In this episode, Lianne Shinton of Pet Biz Experts CRM/Software interviews Robert Forto, the passionate and skilled owner of Alaska Dog Works. We dive into Robert's business and his incredible Peak Performance dog training program. We chat about his services, where to start if you need help with your pup, and the many behaviors he can address in both puppies and adult dogs. Robert also shares his insights on the common breeds he sees and trains in Alaska, along with information about his sled dogs and Iditarod dreams. Whether you're a dog owner seeking advice or a pet professional looking for inspiration, this episode is packed with valuable insights and practical tips.

Reach out to Robert here: https://alaskadogworks.com

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Transcript of Podcast:

Lianne Shinton (00:18)

Welcome everybody to the Pet Biz Podcast. I'm Lianne, your host, and I also own Pet Biz Experts, which is a CRM software company for dog trainers. And today we're going to be speaking with a dog trainer in Alaska. So exciting. So we have Robert Forto from Alaska Dog Works, and I'm just so excited to learn more about your business and how you can help us out.

how you can help the people in your community. So can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became a dog trainer and a little bit about Alaska dog works?

Robert Forto (00:57)

Well, I started dog training in 1994 in Portland, Oregon. I was attending Portland State and I thought I want to become a veterinarian back in the day, but I quickly realized I did not want to spend all of my day inside at a vet clinic. So on Saturday mornings, I would go to the parks of Portland and meet up with housewives that had unruly dogs at the time and...

I showed up pretty much with a business card, a leash and a smile and started teaching those ladies how to handle their dogs. It was sort of a, an early version, I guess you would say of a canine good citizen program, that type of training. And that led from one thing to another. I went to many, many training seminars and schools during, during the next 20 years or so. And then in 1999, I,

met my soon to be now wife Michelle and we opened up a dog training center in Denver called Denver Dog Works shortly thereafter. I moved up to Alaska in 2010 to chase that crazy Iditarod dream, which we can talk about in a little while. And we opened up Alaska Dog Works at that point, sort of a spinoff of Denver Dog Works, but we do it right here in our home.

We live in Willow, Alaska, which is about an hour and a half north of Anchorage. So we're a little cabin in the woods and we have a program that we call Peak Performance that includes a camp and the dogs come to us and stay with us. It's sort of like a board and train type deal and we're moving and shaking all the time. So it's definitely a good time to be a dog trainer, not only elsewhere, but here in Alaska too.

Lianne Shinton (02:43)

That is so exciting. I love that you have the dogs in the Peak Performance program in your home. So that, I think, makes people more comfortable.

Robert Forto (02:52)

Yes. Yes, we've.

Yes, we, we found over the years that the best training, at least for our clients is when we're dealing with everyday behaviors. When we were in Denver, you know, we had the typical kennel setup where we could have 30 dogs and train 30 dogs in 30 days with a bunch of staff and all of that. And it was successful, but it was, you know, a kennel type program and that has its pluses and minuses. But when we brought them into our home, of course we are allowed to.

do things like kitchen work and, you know, manners in the living room while we're watching TV and that sort of thing. And it just really helps our clients deal with those everyday behaviors versus, you know, basic obedience that you would learn in a kennel.

Lianne Shinton (03:40)

That's excellent. That's the home training is what they need. Are there two phases to the peak performance where you transfer the leadership role back to the owner?

Robert Forto (03:43)

Right.

Yes, one of the things that we do a little bit different than your typical board and train, we do several lessons in the beginning. So we'll meet with them three times before the camp and then they stay with us for two weeks. And then we do several lessons afterwards. And I think it's that well -rounded program. So lessons before camp, lessons after, it allows them not only to...

develop that relationship with their dog at the beginning, but also we can really solidify what we need to do during their stay. And then of course, change that over to them after they go home.

Lianne Shinton (04:24)

That is wonderful. I love that you are meeting with the client and building relationship with the dog before they're just like, where am I? I'm in somebody's home. Like they'll know you. So that is just such a wonderful transition. What are some kinds of things that maybe people could do during those first few lessons to help prepare the dog so that when they do go to your home, it's an easier transition even more so.

Robert Forto (04:53)

Well, we definitely require crate training. That is very important in the process. And a lot of people really struggle with that. Of course, as you know, as a dog trainer, most people think that that is the wrong way to have a pet dog in the home. So we really stress that that crate training going in because they are in our home and we can't have several dogs running around in our house that don't know each other. So they definitely have to know that.

And those first few lessons are really just building that foundation or that relationship with their dog. We're working on basic obedience, you know, the typical stuff, sit down, stay, come. And then when they get here, we really focus on those house manners and socialization with other dogs and that sort of stuff to, and to really give them a well -rounded foundation. So when they go home, they're able to do those things that they're looking to do. And we say all the time, we want to train your dog that will be well -behaved.

When grandma comes over or when you go to the farmer's market or anything like that, you want to make sure that you have a well -trained dog.

Lianne Shinton (05:56)

Excellent. Yeah. And crate training, it's so advantageous. You know, our dogs travel in the crate for safety, just like in the car, how I have my seatbelt on. If you go over to grandma's and you bring your crate, it might give the dog a break instead of grandma feeding them food all day and just keeping, keeping them out of trouble. So crate training is definitely advantageous and it might help the dog to transition into your house for the peak performance program. So.

I'm curious because you're in Alaska, very different from, from where I've been a dog trainer in California. What kind of breeds do you guys typically see?

Robert Forto (06:38)

We see everything up here. We have a very large military contingent up here. So we have people from all over the world, literally, that come up to be stationed here. So we have a lot of military clients that, of course, have their dogs. And typically, they are younger families. So they typically have the Labs and the Golden Retrievers and the Border Collies and the typical dogs.

But then we also have our share of sled dogs. And I would love to talk a little bit about that in a second. That's a breed in of itself. And we deal with a lot of German shepherds, of course, and working type dogs. Obviously we are Alaska Dog Works and people search us out for that in their name. So we deal with a lot of German shepherds and Rottweilers and Dobermans and the like.

Lianne Shinton (07:27)

Awesome very interesting and I'm not surprised to hear that you do have a lot of sled dogs in your area And I'm so excited to hear more about that But before we jump away from the peak performance program Which I think is fantastic and a lot of people don't even know like what a board and train is Which it sounds like that's kind of your peak performance style So I think this is a good conversation to have so we can unpack that a little bit so people realize this is such a great way to get

my dog trained by a professional rather than me trying to figure it out on my dog that's trying to figure it out too. It'll be so much clearer for the dog and you probably get the results a lot quicker.

Robert Forto (08:09)

Yes, we found over the years that that component with the lessons before and the lessons after really help out the owner because I think a lot of people when they send their dog to a board and train or a in kennel type training, they expect that their dog is going to go away and come back, you know, perfect, come back perfectly trained and they don't have to do any work. And of course, that's obviously not the case. Of course, the dog will.

will listen to us and respond to commands and that sort of thing. But there is so much more to that relationship that you have with your dog that is, that is far beyond what a dog learns in a training program. And it's important for us to coach them along the way to teach them how to develop that relationship and to have a, a solid conversation with their dog for sure.

Lianne Shinton (08:59)

solid conversation with your dog. That sounds great. So I would assume puppies would be something you can help with housebreaking and crate training and jumping and things like that. Tell me a little bit maybe about the more adult dogs, the dogs that are maybe about a year or so, two years old. What kind of problems can you help with that people might just have thought? I thought they'd grow out of it, but we're still having this issue. Can you help those people?

Robert Forto (09:28)

Yeah, of course we're dealing with a lot of lack of socialization. That's key in any city in America where dogs are not socialized appropriately. We're still dealing with, I'm sure in a lot of other dog trainers as well, is the effects from the pandemic. A lot of people got their dogs during the pandemic and had them...

hold up just like they were for a year or so with really lack of training or no socialization. So that just has compounded over the last couple of years. So you may have got a rescue dog as a puppy in 2020 and now that dog is three or four years old and still hasn't been socialized appropriately. So we deal with a lot of that. And of course that comes with a lot of reactivity as well. So we deal with a lot of reactive dogs. You know, a lot of people expect that.

their dog is going to be just as well behaved in an open setting as they are in their home. And of course, that's not the case, whether they go into the dog park or the daycare or whatever, there's always struggles there that we're, that we deal with.

Lianne Shinton (10:29)

And we've talked a little bit about your program. We've talked about what you can help with. Where would folks get started? Do you offer like a consultation?

Robert Forto (10:39)

We have what we call a free discovery call. That's important for us because it allows the potential client to get to know us on that call to see if we're a good fit. And I think a lot of dog trainers go into this thinking, well, they need my help and they're going to sign up regardless whether they've met us or not. And I think that that's a wrong approach. I think it is very important for them to really feel us out when we're feeling them out. And when we are able to do that, that relationship starts right away. We can...

find out what their pain points are, we can find out what their struggles are, and then build a program based on that instead of just having a set of lessons or a program that's available online that you click and pay for. It works, but there is a much better way.

Lianne Shinton (11:23)

So it sounds like a lot of wonderful personalization goes into your plan and each client is assessed and their dog is assessed. I'm sure you've seen it all. So talking to them and triaging what's going on and making a plan sounds fantastic to be able to help and achieve all of their goals.

Robert Forto (11:46)

Yeah, and it's an investment. You know, dog training is a hefty investment, not only in money, but also time. So it's important to point that out to potential clients to say, hey, you're going to have to put in the work here. We're not going to do this for you. Are you, are you prepared to do that? And if you're not, we may not be the right fit for you. And

something like a consultation or discovery call or an initial meet and greet or whatever you call it in your dog training program. I think that's important because it allows you to set those boundaries and those guidelines going in. So your client knows exactly what to expect from you and you know what to expect from them.

Lianne Shinton (12:21)

Excellent. And then you'd mentioned that you've moved around a fair amount, lived in some amazing parts of the country, and you've got a lot of qualifications as a dog trainer. What do you believe are the most important qualities or skills for a successful dog trainer to possess?

Robert Forto (12:41)

I think the most important one is communication skills to be able to talk to your clients, to talk to your team. That's very important. And have boots on the ground. Walk the walk and talk the talk. Make sure you've trained a lot of dogs.

If you don't have that, get that. I think a lot of dog trainers these days, you know, train their own dog and then they say, I can do this for a business. And, and the next thing you know, they're, they're in business and trying to train other people's dogs. But in order to do this successfully, I think that you have to train a lot of dogs for a long time. And once you get that under your belt, I think that that really helps. And, and, you know, there's, there's many ways to go about doing that.

But yeah, there's nothing better than experience.

Lianne Shinton (13:27)

Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree that that is so true. I'd love to hear more about the Iditarod and the sled dogs. Can you tell us more about that?

Robert Forto (13:38)

Yeah, that's really been a shift in focus for us. As I mentioned earlier, we had a pretty decently sized business in Denver. You know, that's a couple of million people with a big training facility and people would come to group classes and the whole nine yards. And that was very successful for a long time, but we, we always knew that we wanted to do something more. I've also been a dog musher since about the same time I started dog training in the mid nineties. And I always had this.

itch to run the Iditarod one day and things just sort of worked out and in 2010 we made our way up to Alaska. My daughter and I came up on a 4th of July weekend and we looked at this place where I'm sitting right now and I tell the story all the time. I left it up to the

to the will of a 12 year old at the time on whether we were gonna move to Alaska. And I remember it was like yesterday, I was standing pretty much right where I'm sitting right now. And my daughter Nicole was in the next room and she texted her mom on a little flip phone and she said, mom, we're moving to Alaska. And mom happened to be in the middle of a group class on a Saturday morning in Denver. And she got that text message from.

our daughter and we made the decision and I moved up in August of that year so about a month later and it took us about a year to get everybody up here the whole family and the whole nine yards we packed up the u -haul and moved up but we moved up here with the intention of starting a sled dog kennel and for folks that are listening that may not be familiar with what that is think about

movies like Balto or Togo or Iron Will or something like that. That's exactly what we do. We have 30 plus dogs in our kennel right now in our dog yard, which is right here on our same property. And that's pretty much our lifestyle. We live with a pack of sled dogs. I teach dog mushing to two universities here in Alaska. I think I'm the only...

instructor in the United States that offers a college level program to do that and We really introduce people not only to the sport of dog mushing But also the lifestyle and all that goes with it and one of these days I will run the Iditarod. I have not done it yet It's a very expensive time in inclusive endeavor But I always tell people that the oldest person to ever start out as a rookie was in his mid 70s. I'm in my

early 50s right now so I still have about 20 years before I'm the oldest guy to run the race but hopefully eventually I will be able to do that and sort of come full circle.

Lianne Shinton (16:26)

Wow, that is so exciting. So exciting. It sounds like a lot of work. I did go dog sledding once. I was in Ontario, Canada, and I signed up and, you know, they hate the dogs and they pulled me. It was a lot of work. That was like some running.

Robert Forto (16:44)

Yeah, it is. It's not only a lot of work out on the trail, but all that goes into it just on a daily basis. We spend about three or four hours a day, I guess, on dog chores. And you can imagine what that is. It's picking up a lot of poop, doing a lot of feeding, a lot of care for for those dogs. When you have 30 dogs that you take care of every day.

our team is, is definitely busy with that and it's definitely a lifestyle. It's something that we are in grossed in 24 hours a day. And it's, it's very similar to if you have a farm or if you have several dogs and you're involved in sports or whatever, you know, people have multiple dogs all the time. But when you have something that takes up all of your time and literally all of your money.

It is definitely a lifestyle and just for your listeners for perspective, our dog food bill alone is over $2 ,000 a month. So it is very expensive to take care of a team of sled dogs. And of course, those need a lot of attention and a lot of resources for sure.

Lianne Shinton (17:50)

Yeah, it's I definitely kudos to you for having a team and that's so exciting and you're living the dream

And then back to your dog training business, I wanted to see maybe if you have like a heartwarming success story of a particularly memorable, you know, transformation with one of your canine clients, be it a pet dog that you've transformed or maybe a service dog, because I know you do that work as well.

Robert Forto (18:24)

Yeah, when you sent that question over to me this morning, I was thinking about what would be the best story to tell and sort of wrap this all up together. And there was a dog several years ago, his name is Thor and he is a Labrador retriever that we trained as a service dog for a gentleman that lives in Sitka, Alaska. And Sitka is down in Southeast Alaska about

700 ish miles or so from us and he had had a service dog before and that dog aged out and it was time for a new one and he called us up and said, hey, can you help us out? This is what I do and this is what I want. He is a very active individual. He has cerebral palsy and he needed a service dog to help him in his daily activities, the mobility side of things. But

What was more important is he gets out and does everything possible in Alaska. He goes fishing and hunting and he's a photographer and he spends a lot of time outside. So he wanted a dog that was able to do that with him, to be that companion for him. So we trained Thor for him and it was very successful and they worked together for several years. And then he called us up and said, Hey,

I'm going to be up in your area. I would love to have the opportunity to ride on a dog sled. I've lived here in Alaska for a long time. I've never had that opportunity. It would be a life -changing event to be able to do that. So he came up one, one afternoon and we put him through the paces and you know, did everything for, for the teaching side. And we said, okay, Eric, are you ready to go? And often people,

that go on mushing tours. They're just sitting in the basket. They're sitting in the sled. They're not doing much. They're really just going for a ride. So we got out on the trail three or four miles from home and we said, okay, Eric, are you ready to do this? Are you ready to go? And we put the brakes on and set them all up and he drove the team home. And I tell you what, it was a, an amazing experience for him. I'm sure it will be something he'll never forget.

And it truly was that transformational point of this. You know, he had, he had this dog that he needed to, to support him and to, you know, to help him live his life. But he also fulfilled one of those dreams that he had was to run a team of sled dogs. And I think that that is so cool that we're able to provide opportunities like that. In our service dog program, we want to make sure that the dog is not just a utility, not just a tool for them.

but allows them to live a more independent life, to be able to do things that they want to do, as in Eric's case, to go out and do the things that he does in Alaska, take photos and hunt and fish and all that. And to be able to provide that in a trading setting is so important. And I think that by far it's a success story for us.

Lianne Shinton (21:22)

I got a little choked up there. That was an awesome story.

Robert Forto (21:25)

Thank you.

Lianne Shinton (21:27)

I was thinking Thor was going to start pulling the sled or something, but you know, that says a lot. Like that's the perfect Thor sounds like the perfect dog for him because most service dogs are kind of like just super focused on that one job. But Thor has to be able to also go out and run around outside while he's doing things and be controlled off leash, I assume. And things like that in.

fishing environment and stuff. So that's different. That's pretty cool.

Robert Forto (21:58)

Yeah, he truly is an excellent companion for him because, you know, when you're dealing with mobility issues and in particular cerebral palsy, you're limited sometimes in what you're able to do. And there's been many occasions where this man had to go to the hospital for one thing or the other and his service dog went with him and was able to be in the room with him during his stay in the hospital. And that's a very important part of training because...

When you're training service dogs, you can't train for everything. You can only train for what you're able to do, whether you're going to restaurants or elevators or escalators or, you know, this sort of thing, but you cannot train per se for a multi -day hospital visit or something like that. So just having that, it goes all, like I said, it goes all back to that relationship that you have with your dog and having that developed, I think is key. And that, that training just sort of falls in place.

Lianne Shinton (22:55)

And finally, where can our listeners find out more information about your business and how can they connect with you?

Robert Forto (23:02)

We are on all social media to search for Alaska Dog Works as well as alaskadogworks.com and I am everywhere to search my name and I love connecting with people. I'm probably most active on either Facebook or X or Twitter or whatever people are calling it these days, but I look forward to.

to having people reach out. We do have our own podcast. We've been podcasting since 2009. We are Dog Works Radio. I don't think we've ever missed a week. So we have, I don't know, a thousand episodes or so of dog training stuff. So definitely reach out to us there.

Lianne Shinton (23:41)

That sounds like an excellent free resource for folks, especially if they're just not sure, does my dog even need training? Maybe go to that podcast and listen to a few to help make that decision and definitely set up a free discovery call with you too.

Robert Forto (24:00)

For sure. And the important part about our podcast, it's available to anybody in the world. And as you know, as a podcaster, that's an important part of this. If we're able to provide value on our podcast, whether it be training advice or stories or whatever, then they can reach out. Maybe they won't reach out to us, but they'll reach out to another dog trainer and say, Hey, I heard this on this guy's podcast. Can you help me out as well? And I'm a firm.

proponent of having a collaboration between other dog trainers and other pet professionals. That's how we grow, that's how we learn, and I think that's an important part of that relationship that we have with our clients.

Lianne Shinton (24:37)

fantastic. So everyone, please visit alaskadogworks.com. And thank you so much, Robert, for joining us today. Again, I'm Leanne, the host from Pet Biz Experts, a CRM for dog trainers, and have a great day.

Robert Forto (24:55)

Thank you.