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We are beyond happy with the results we got from BackYard Training Kennels and would/have highly recommended Buck if you are looking for a trainer to not only help your dog reach their full hunting potential but us handlers as well. He never made me feel like any question was ever too silly to ask and always kept me up to date on how Toby was doing every single week of his entire stay. He even took the time to take him to the vet to check out his leg when he started limping midway through his stay there. That meant a lot to me and showed me that Buck truly has the dogs best well being in mind. He treats the dogs he is training as one of his very own and you can tell that right away. There is no denying there was a bond and an immediate respect formed between Toby and Buck from their very first meeting. It was and has been an honor to work with Buck and even though Toby has been home for several months now he still takes all of our phone calls and answers any questions we might have.

Toby continues to do great with all of his training exercises at home and has amazed us in the field on all of the upland bird hunts that Chris and I have taken him on these past few months. He has passed his first NAVHDA hunting test and has several AKC hunting test coming up. We both couldn’t be happier with the results we got from sending him to Back Yard Training Kennels and consider Buck like family. Chris and I are still learning, as is Toby, but I am confident we will have a lifetime full of making wonderful memories in the field with our beloved hunting companion. Thank you again Buck for all that you do and making it your life’s work to help couples like us be able to enjoy all the gifts a hunting dog can offer.

God Bless

Sincerely,

Shannon Yancy

Katy, Texas

Our family was in need of a Golden Retriever Puppy to fill the void of our 12 year old Golden that had past the year earlier.

After five months of becoming our new family member we decided to give our new pup some needed lessons in basic commands.

I had heard of Buck Henderson’s Back Yard Training Kennels from a friend of mine, who had brought his German Short Hair for puppy basic training.

After discussing a time frame for my pup to gain access to the kennels, and all of my questions answered by Buck, I was ready for him to begin. I was kept informed of my pup’s progress on a weekly basis. This was important to our family as my wife and kids were missing him while he was gone.

Once my pup’s training was complete I was very impressed with the methods that Buck had used. I was able to walk my dog through all of the commands that I asked Buck to teach him. Buck introduced my pup with frozen and live birds to get him used to future upland and water retrieving.

Once home we gave our puppy a chance to enter back into the family pack, before starting back up his training routine with all family members involved.

I truly can say that it was easier to keep our young adult on track with the commands by using a vibration collar to back up his training experience.

In a few weeks I plan on taking him to the lake and start working him around some decoys.

Thanks Buck for the work that you do. You truly care for every dog that comes through your kennel.

Steve Ulrich (Avid Hunter)

Diesel- German Shorthair Pointer

" After not having much luck finding a good quality trainer we found Buck! Buck was very friendly, kind, and really showed appreciation for the dogs he's trained. His kennels were simple but clean and effective. The location was great and secured. Buck not only trained Diesel obedience but also did field training and forced fetch retrieval. Diesel has come back a changed dog and I look forward to having him hunt beside me! Buck was very informative and called me every week with updates on how Diesel was doing. Buck exceeded my expectations and he takes care of all the dogs in his kennel. Buck was fantastic and I would take any dog to him. Buck always gives out more than you ask for and for that I'm thankful we chose him. 

Thanks again Buck and happy hunting! "

I would like to take this opportunity to say a few things about Buck Henderson. We purchased our German Shorthaired Pointer back in July, and through our breeder, Buck Henderson was referred to us for training. Upon arrival Buck sat down with me and thoroughly conveyed to me what I could expect from River after a short 4 week program. He checked in with me every week to give me updates on Rivers progress. What I was impressed with the most, is that when we picked River up, he again sat down with my wife and I and thoroughly explained what he had taught her and answered any questions. He did this even knowing he had an ill family member in another State and was going to be leaving to be with. He is dedicated to customer service and passionate about what he does. We will definitely be bringing River back in the Fall for formal training.

Thanks Buck!!

Belle LeGrue

I cannot say enough about Buck or the time and effort he put into our German Shorthair Pointer, Belle. The dog we dropped off at Backyard Training Kennels was a bouncing, energetic 6 month-old pup that was testing every boundary she could find. I did months of research trying to find the right trainer for Belle, but in the end, I took the advice of my breeder and signed her up to train with Buck.

Buck took the time to interview me and learn what I wanted in a hunting partner and what we needed in a family companion, and he built that into Belle's training. Every Monday during her stay, Buck called me and gave a detailed update on her progress. It is obvious that he cares for his clients' dogs as much as he cares for his own.

After 4 short weeks of Puppy Training at Buck's facility, we were re-introduced to Belle as an energetic, alert hunter that knew the "rules"! Buck was able to identify and develop her strengths and instinctive abilities, and he was able to show us how to continue her growth as she transitioned back to our home.

Backyard Training Kennels is a fantastic investment in a lifetime of memories with your hunting partner. Thank you, Buck, for helping our pup start on the road to reaching her potential!

Sincerely, 

Mason and Brooke LeGrue

Sugar Land, TX

Hunter Graves (Plano Tx)

Buck is an Awesome trainer!

I sent my 10 month old Pudelpointer "Jaeger" to Buck for the puppy training program. 

This is my first hunting dog and I was about to lose my mind dealing with his puppy brain. He couldn't listen to me. His whole brain was occupied with 1. food, 2. rabbits, squirrels, birds 3. playing with other dogs 4. me. Walking him around the neighborhood made me wonder if i could get some money for him as a sled racing dog. My dog seems pretty natural at all the hunting tasks, he's got a great nose, but he had almost no self control and could only go in high gear.

Buck was flexible on our scheduling. He fed Jaeger my own food and gave him his heartworm meds. He called every week with updates. Jaeger came back with the heel command, perfect come command, if i just want him to come back to my general area i call his name and he works back to me, loads into the truck, kennels on command, and a crazy stay command where he freezes in place like a mime. As a bonus he will stand still to put on a collar, attach the leash, or if i want to clean his face. As for hunting: after the training Buck spent a lot of time training me and putting us through drills where I worked Jaeger through a field to point about 7 planted birds. Buck is really good at training humans too. Jaeger found all the birds, pointed most of them, would stay while they were released to fly, he had no fear when Buck fired blanks, and he did a pretty good job bringing back frozen birds after the shots. It took about two weeks for me to get the control Buck had on him but the number one one thing my dog took away is that my commands are more important than anything else. Because he's listening to me we can do a lot more fun stuff. I can't wait for hunting season to start up.

Thanks,

Hunter

Our "Camo" is almost 2 years old now, when we first got her we had no plans on taking her to hunt tests to try and get titles on her, we just planned on having a great dog for the family and to take hunting as we can. Camo showed us pretty early how much drive she had for hunting and how much she loved it. So we decided why not try some hunt tests and see how well she will do. That's where we met Buck. We had several people tell us how well Buck was in training hunting dogs. 

Buck was a judge at this event and we were able to talk to him during breaks. He had no hesitation with helping us with anything we wanted to know and helped us as much as he could. After Camo received her junior hunt title, we decided to send her with Buck to make her a better hunting companion and to take her further and work towards one day hopefully getting her a master hunt title. Buck is very good at sitting down with you as many times as he needs to, to know what you want to get out of your dog. During the process of Camo being with Buck she received her monthly heartworm preventative and tick/flea preventative and she was there for a little over 4 months. Also with Buck being the great guy that he is, we were taking our other dog to an event (which he also helped me do things on my own at home to help this dog) and Buck happened to be going to the same one so he brought Camo along just so we could see her and on another occasion we were passing through and he let us come by and visit and see some of her progress. We were so impressed with how much improvement we seen, we could not wait until we saw the end result. Buck is very good with dogs and you can see it when he is out with them and we could see the excitement in Camo every time he brought her out and she listened to him so well. When we went to pick Camo up Buck told us to make sure we had plenty of time to stay there for few hours so he could go over everything with us. He wasn’t lying, he went over EVERY THING. It was Awesome!!! Our dog knows so much more now and does it with beauty. He also let me, my husband, and our 10 year old daughter go through the drills with her just so Camo will know to listen to us as well as she does him and this really helps with the transition back to us. We are very grateful for Buck and all his time he has spent helping Camo. Because of him she is only one pass away from a senior hunt title and this is something very hard to accomplish. If it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t be where we are today with her.

It’s so relieving to know of a trainer to send your dog to and not have to worry about them while they are gone and they come back better than what they were. We already have plans to send another dog with him and we have no worries with how he will be handled and cannot wait to see how he improves.

Thanks for all you have done for us

Buck it’s truly appreciated and we cannot wait for many many days of hunting.

Buck,

This letter is long over due!

Atticus was in your care for about 9 weeks. I remember when I picked him up from you. It was two days before Dove Season 2015, which made him a few days short of 1yr 5mo old.

At that young age you and I ran through mock NAVHDA UT test. He performed exceptionally well for a 17mo old dog.

 Since September Atticus has been on many hunts: Dove, Quail, Pheasant and Duck (and a Deer hunt --- he sat quietly in a blind looking at Does, then at me and wondering why nothing was shot!). On every hunt he amazed my fellow hunters at what he could do: Rock Solid points, Steady to Fall (mostly ! he does like to take those two or three steps), Retrieving to hand - every type of bird we hunted

On one duck hunt in South Louisiana we wounded a duck that glided into cane about 60 yards across the lake. When I sent Atticus to retrieve my host told me I was wasting my time "He'll hit that cane and turn back." Well, he hit the cane, went into the cane, and then he headed back in about 2 minutes....with a duck !

It was on this same duck hunt where I realized a great appreciation for a well trained (and well loved) dog. After the hunt several groups were gathered together in the parking area. I was walking back to my truck with Atticus (he was off lead and heeling at my side - perfectly). Another dog wanted to play with Atticus, and that dog was walking with us, around us, barking... just being playful. 

That dog's owner was screaming and yelling for the dog to return. He finally yelled to me "Stop, please." I stopped, and he caught up with his dog and drug him back to his truck (I'll leave out the details, but let's just say it wasn't pleasant for the dog).

When I got back to the truck my host pointed to that other fellow and his dog and said "Now that's how you teach a dog who's boss and how to control your dog." I said, "Really - that way? Do you think that dog would have run into that cane and fetched that duck? I'll keep doing things the way I'm doing them, thank you very much."

So - thank you, Buck. I know I give my dog an awful lot of love and attention, and when that is combined with the strong fundamentals from your training it makes for a wonderful companion, great hunter and impressive dog.

Duck Hunt - 1yr 8mo - retrieved 3 limits all to hand

I appreciate you taking the phone call here and there to help me keep him tuned-up. I look forward to sending you an addendum to this letter showing our UT accomplishments.

Take care - and I know we'll be talking soon.

Mark Santos

Whiskeytown's Royal Reserve( Razor) NA P1 110, AKC JH

Our experience with Backyard Kennels has been nothing short of amazing! Mr. Buck took our dog from a driven, spunky pup, to a finished gun-dog in no time. His methods of handling dogs in the field are second to none and I would highly recommend him to anyone that asks. 

Wing and A Prayer’s “Shotgun Rider”

It's amazing, these pictures show Buck Henderson’s training results. In four short weeks, Rider (age 11 months) was pointing and held the point when given the “WHOA” command. Buck called every week and gave me a progress update.​  

Rider was on the waiting training list for 7 months. It was worth the wait. I recommend Buck, he is truly a professional trainer, customer friendly, and Buck took care of Rider.

In preparation for the AKC hunting tests coming up in the fall, we are on the waiting list for the next training level.

Thank you, Buck, I appreciate your professionalism, kindness, and ability to recognize Rider’s strengthens and weaknesses and bringing out his hunting potential.

Sincerely

Antonio Juarez

Baylee Larrington AKC Sr.      

 Thank You Buck for the amazing job you did with Baylee’s training! It’s absolutely awesome to have aDog / unterHunter obey just about every command every time, we’ve never had that.

We are completely overjoyed with the training that Buck did for us; he was truly a God Send. Our experience with Buck started when Baylee was around 4 months old, when we went to meet Buck and check out his Kennels. We were very impressed that Buck took the time to sit and talk to us about training and his love for developing young hunters. We spent 2 hours talking with him, and then he had birds setup in his field to take Baylee out and see how she would react. Buck was interviewing us as much as we were him. We had a very bad training experience with a previous dog, and we did not want to do that again, so we were very cautious about the kennels and the training as we looked for someone to send Baylee to. After spending the afternoon with Buck we were convinced that he was the one for us and Baylee. 

Buck gave us just a few things to work on at home prior to the time at which we would take her back to him. But primarily, he said just have fun with her and let her enjoy her puppy time. Buck had an opening come up, so off to BYTK we go with Baylee at 5 ½ months old. Buck called us every week to give us an update on her training and how she was adjusting. Buck knew that we had lost another GSP to a tragedy earlier that year and we were very protective of Baylee. He took excellent care of Baylee and reassured us every week that she was doing great. Buck called us one week when Baylee was around 7 1/2 months old, and said that he would like to take her to an AKC Hunt Test and enter her in the Sr. division. We were a little reluctant, but trusted Buck’s judgment and agreed. That weekend she made her first pass on her way to the Sr. Title. Buck kept telling us that he had her trained to the Master level, and was capable of getting her Sr. Title if we stayed with it. He was right, by the time Baylee was 9 months old she had 3 of the 5 passes needed to earn her AKC Sr. Hunter title. At 10 months, there were no Hunt Tests to take her to, but on her 11 month Birthday in Yoder, Kansas she finished her last 2 passes and earned her AKC Sr. Hunter Title. Even after bringing Baylee home, Buck has always made time to talk with us on the phone if we ever have questions. I cannot say enough good things about Buck, and the exceptional results that he produces. Our plan is to continue with the AKC Hunt Tests and help Baylee earn her Master Title. I have all the faith that she will earn her Master title before she turns 2 years old. When Buck says they are trained to the Master level, you can rest assured they are. We would highly recommend Buck and BYTK!​

Dan & Kristy Larrington

Buck contacted me soon after I submitted an inquiry about his 30 day Puppy Training program through the Backyard Training Kennels website. We traded a few emails and then talked on the phone. I was impressed with Buck's sincere interest in educating me about his program and describing his expectations for my Brittany pup, Gunner. I told Buck I was ready to sign up and we agreed on a drop off date a few months in the future. A few weeks later, my wife and I got one more Brittany puppy named Buster. I called Buck and told him that we had one more student for the Puppy Training program and asked if he could take both puppies at the same time. Buck was immediately agreeable even though I needed to change the date to a few months later. During our initial phone converstion, Buck told me that this program would have our pups obedience trained (come/here, heal, stay/whoa, load up, kennel) and beginner level hunting/field ready (introduction to live birds, gun shot, and an introduction to steady to wing and shot/whoa) in 4-6 weeks. I was excited about those prospects but I truly thought it might be a bit much to expect. The morning that we dropped off Gunner (10 months old) and Buster (6 months old), we spent about 2 hours visiting with Buck as he observed and interacted with our dogs. He described his training program again and his expectations and he asked lots of questions about both dogs. Buck called me each week with a detailed update on both pups about their health and well being, as well as how each was progressing in the training program. It became very apparent during just the second weekly update, that Buck was spending meaningful time with both puppies as he described the distinct personality of each like they were his own dogs. Six weeks after dropping our boys off, it was pick up day. Buck told us he wanted us there at 6:30am because he needed about 3 hours to work with us, Gunner and Buster and he wanted to avoid the heat as much as possible. We were excited to see our guys and we missed them so much that we were just ready too see them whether they had learned anything or not! 

It was a great reunion and both dogs put on quite a show. Buck walked us through the full training routine with each dog individually and had my wife and I giving the commands (load up, kennel, heel, come, whoa) culminating with work in the field with live birds and gun shot. Both dogs showed proficiency with load up, kennel, heel, come, pointing and turning to command. Buster was even steady to wing and shot and retrieved. Needless to say, we're thrilled and thankful that we entrusted our boys to Buck. We continue to work with our dogs at home with continued success now that Buck has trained us, too. Buck Henderson is a great person and clearly, a man who is passionate about his work with dogs and I highly recommend him and Backyard Training Kennels. 

Scott Neal

After looking all around the state of Texas and southern Oklahoma I found Buck at BYTK he was the only trainer who called back and talked about what we could do for me. Buck only takes a few dogs at a time so he can work with your dog every day and spend time instead of just once a week. That made it alot easier choose right away. We dropped Ruger off with Buck right after he turned seven months old.he has very clean and well kept kennels. In a safe location. 

We left him a puppy that would jerk you around take out birds bearly listened. Buck called once a week and gave us details as to how our boy was doing all the way from if he was using the restroom up to his progression in the training program. Buck not only trained my dog to retrieve to hand. He exceeded my expectations with the gun dog program he was able to work into the training. I recived a dog that I can not only walk around the neighborhood without a leash but take to the feild and do a tremendous job finding the bird and holding point until he's sent. One of my biggest worries was will he still be able to be my family dog. If you choose to leave your dog with Buck not only will you get a top of the line hunting companion but a dog with tremendous obedience and control. I cannot wait for dove season to begin in just a few days so we can get these dummies out of his mouth and get him in the feild on the birds. Once again Buck thank you very much for your tremendous job on ruger and making him a enjoyable hunting partner. I look forward to bringing my next puppy in the near future.

Dylan & Ashley

Luling,Texas

I am really impressed with the work that Buck did with our young shorthair pup, Klaus. When we dropped him off at 4.5 months of age for puppy bird camp, I was nervous. Klaus exhibited no outward interest in birds, was stuck to my side when walking the field, and seemed more interested in playing and jumping than using his nose. Fast forward 30 days . . . . . and what a change! Klaus had a newfound birdiness, exhibited confidence in running the field, and was responsive to various commands. Since then, Klaus has already been on several dove hunts and one teal hunt, and I cannot wait to see his work on quail this winter! 

There are several aspects I would like to point out on Buck's level of service. I really appreciated his weekly "update" phone calls, in which he relayed his findings about our dog, how he was progressing, and the various stages of training that he encountered. When we dropped our pup off initially, Buck spent a solid hour with us, going over his program and setting expectations. Upon pick-up, Buck spent even more time . . . thoroughly explaining the training the dog had received and important tips/pointers to keep him progressing in the right direction. 

 Overall, I highly recommend Buck. His knowledge of dogs really shows.

Dan Downes

817-600-1048

Buck Henderson at Back Yard Training Kennels did a great job with my Boykin Spaniel (Pete Rose). I would recommend Buck for any of your bird dog training needs. He is a pleasure to deal with and the weekly phone calls helped ease the stress of our boy Pete being away from our family. Thank you Buck for getting Pete back on track.

Kevin Pitcock

My Small Munsterlander, Penny, just completed the 30-day puppy training program this November and we are very pleased with the results. I had done extensive research to find the right trainer in Texas and after reading the online reviews and speaking with a few previous customers I was certain that BYTK was the right place. From the first phone call before training to her last week, Buck went above and beyond in communicating the status of training and answering any questions we had. We always felt that our dog was in caring hands and getting the attention needed. At both pick up and drop off, 

Buck spent a few hours walking me through the training process and making sure I understood all aspects of training. I had a great experience using BYTK, and look forward to working with them again in the future.

Thanks again Buck.

Best,

Kyle Bateman

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