Taurus Dog Training

Taurus Dog Training

Written by Tiffany Young Monday, 24 March 2008

Deciding on a lifelong career can take years of agony, but for Taurus Dog Trainer owner William McLeroy, the career practically picked him.

In high school McLeroy needed spending money, so he took a job hosing dog runs for Melanie Dinicus, a prominent field trial dog trainer near Tyler. Dinicus noticed McLeroy had a knack with dogs and started training him in dog obedience.

In college McLeroy continued training dogs for friends, but really began making it into an occupation in his senior year as a philosophy and English major at the University of Texas.

McLeroy had planned on going to law school after graduation, but his business began picking up and a friend told him, while playing racquetball, that he could really make a business of it.

On June 8, 1998, McLeroy’s wife’s birthday, the first Taurus facility on South Lamar opened. Since then, two Northwest Austin Taurus locations have opened, one on McNeil Road and the other on Metric near Parmer.

“We originally started as trainers,” McLeroy said. “And we would offer puppy consultations and get owners thinking about socialization. People would take (puppies) to dog parks and have bad experiences, so we started have puppy socialization days at our houses.”

McLeroy realized that customers would bring their dogs long after they were puppies to these socialization days and that is when they realized doggy day care might be something that would interest people. While doggy day cares are not unusual anymore, in the ‘90s they were still very new. Taurus was the first doggy day care in Austin.

The location on Metric is the most recent location and is connected to a veterinarian hospital, making it a synergetic, or mutually beneficial, relationship for both businesses.

McLeroy said there are many differences between Taurus Dog Training and other similar businesses in the area, but the main difference, he believes, is that the company’s base is in behavior.

“The dogs have fun here, but we can also cultivate a relationship between dogs and their owner,” McLeroy said. “Training is about looking at the space between the dog and the person and making modifications to make the space between the dog and the person a healthier space.”

McLeroy added that while many dog owners believe certain skill sets, such as sit and speak, are key to training, these skill sets are unhelpful.

Taurus operates under four priorities: the health and safety of the dog, customer satisfaction, employee personal and professional growth and profitability.

“One thing we’re really about is continual growth for ourselves and the community and enabling our clients to grow in their understanding of dogs,” McLeroy said.

While three locations can be a handful, McLeroy said he is looking for new locations in the next year. He is interested in a south or west location, but would not be averse to continuing north if he found the right location.

One thing is for sure, Northwest Austin residents have a safe place to bring their dogs, where dogs can be dogs.

Taurus - McNeil, 6917 McNeil Drive • 258-5588, mcneil@taurusdogtraining.com

Taurus - Metric, 12419 Metric Blvd. • 832-1012, metric@taurusdogtraining.com