yeah, that's something that I wish, like when I first went into dog training, was like, dogs are cool. I love dogs. I want to learn all about dog behavior, but I wish at the time I leaned more into the business side.

Felix (1:15:46)

And it's like

that a lot of other stuff. Like I have a friend, he runs a mall short school. Guess what? You have to have a black belt in mall shorts, you have to have a black belt in business. It's like you have to have multiple things. The one thing I hate, I hate this, I hate this. And I've been told this, believe it or not. If you're good at dog training, business will come.

Lianne Shinton (1:15:56)

Yeah, it's a good way to put it.

Felix (1:16:13)

And I don't believe in that. I don't believe in that. I think you still have to have some form of business marketing something. You have to have something out there. Just because you go to train dogs, know, build it, they will come. I don't think, I don't believe in that. I don't believe in that at all. And I've been told that, I've been told that. Totally wrong.

Lianne Shinton (1:16:14)

Nope. Nope.

Yeah, I agree with you.

Yeah,

I agree with you. And I think that a lot of our competitors, the dog trainers up the street, that's maybe the mindset they have. They're not working their business. So I know working your business is hard, but you're the one that's going to survive.

Felix (1:16:52)

I want them to believe that it's better for me. So when they, this has happened too, they forget to call Lee. Guess what? ⁓ I contacted them. They know, call me back. You call me back five minutes later. You know, and it's like, and I know Dolphins have done this. They've gone to, ⁓

Lianne Shinton (1:16:54)

⁓ That's true. Yeah. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

Felix (1:17:21)

seminars or they gone to trials and they forget to call their leads. It's like, it's like, listen, you gotta, I mean, don't worry. Well, I like to have fun too, but you know, you got your priorities wrong. You need to run your business to make that money so you can go on trials. The trials is not going to win the awards.

Lianne Shinton (1:17:27)

Yeah.

Well, you might win an award at the trial, but it's not going to pay the bills. Yeah, it's not going to pay. Yeah.

Felix (1:17:47)

I mean, I'm money, mean. I mean money. Money. I mean money. the trials

is not gonna win you money. It's not. You know, so. And it was another guy, famous guy, rich playing piano. He died a few years ago, but he was one. It was a bodybuilding thing.

Lianne Shinton (1:17:54)

Yeah. Yeah.

Felix (1:18:08)

competition competition same thing I won't what's competition they want to win competition they do no social media they don't put more and no market he did marketing he he went a huge competitions became huge huge following and he was making money meanwhile there's other guys that like level competition higher than him they weren't making money

Lianne Shinton (1:18:35)

Well said.

Felix (1:18:38)

It's not, it's, it, it, think that, you know, it's the, the next, uh, technique. It's the next seminar. It's, I need to train this. Don't get me wrong. I was like that too at one point, but it's not about that. It's about how to run your, uh, feed your business. And I'm, I'm struggling doing that. I've been doing that for a while and I'm still struggling to try to figure out how well works, what doesn't.

It's a struggle. It's not lovely, but guess what? That's what's going to keep you from having the vacation and the money and stuff like that. Not going across the country to do a trial and then win a $20 trophy. That's not going do it. mean, and if you do get lucky and you become huge and your name becomes huge, 20, 30 years later, you get lucky and you're so lucky. Great, wonderful.

It's not... Your business is going to suffer for it.

Lianne Shinton (1:19:46)

Yeah, yeah, all well said. Thank you so much, Felix. This has been such a fun conversation. We took a different shift at the end there, but that's my jam. So maybe you can be on again and we can talk more about the business stuff.

Felix (1:19:51)

No, Bob, thank you.

I'm always

a real, I'm always a real, but I love, I could do this whole day.

Lianne Shinton (1:20:04)

Awesome. Well, thank you again. And for folks that would like to visit Felix's website, so it's dtbeyond.com. And then for my website, automationdogs.com. And ⁓ again, I'm Lianne Shinton. And thank you for listening. Thank you.

Felix (1:20:06)

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bye bye.