Stephen Haynes
FOUNDER
Steve has been a professional trainer and behaviourist for 21 years.
He has worked with over 15.000 dogs, and their people, and holds an international patent for dog training devices.
After training dogs and their people in person for the past 21 years, Steve now consults exclusively online with clients seeking extra guidance for clients that can not find this level of expertise locally. Steve works with clients all across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia.
Steve has expertise in a wide range of training protocols and techniques, and will partner with you to find the method best suited to your family and canine companion. He also helps potential dog owners select the breed and puppy that is the best fit for their situation.
Steve advises veterinarians on dog behavior issues and works with world-class breeders to design puppy imprinting and early training plans.
Susanna Love
Susanna has been intrigued by animal behavior since she was a child. Years of studying natural horsemanship and low-stress stock handling took her on a journey that brought her to professionally training bird dogs in 2006. Susanna loved working with and training dogs more than being an attorney, so she left that career and has focused on raising, developing, and training healthy minded, composed, and confident bird dogs for the past 15 years.
Susanna has guided wild bird hunts on legendary Texas ranches, including the 6666 Ranch and the Mariposa Ranch. As an established expert and writer on dog behavior she co-authored Training Bird Dogs with Ronnie Smith Kennels with Ronnie Smith and Reid Bryant. As a recognized expert in bird dog puppy imprinting, she regularly writes about dog training in magazines. Susanna is currently focused on furthering the lines of English pointers and Brittany pups that she and her husband breed and raise. Working to develop the finest bird dogs, possible and helping those dogs to navigate a human world. She is adept at challenging and stimulating dogs to help develop healthy canine mindsets capable of making good decisions for a lifetime.
Ronnie Smith
Ronnie is descended from dog training royalty, and Bird dogs run deep in his blood. His father, uncle, and cousins are all legendary dog trainers, and between them they have multiple Hall of Fame awards. It is safe to say that Ronnie knows dogs, knows them well, and his family has a long culture of studying animal behavior. With all this expertise in his background the stage was well set for his career as one of the finest bird dog trainers in the world. Ronnie began training dogs with his family when he was 8 years old and has never stopped. He’s constantly studying and learning dog behavior at the highest levels. He’s trained bird dogs professionally since 1982 and continues to work with clients at Ronnie Smith Kennels in the rolling hills of northern Oklahoma. For the last few decades Ronnie has given hundreds of dog training seminars in locations across the US, coaching thousands of clients, and their dogs. He has dedicated his life to helping bird dogs and their owners learn the secrets and art of bird dog training.
Ronnie’s specializes in developing, imprinting, training, and maintaining bird dogs using the time proven Smith Method of Training. Their book, Training Bird Dogs with Ronnie Smith Kennels, outlines the stair-stepped training format so that bird dog owners can gain the confidence to train their own dogs and bring them to high levels of competence. The Huntsmith DVD series with Ronnie and his cousin, Rick Smith, provides a video reference for the same training and is a touchstone of video instruction in the dog training world.
Few dog trainers in the world have the wealth of knowledge and experience that Ronnie has garnered through both his personal experiences and the continuous multi-generational training experiences of his family. Ronnie has joined the talented team at Dog Specialist to offer his experiences to bird dog owners via online consulting. His goal is to empower people to be able to train their own dogs to be the very best upland bird dogs and companions they can become.
Guidance in your training goals
Years of expertise are rolled into what we give our clients in the video conference sessions. We’ve been working with and training dogs for over 21 years.
Remote training and consulting
We consult remotely. Now you have access to experts in all aspects of dog training and behaviour, from the convenience of your home.
Personal advisor
Our live, one-on-one sessions give you professional and qualified advice. No more relying on internet searches, or vying for attention in a group class.
Help picking the right dog
We’ve helped hundreds of clients decide on the right dog. From interviewing breeders and puppy searches to online evaluations of puppy personality. We can help you with your dog selection.
Breeder support
We assist some of the finest puppy breeders in the world build training and imprinting programs that produce intelligent, stable, world-class puppies.

You pick a time that works best for you on our scheduling system.
We work with you individually, via Zoom live sessions, to answer the questions that are unique to your situation.
You have access to behaviourists and trainers with many years of experience in different areas.
We choose together the training methods, techniques and how all of them apply to your dog and your particular case.
We advise, illustrate, and coach you in your training plans with your dog.
Years of experience
How does this work?
- All of our session take place on Zoom video conference. You schedule your session with our on line scheduling tool when it is convenient for you.
- Personalized live session.
- Experts you can not find in most locales.
- We work specifically on what is important to you and your dog.
How much training can be done remotely?
- What we do isn’t training. It’s teaching you how to work with your dog using the tools and techniques you’ve chosen, or we will guide you in best practices for dog training.
- We advise, illustrate, and coach you in your training plans with your dog.
Extensive expertise with problem behaviour issues.
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We consult with clients individually and with veterinarians about behavior issues.
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Every single behavior case is unique and there is no way to assess them other than in an individual consultation.
What is the value in doing this?
- Through Dog Specialist, you have access to behaviorists and trainers with many years of experience. In many areas this depth of experience just doesn’t exist.
- Where before you would have to bring in one of us or come to us, we can now meet via video conference and accomplish the same level of assessment.
I'm going to local training-Can you still help me?
- Absolutely, Local classes are necessary for socialization and practice. We compliment them and extend what you learn in the classes, as well as provide guidance on things that you may not have understood in a group setting.
Access to experts and their experience that is difficult to find locally for most clients. Deep knowledge of training methods, techniques and how all of them apply to your dog and your unique situation.
We are remote and we have an online scheduling tool that lets you pick a time that is convenient for you. No travel to meet with us. No expense of bringing us in for a consultation.
We value our client’s privacy. All of our sessions are conducted via secure Zoom conference and we NEVER release client data to any other source.
Clicker training, puppy imprinting, off-leash training advice, problem puppy behaviours, We can assist you regardless of the training method or technique you want to train your dog with.
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