Author: John Cotey

Don Grady says he was a whiz in the kitchen back in the 1990s and early 2000s. In Washington, D.C., he studied the culinary arts and worked as a chef, and after moving to Florida in 2004, he worked at several restaurants in Tampa.

He had yet to discover his true calling, however, even though his wife Valerie already had a pretty good idea of what it was destined to be.

Unbeknownst to her husband, she saw that a local pet store was looking for dog trainers. Don may have been hesitant about a career change, but his wife had seen him train their dog as well as some of their friends’ dogs, and decided to apply for him.

The rest, as they say, is history.

“They called, she took the phone call and said, ‘Yeah, he’d love to meet with you guys,’’’ Don recalled. Two interviews later, he was offer and accepted the job.

Today, he owns Don’s Dogs, a come-to-your-home dog training business, at least until he can find a place to call his own in Wesley Chapel or New Tampa. Don currently has about 20 clients, which is just about the maximum he can fit into a busy schedule turning unruly or shy dogs into well-adjusted and well-mannered pets.

“I was a classic chef, and I thought that was the greatest job in the world,’’ Don says. “My wife for years told me I should be a dog trainer, but I told her she was crazy because I had no formal experience like I did in culinary.”

But, as it turns out, Valerie wasn’t crazy. She was just prescient.

For years, Don had been asked by friends for tips on dog training, because his dog, Zoe, a Border Collie mix who is now 16, was so well-behaved. After four years of honing his skills at a pet store, Don felt he was ready to branch out and start his own business.

He said he was successful working in a shop, and has parlayed that — with the help of word of mouth, social media and advertising — into a busy career. He says he would like to one day open his own dog training school so he can do puppy socialization classes and teach agility skills, to name a few. Until then, however, he is staying mobile.

How It Works

Don will usually make an appointment with a new client at their home, to interact with the dog in its own environment for its first session and see how the dog’s owner reacts as well. Every dog is different, Don says, and they often require different training methods.

Puppies are the easiest to work with, with adult dogs a little harder to train. The level of training depends upon what the client is looking for — most just want a dog that behaves well at home — but 20-30 percent, Don says, desire further training so their dog can become a therapy pet, able to spread joy while visiting schools and hospitals.

“Don’s great,’’ says client Heather Moran of Meadow Pointe. “We learned from the first session he did with us. I learned and Bo (her seven-month old golden retriever) learned. Don has a great connection with the dog, and he has a good way of teaching me, too.”

When it comes to turning dogs into perfect pets by teaching them to walk nicely, come when called, drop things they shouldn’t have in their mouths and greet people without jumping on them, Don says his success rate is sky-high.

Depending upon what his clients are looking for, Don crafts a specific course for each dog. “I tell people it’s like college courses,’’ he said. “There’s undergrad, Masters and Doctorate.”

Simple obedience can take six hours of training, spread over 4-6 weeks, with the owner having plenty of homework in between lessons. The skills Don tries to teach each dog are sitting on command, leaving items alone (“Don’t look at that,” he will tell a dog), giving the owner its full attention and not jumping up on people when it meets them.

For more advanced training, he says, another six lessons are sometimes required. Don is a regular at the Lowe’s in Land O’Lakes, as well as at the Tampa Premium Outlets mall, where he will take dogs to practice what they learned in the first course.

Sometimes, it’s a morning trip when the locations are usually less crowded. As the lessons get tougher, lunchtime trips on weekends, when both places are at their busiest, are scheduled.

“He doesn’t just train in the house, he takes you out into real-world situations,’’ says Moran, who hopes Bo will take the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test when he turns 1 and go on to become a therapy dog. “I just like knowing I can take him anywhere in any situation and he’ll be able to handle it and I’ll be able to handle him.”

By the time Don is done giving a dog its second course, they are usually ready for the 10-step American Kennel Club (AKC) CGC test — the gold standard for dog behavior. Don is an AKC-approved CGC Evaluator, and can administer the CGC, AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy and AKC Community Canine programs.

Don often takes his own dogs — Zoe and Abby, a 4-year-old Pitbull mix therapy dog — to retirement centers to interact with residents as part of his Canines For Christ program. Abby also helps out with his training, by helping soothe the fears and aggression other dogs may be feeling.

Another client, Kathy Lahr, a mom to a 2-year-old Standard Poodle, says, “Tonga is the best dog I’ve ever had, and I’ve had a few, and couldn’t have done it without Don.” She says that when Tonga was 10 months old, he was “petrified of everything,” the result of growing up on 45 acres and not being around many people or cars.

“She was so shy, she wouldn’t even look up at you,’’ Lahr says. But Don changed all that. In fact, Tonga is now a regular visitor at hospitals, schools and age-assisted facilities.

Don trains 4-5 dogs a day, five days a week. He leaves one weekday open and one weekend day open for emergencies and schedule changes. He has built dozens of relationships over the years with his business, which is why he calls it Don’s Dogs. Even after training is complete, he says he always feels connected to his furry students. He will organize dog walks with some of his graduates just to touch base, or get a group of his former pupils together for a “Yappy Hour” on some restaurant patio somewhere.

Today, the classically trained chef can’t imagine doing anything else for a living. Sure, Don can still whip up an elegant dinner in his kitchen, but only after doing what he loves most during the day.

“No matter if I had a good day or a bad day, I still played with puppies,’’ Don said. “People should be jealous. It’s the best job in the world.’’

For more information, visit DonsDogsTraining.com, visit his Facebook page, or email donsdogs@yahoo.com. Don can also be reached at 784-2698.