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

FOUNDER

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.