Little Falls native Tommy Martin of Clear Lake, enjoys helping people with their canine training needs. While training dogs is something he has done since his teenage years, Martin said he recently decided to turn his passion into a full-time business, Revive Canine.
Martin said one thing that makes his business stand out to many other dog training businesses is that he travels to the clients for private lessons regardless of where they live in Minnesota. He believes it is important the dog that is being trained is trained alongside the owner. After all, he said, it is the owner the dog should ultimately listen to.
By working with the clients and their dogs, Martin said the owners usually feel a lot more empowered afterward in handling their dog.
“That’s my favorite part. Going to someone’s home and helping them make their lives less stressful,” he said.
Martin said that sometimes people may not realize the toll dealing with an unruly dog can cause individuals and families.
“You’d be surprised just how much tension a dog can create in a house. I’ve seen it hurt relationships and break up families,” he said.
One example, Martin said, is when one person got the dog and really loves the dog despite its bad habits and behaviors. However, his or her spouse may not feel the same about the dog and may even want to get rid of the dog.
“That can create a lot of tension in a family,” he said.
Martin said once a client has requested in-home training, he first visits the client’s house and sits with them for about an hour to really find out what problems they’re having with their dog. He then works with both the owner and the dog.
Martin said this hands-on method has worked very effectively with both owners and dogs in combating negative habits and behaviors. Because of how well the method has led to a positive outcome, Martin said he’s had several clients whom have started to cry at the relief the change brought. It also gave them hope for the future with the animal, he said.
A love for dogs has been with Martin for many years. His own adventure into owning a dog began when he was 15. At that time, he said, he was very much into sports, especially hockey. His dad, Gary, also coached him for a while.
“We did everything together,” he said.
All that changed, Martin said, when his dad was deployed to Iraq — a reality that hit him very hard. The interest to be involved in any sports disappeared, as well as the desire to really want to do anything, Martin said.
Eventually, as he spent time with a couple of friends after school, their passion for duck hunting rubbed off on Martin.
“They were really big into duck hunting and I remember going out hunting with them. They also brought their dog they had professionally trained to hunt. For me, the coolest part of hunting was watching the dogs,” he said.
Wanting his own dog to train to hunt, any hope of such disappeared after the family dog, Buck, died. With his dad still deployed, Martin said he struggled for a while. However, his brother-in-law, George Fortier, who duck hunted and had a professionally trained dog, changed his outlook when he gifted him one of the puppies his dog had. The puppy, a purebred black labrador, was named Molly, Martin said.
“While I was waiting for the puppy to get old enough to leave its mother, I went to Scheels and I bought every single dog training book, DVD and anything I could get my hands on that had anything to do with dog training. I just kind of got obsessed with it,” he said.
Martin said that while his family wasn’t poor, they didn’t have the money to spend thousands of dollars on sending Molly away to be trained.
“I just knew I would need to train her myself,” he said.
By training Molly himself, Martin said it strengthened their relationship. Looking back, it was a very rewarding feeling when he went hunting with the same friends a couple of years later and Molly showed herself to be a better hunting dog than his friends’ dogs, who had been trained by professionals.
“I kind of credited that to that I had trained her myself. I really believe the most important part is the relationship you build with your dog,” he said.
Martin said that when it comes down to having a good relationship with a dog, it’s less about all the commands, such as sit, stay, lay down and more. Rather, he said, it’s about living with the animal and creating a bond to where the dog trusts its handler to protect it, to be there for him or her, to feed, care and play with it.
“Thinking of her versus the other dogs, they were just very obedient, they knew the commands and the behaviors and they did it and it worked. But there was a lot more with me and my dog, Molly. She wanted to please me and anything we did, we did it together,” he said.
Since then, Martin has helped several friends as well as clients train their dogs. At first, it was just something he did during the winter months while he was laid off from his regular work in construction.
He also ended up training his then girlfriend, now wife, Chelsea’s dog, Nova. She was a dog Chelsea had rescued and while she was sweet, she had a mind of her own that made life harder. A lot harder, Martin said, that is, until she was trained.
Martin said working with Nova kind of inspired him to consider working with dogs full-time. Instead of returning to work in construction, Martin started working at a dog kennel, giving dogs baths.
“I knew I wanted to just get a job where I was around dogs,” he said.
As he worked with the dogs, Martin said he learned more about their behaviors and the different signals dogs use to communicate. Working at a kennel was also a humbling experience for him, Martin said. Especially since he was in his late 20s and his friends already had their lives figured out and were making a whole lot more than $12 per hour.
As the kennel owner knew of Martin’s interest in becoming a trainer, Martin was able to shadow one of the trainers and attend further training on how to train dogs professionally. All was going great until the pandemic closed those doors, he said.
After a while, Martin became across a local mondioring (dog training) club, where he was able to observe and learn more about training dogs.
“Watching the sport competition lit a whole new fire for me. I was so blown away. I had never seen anything like it. It was like equivalent to watching police dogs in action. I was hooked,” he said.
A self-proclaimed adrenalin junkie, Martin said that first night at the club, he was also given the opportunity to get into a bite-suit and get bit by a dog.
“I really liked that adrenalin rush,” he said.
Reminiscing, Martin said he’s met many dog trainers over the years and has been mentored by many, as well. Every trainer is different. One strength and focus Martin has, he said, is to be very friendly and communicate well without making the client feel bad or “dumb” for engaging in a specific pattern or for not knowing. He is simply there to help and it brings him great joy to see the relationship between dog and owner strengthen.