Maya … We are so thankful that we discovered Coyote Creek Retrievers (CCR). We have now had two of our Labrador Retrievers trained at CCR. We are delighted with the results. The CCR training and handling approach is very gentle. Jim, Maxine and Kenny Fulks all seem to have a naturally calming effect on the dogs
MORE ABOUT MAYA
In 1998 Jim and Maxine trained Cassie, our first lab. Cassie was a terrific family dog and was loved by all who knew her. She always received compliments about her obedient behavior and gentle nature. After Cassie passed, we knew we wanted to find another lab, but one that would have even more natural drive to hunt. Our kids are 15 and 18, so now hunting is a more realistic family activity now than when Cassie was with us.
Maya joined our family in May of 2009. For such a small puppy, Maya was thriving and listening well and we were quite sure with our past experience and access to training videos, we could train her by ourselves. Well by August of 2009, we were having doubts about even keeping Maya!
Maya had quit responding to her name in August, and when September rolled around “Demon” was more commonly used than Maya. We knew we had two choices, 1.) Take her to Coyote Creek Retrievers for training, or 2.) Find someone who wanted an unruly family dog. We feel strongly about commitments, so even though Coyote Creek Retrievers is 150 miles from our home, we thought we would try. We expressed our doubts of Maya’s abilities, and asked Jim and Kenny to be candid with their initial assessment.
To our relief, Jim and Kenny both felt that Maya was trainable. She really enjoyed the CCR hunting drills from the get go. Within one month at CCR, they had transformed her into an obedient dog! We found this a true miracle, as did those who saw her prior to her training at CCR. As Maya continued with sporting dog training, she began to thrive. Her natural instincts are definitely as a hunter. She is a go-getter. It was thrilling to see her enthusiasm doing something she loves and even more thrilling for us to be able to control that enthusiasm!
Kenny Fulks has done such a fantastic job training Maya. We never had any intention of doing hunt tests with Maya, but we have embraced Maya’s new skills and are now excited to have the opportunity to test them. Maya’s first bird hunt was when she was 10 months old. On her first hunt she started quartering very well. She began using her instincts even more after the finding the first bird. She excelled as the day progressed. Our group got six pheasants, even with horrible weather conditions.
Kenny has a fun loving personality. Puppies and dogs are very responsive to Kenny. It’s a joy to watch him work with the dogs. Kenny also exhibited patience while he trained us how to work with Maya. He is encouraging to canine and humans alike! This is very much appreciated and is one of the reasons we are fans of CCR.
Maya is now assimilating back to our home life, though we can tell she misses CCR and Kenny. We are continuing to work on training drills with Maya at home, but we prefer the training grounds and personal “coaching” we get at CCR. Even with the long distance to Eugene, we frequently travel to CCR to ensure Maya’s skills are maintained. We appreciate all the time and energy Kenny has invested to get Maya to this stage!
Now that Maya has been trained by CCR, our entire family focus has changed. While we embraced her personality and had hoped she would be a good hunter, with Coyote Creek Retriever’s help, she has far exceeded our expectations. With her natural abilities and drive, we now know we want to continue being very dedicated to keeping her skills sharp.
We could never begin to express our thankfulness to the outstanding training experience of CCR! Believe it or not, we’re now thinking Maya will have puppies in the future and we will keep another one for Kenny to train! Remember that this is the dog we once thought was a “Demon” and now we can’t get enough of working with her. Thank you,
The Abston Family