The ladies at The ‘Times’ had the distinct pleasure of being visited by Waya, the German Shephard puppy and his owners, Craig and Vicki Turnbow last week.

At the time of the visit, Waya was 9-weeks old and had been with his new owners for only one week, but living with Dog Trainer Craig, he was already well on his way to being one very well-behaved good boy.

In that one-week time, Waya was already house broken and had learned five commands.

(Courtesy Photo)

His next goal was to be socialized by meeting at least 100 new people. So far, he has met the Wortham Postmaster, people at Wortham City Hall and Police Department, people at the Credit Union, HEB, Tractor Supply, and Library in Mexia, and of course staff at Freestone County Times before visiting the Fairfield Volunteer Fire Department, where he had a photo op with the Fire Chief, Anthony Roberts (above).

Waya, means ‘wolf’ in the Cherokee, which is the language Craig has chosen to use for commands with the adorable little guy.

Craig has been training dogs for many years, the ability coming naturally to him at an early age.

“He truly is a natural,” explains Vicki. “Craig is very much a dog person. I call him the Dog Whisperer. He has trained all our dogs, two Dobermans included, and those of family and friends, but also strangers ask him to train their dogs when they see how well-behaved ours are.”

Craig even trains service dogs with special skills, in addition to basic commands. All his trainees are permitted to go anywhere, grocery stores, hospitals, doctor’s offices, restaurants, etc.

Dogs are trained one at a time, and the length of time is determined by what the dog is being trained for and how quickly the dog learns.

“Of course, the younger the dog, the easier it is to train,” says Craig. I fully trained a Dachshund in basic commands in three days. Each dog is different.”

One note from the couple, if you are going to buy a pure-bred dog, be sure to do your research and buy from a reputable breeder. These breeders will put the time, money, and energy into their dogs. It’s worth the money.

The Turnbows will be open to take on a new trainee in January 2025. If interested, or for more information, please contact Craig via email at vturnbow55@gmail.com.

 

(Photos by Nicole Schaefer)