Meet Tony Huang | Dog Trainer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tony Huang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tony, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
Crazy enough, it was Stimmy once again, who led the way to starting up a dog training business. Stimmy is my 2 1/2 (jeez has it been that long already) Australian shepherd by the way. He is easily the most recognized pup in my neighborhood, partially because his dad can’t stop bothering people, but also because he’s got a great personality and always seen training.

Anyways, it really started when a few friends in the neighborhood asked me how did I get Stimmy that way and that they want their dog to be just like Stimmy. I simply shared some exercises and my approach to training and after about 40 minutes, he asked me what my Venmo was. I said “nah it’s all good” but he insisted and Venmo’d me $60. He went on to refer his friend to me and the rest is pretty much history.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Stimmy Academy is a balanced dog training academy that specializes in behavior modification and aggression through a rigorous bootcamp approach. What sets us apart from others is that we are very result-driven so when you bring your dog to us with the list of issues you have, we are here to fix them -not put a bandaid on it, but fix it. Just like Marine Corps bootcamp, there is a standard expected out of a basically trained Marine, and I set my standards for what I consider a basically trained dog.

We got here by word of mouth at first and just offering little tips to owners whenever we saw them having trouble with their dog. I can’t say it was easy but there was little resistance in my body when it came to helping others first.

A lesson we learned along the way were that what we should really be asking from the universe is the strength to maintain our momentum. Another lesson is that owners need the training more often than the dog.

At the end of the day, what I truly want the world to take from our story is that when you start treating your dog the way it should be, exercised and trained, you’ll finally feel the uniquely beautiful bond between man and beast. When I look at Stimmy, I don’t see the puppy from craigslist I forgot about, I see the dude who’s been with me through thick and thin.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well, first stop is going to have to be Mission Beach to get it out the way, it can only go up from here. Have a couple tacos here and get some drinks along the beach. Stumble along in the sand for a few minutes. It should be 9:00 AM by now which means it’s time to head to Mission Bay to paddle board and day drink some more. After an hour and your fifth attempt to stand up on the board, take your soaked butt to continue the party in North Park for a greasy $5 burger at Friendly and shotgun a beer (there’s a $1 discount if you shotgun it).

Now that we’re done with orientation, go to a proper beach like Pacific Beach. After spending 3 hours looking for parking, head over to Better Buzz to wake yourself up. Actually enjoy the beach this time.

Later in the evening, head to little Italy and get on the waiting list for Filipi’s for a rustic Italian dining experience. Honestly everything on India Street is good, but Filipi’s is a must.

If you’re still not done for the night, head over to Gaslamp and just get plastered.

I’d say you shouldn’t leave San Diego without exploring La Jolla and all the dog beaches. There’s not too many places in the country that’s so dog friendly so definitely check them out. We also don’t have a Chinatown but we do have a Convoy Street!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Of course I’m giving a shout out to Stimmy! That’s my dawg (literally). I used to just throw the word “investment” around whenever I talked about Stimmy’s training, referring to the years of peaceful living after a year of hard training. I didn’t expect it to be an actual investment and for him to pay the bills one day.

I’d also like to shout out Joel Beckman because he’s probably my favorite dog trainer and I draw a lot of inspiration from his approach to dog training. I watched all his Youtube videos and I was like “this guy just makes sense”.

An unexpected honorable mention, but I’ll give my drill instructors from the Marine Corps a shout out. They showed me how to turn 50+ assholes into United States Marines through leadership and discipline. The pride they took in training recruits and giving the fleet a good Marine is the pride I carry when people entrust me with giving them back a trained dog.

Lastly, I’ll always give a shout out to him and it’s my best friend Sam. Always a realist (annoyingly too real at times) and a tough sell, -so when he was on board with the training idea, I knew I had something.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/t0nybeingt0ny/

Image Credits
Marquis Photography Tony Huang