Faithful Friend Les Castro

Hello everyone, my name is Les Castro and I am the founder of Faithful Friend.

Welcome to Blog 3, “Training 101, Bonding”. 

I am most frequently asked, “How did you get your dog to do that?” 

Let me ask you a question, “How do think I got a Master’s degree”? The answer is one lesson learned at a time. So it is with dogs that demonstrate uncanny ability. The first thing one must do with any dog, young or old, is to establish a bond of trust. If a dog doesn’t trust you it will not consistently follow your direction but simply do whatever it thinks of at the time. Meeting a puppy’s basic needs is the beginning of developing a strong bond. All dogs eat and then of course must defecate. When I get a new dog or puppy, I feed and water it, and take it to an appropriate place to relieve itself. That seems simple enough, but how I do it seems to be different than many who have trouble with their dogs. If you follow these proven steps you may avoid a lot of mistakes. I didn’t say all mistakes because perfect is not possible. But you can avoid a lot of pitfalls with any dog if you commit to proper training early.

This example should help. When I first get a new puppy, I drive home with her in her kennel. If it is a drive over 15 minutes, I stop and begin training just as I would if I were home. I physically put the puppy on grass so she begins to learn exactly where to “go potty”. I say, “Hurry up” (because I can easily remember that command and it doesn’t sound like any other command I’ll teach her later). I’ll gently repeat “hurry up” as the puppy wanders around and eventually relieves herself. As soon as she begins her business, I put a tiny tasty treat right under her nose. Even while she is still going about what she needs to do, she begins to associate my voice command with something wonderful… the treat! For young puppies I repeat the opportunity to go out on grass every two hours until bedtime. I also repeat this right after feeding time because whenever something goes in one end, it fairly quickly comes out the other.

By repeating day in and day out the dog gets a rhythm to her behavior. I will feed mine consistently at certain times of the day and then expect defecation outside. My dog will learn I will provide food and water for her along with a proper place for her to do what will naturally follow. Providing water is equally important as well as encouraging contact. Leaving food and water down on the floor all day for easy access won’t encourage the pup to learn where the byproducts of such must be deposited in a designated area. As babies, we humans must be potty trained, so we shouldn’t expect our dogs to get it right without lessons and training. However, by taking clear control of the basic needs of feeding and watering, your dog will bond with you and want to please you. She may even come when you call her, expecting more treats, water, or trips outside to play. Once you’ve established these basics, you can build upon this relationship by teaching her your command for sit, down, heel, and so on.

Remember this: “What gets rewarded gets repeated”.  I keep a bag of snacks by the door to my back yard. Treats are part of the reward system. Quickly my dog learned when she needs to go out, she stands at the door making it clear to me what she needs.  As soon as I get her signal, I open the door for her, repeat my “hurry up” command, and immediately reward her behavior for doing what she needed to do where I wanted her to do it. In the wintertime I can even just close the door, and when my dog wants back in, she will bark. I immediately give her a treat and lots of praise. Then when it is cold or rainy, I don’t have to stand out in the elements, but simply reward and praise the behavior I appreciate and have trained her to do. She loves treats and praise, so she’s happy to repeat the actions…

Please listen to the audio for the rest of this episode!

Mom used to say, “Nothing breeds success like success”. Ayla was such a big hit with the youth camp kids we went on to visit lots more, even incarcerated teenagers. For many reasons it is not easy to visit juveniles in prison. In fact, it took a year to get permission to have access at all because rules mandated no dogs were allowed. Before we could present the Gospel our demonstration of obedience would be keenly tested.  When we finally received our state’s approval to go see incarcerated youth we were turned away at the front gate.

Most juvenile prison facilities called “State Schools” have a front entrance manned by Juvenile Correctional Officers who screen everyone who comes in. The school superintendent had seen my large German shepherd in the parking lot and radioed the front entrance to turn us away. The possible benefit of allowing a dog verses the chance of a big dog like Ayla biting someone couldn’t be worth the risk.

Funny how God works things out though. All I could do was leave Ayla out in our van with a huge bowl of water and all the doors and windows left open. Volunteers checked in at 8 AM and Ayla stayed put until I checked on her at noon. The front guards speculated on how long Ayla would stay in the van and radioed the superintendent about Ayla’s extraordinary obedience staying there for so many hours. After taking care of Ayla and commanding her again to stay in the van, I was greeted at the front door by the superintendent. He wanted to know what I intended to do.

I demonstrated Ayla following the “stay” command. That message was made doubly clear by Ayla’s obedience that morning. Many times when I do presentations opportunities to make a new point comes up. It was easy then to add that integrity is proven when obedience is demonstrated even when no one is looking. But there had been eyes on her and her diligence earned us the opportunity to go in. Still, the superintendent stayed with us to see how the kids would respond.

News of a dog on campus spread like wildfire. A request came to the superintendent to have us come over to “Segregation” which is really just solitary confinement. In this prison the cells there had three concrete block walls with a front wall of steel bars. A bunk took up half the space and came close to the front bars. The cells faced one another down a short hallway. If the kids sat on the end of their beds and pressed their faces up to the bars they were able to watch the show.

One very rough 16 year old was there for trying to kill another inmate. He was so hardened at such a young age. It took us quite by surprise when he asked very politely, “Mr. may I please pet your dog?” He hadn’t been able to pet one in years. The superintendent flashed a concerned look at me and I said, “it would be OK.” I gave Ayla a hand signal to go over to the young man as he reached out through the bars to pet her. He softly stroked her while big tears ran down his face and Ayla gently licked those tears away. One can talk about God’s unconditional love but leave it to a dog to profoundly demonstrate it.

Proverbs 3:5 & 6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” I couldn’t know what Jesus had in store for Ayla and me but I trusted He could bring about miracles. The superintendent got to see some incredible things happen and he didn’t just keep it to himself. He broadcast to other facilities across Texas what he had witnessed. By submitting to God my all, even my dog, I received a straight path to incarcerated youth for decades to come. A lot of times our direction seems anything but straight. But, I have found it always leads just to where God wants and at exactly the time God wants it to happen.

Hello everyone, my name is Les Castro and I am the founder of Faithful Friend.

Faithful Friend started in the 1990s with a simple demonstration of Biblical truth with the help of my first German shepherd whose name was Ayla.  I had been invited to do an inspirational presentation to teenagers at a North Texas summer camp.  My striking 92-pound shepherd grabbed everyone’s attention as she strode beside me to the front stage without being on a leash.  There was no need for a leash because Ayla would follow my commands, either from one of three different languages or by my use of hand signals.

The first certainty to establish was that Ayla knew who her master was and could follow his directions.  Many folks call themselves Christians, but they fail to follow much of what Jesus has asked us to do.  Ayla had already shown her obedience by walking closely beside me, but what we did next was to solidify the image of what obedience means.  I asked several volunteers to come up on stage and stand 20 feet or so across from Ayla.  I let her know with hand signals I wanted her to lie down, and I explained to the crowd she would stay down unless instructed to do otherwise.

I asked the volunteers to try to get Ayla to disobey me.  They had to stay in place, and Ayla had to stay where she was.  The kids asked what her commands were and then called those out to her.  Some asked for her treats and offered those to her.  Still others threw treats in front of her to see if she would get up to get one.  But all she did was put her head down between her paws as if to say, “I’m not interested”.

The real test of obedience is whether one can strictly follow directions when sorely tempted to disobey.  Most of us can resist temptation when it comes from strangers.  But I pointed out most teenagers get into trouble when their buddies suggest something they can’t – or don’t want to – refuse.  To dramatize how kids can avoid even this level of temptation, I turned in profile to Ayla, put my hand up so she couldn’t see my lips move, and I joined the kids in calling to Ayla.  Even when she heard my voice among the others, all she did was lift her ears. She remained steadfast to her post, the position and location I had instructed.

It was at that point one could have heard a pin drop in the crowd.  I explained it wasn’t because Ayla didn’t want the treats or wasn’t tempted to respond to what she thought might have been my voice, but rather it was what she knew to be true that kept her still. I had asked her to stay until it was very clear to do otherwise. I trained Ayla to stay put until I picked up all the treats and only to get up when I knelt beside her.  Ayla did exactly what she needed to do, and as I fed her each treat, I recited the promises of God which help keep us from getting into trouble.

Kids and even adults often think God is about a bunch of “no’s” or “thou shalt nots”.  I recounted to them the Scripture from 1 Corinthians 10:13 (paraphrased), “There is no temptation common to man that God has not given us a way around”.  I told them God promises in Deuteronomy 31:6 He will never leave us nor forsake us.  And He knows the plans He has for us, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).  If our heavenly father didn’t love us, He would never have said such things.  It would only be reasonable I should show Him love in all the ways I can.  Doing what He has asked me to do would be a good start.

Ayla showed me through her actions that she loved me a lot.