My Biz: ‘Good boy!’

CEDAR RAPIDS — Successful dog training takes some people skills, too.

“It’s easy to train the dog,” Michael Albee said one recent morning. “It’s harder to train the human.

“I used to say dog training is 50 percent dog and 50 percent human. Now I feel it’s more like 30 percent dog, 70 percent human, and that’s being kind.”

Growing up in Cedar Rapids, Albee’s family couldn’t have a dog because of his father’s allergies. But on a visit to his grandmother when was 9, Albee discovered her neighbor’s dog.

“She showed me how you could teach a dog to go get a toy, by name,” Albee said. “I thought, ‘That’s interesting, that’s really fun.’ That’s how it started. My love of dogs just inspired me to make their lives better.”

Once he moved out on his own, Albee, now 64, learned how to train his own dogs through books and instructional videos, and attended training seminars.

He began training dogs for others about 2005, while operating his own computer repair and web design business.

“But it was mostly just friends and relatives and neighbors,” he said. “In about 2015, I started working for the public, hiring myself out.”

In-home training

With his business, A Better Dog 4U, Albee specializes in in-home training. He works with all ages, from puppies to older dogs with behavioral issues.

“Most of the issues I deal with, I need to see it in the home, because that’s where the problem is,” he said. “I’ve got to get to know the dog and the dog’s got to get to know me.”

While Albee can train a puppy in three or four in-home sessions, “there are dogs I’m working with on behavior issues that we’ve been working with for six or eight months.”

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Albee also hosts a weekly group session in a city park for “reactive” dogs that don’t play well with others, “just getting them used to seeing other dogs up close.”

Albee converted half of his large garage to house a condensed agility course. He’s planning a full-size version for bigger dogs.

“It’s basically a confidence course for dogs who lack confidence or are fearful,” he said.

During the pandemic, Albee worked with dogs, but nobody wanted him in their homes.

“We were working on nicer days during the winter, still working outside,” he said. “The next summer I started tearing this (the garage) apart and cleaning it up and painting it, making it into a training area.”

Humane training

Albee uses humane, personality-based reinforcement and relationship-based training based on reward, not punishment, over dominance-theory training.

“In my opinion, that’s been dead for 30 years but there are people who still use it,” he said. “All that does is make the dog nervous and afraid of you.,

“I prefer to teach the dog from the inside out,” he said. “I’ll tell the dog, ‘This is what I want. I’ll pay you a reward if you do what I ask. If you don’t, no reward.’ That’s how it works for me.”

Michael Albee, 64, of Cedar Rapids, and Leo, a 14-week-old miniature goldendoodle, works on crate training July 5, 2023, at Leo’s home in Solon. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette) ALbee owns A Better Dog 4U.

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Leo, a miniature goldendoodle, awaits a command -- and a treat -- from Michael Albee, owner of A Better Dog 4U, during a July 5, 2023, training session at Leo’s home in Solon. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)

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Michael Albee, 64, of Cedar Rapids, owner of A Better Dog 4U, works on obedience training with Leo, a 14 week old miniature golden doodle, at a client’s home in Solon, Iowa on Wednesday, July 5, 2023. Albee offers in home dog training and works with around 20 dogs a week during the summer. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)

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