Royvon's Heritage - The Second 25 Years

 

Darren's Early Dog Training Career     

     After 6months of recovering, Darren and his mother Yvonne felt he was responsible enough to own and look after his own dog - he had turned 9 years old in the November of that year (1981).   Merry (GSD) was born and so was Darren’s dog training career.  He knew there was a lot to learn so he began to master the skills of dog training that his father had taught him, every spare minute he had.  Darren would attend any event that would increase his knowledge, the other participants were all adults, but Darren remembers that everybody really encouraged his learning and did everything they could to help him.  His early mentors included John Harding, John & Ann Seal, Dave Powell, Des Lewis, Brian Burke and of course his best mentor his mother who was competing in working trials at the same time.

 

     During those tender years Darren also developed the showbug (as its known in the industry), Merry wasn't just an excellent working dog she was also a pretty face and won many prizes in top events throughout the country.  Darren remembers the support that he used to get in the show ring as well as the dog t raining circles

   ‘when people said I was just like my dad in the ring or with a dog - it made me so happy, it was the best praise anybody could ever give me’

     Darren realises now that he was being nurtured and trained from the age of 9 by so many dog enthusiasts, whom he is eternally grateful to.  He says today,

     “the only way I can repay them is by putting my skills and knowledge back into the dog community and help develop others’.

 

Yvonne's Dream

     Roy & Yvonne had shared a dream; to build on the Royvon site a purpose built dog training facility where dog people could meet for various activities.  She fulfilled their dream in 1983 and Royvon’s indoor and outdoor facilities were built; this included 2 acres of training/show grounds and 2 indoor training halls with a total indoor area of 4800 square feet.  They had visited one of these facilities in Australia whilst judging and there wasn’t anything else like it in UK, visitors from all over the world couldn’t comprehend the facilities that were located in a small valley’s town in South Wales. 

 

Darren Turns Professional

     Darren dedicated much of his early years to learning all the aspects of working trials, including protection and training.  In fact, he passed his first working trail qualification, Utility Dog at Bridgend Police Headquarters, at the age of 13.  He began training dogs professionally at the age of 14, becoming a professional, top level dog handler of German Shepherds, campaigning successfully throughout the UK. Darren then judged his first German Shepherd Dog Show (with record entries) at just 16 years of age, and went on to judge nationwide. These endeavours for somebody that age were extremely extraordinary.  Darren continued develop his skills in Dog training and behaviour, training a variety of breeds with a range of behavioural problems. 

 

Royvon Survives.. and Thrives

     Due to the tragic events of the latter part of Royvon’s 1st 25 years the business was strained from 1981 for about 7 or 8 years, only losses and demise were apparent.  Royvon maintained working to our core values and purpose but Royvon’s business successes were something of the past.

     Darren had to leave school at the earliest age he could as bankruptcy was looming, the situation was quite dire. This didn’t prevent his studies which continued 2 nights per week for the following 10 years, studying a BTEC in business and then onto Nebs management, AAT, HNC (Business management) and HND (Business management) and finally studied 2 out of 3 years of an MBA at the University of Glamorgan In 2001.

 

     Sadly in 1994, Yvonne surpassed to her pining of Roy and passed away in the November. Again this was a traumatic time for Darren & Sarah, but their love for each other and a determination to make their parents proud drove them on. 

 

     They now owned the business and were determined to make their parents proud of them, the quest started to make Royvon Dog Training School a household name in dog training circles.

 

     A business plan was made to take Royvon Dog Training Schools forward, a marketing consultant was sourced in the form of Mr Tony Price “MKIU” (Tony to this day is still an integral part of the business and its development).  The initial strategy was to market our services in other parts of Wales and the on English borders and find out how many people would travel the distance for our services.  We were in un-chartered territory, Royvon was renowned in professional doggy circles, but the general public was a different matter and the infrastructure was very different then, Wales wasn’t as accessible as it is today. 

     The outcome was positive; people were prepared to travel the distance. Our marketing campaigns expanded and we began marketing nationwide.

 

     These years saw high growth and our strategy was to diminish the other services that we had been providing and concentrate on one core primary service and do that service exceptionally well.  It was very hard to stop providing services to customers that we had been providing to for many years, but if we were to achieve our objectives we had to specialise.

 

     Royvon again, now under the control of generation number 3, Darren & Sarah started to win awards, these awards ranged from Doggie related to national business awards, it was very happy times, the hard work had paid off, the losses and demise was a thing of the past, there was only one way in the future for Royvon.

 

     Royvon had always recruited self taught trainers.  It was imperative that our training courses were uniform so we then provided in house ‘Royvon’ training where the trainers learnt and perfected all the Royvon method and techniques.  The values that had been ingrained all those years ago were paramount to the success and running of the new Royvon, and all potential team members had to display them.  As the company was growing so was the numbers of employees, it was a challenge to maintain the standards when the team grow from 4 to 15 people in the early 2000’s.

 

     Royvon experienced both growth in numbers and sales and the courses were booked all year round.  There was an essential need to expand but it was felt that building more facilities at the Merthyr Tydfil school was not the answer.  Although Royvon’s customers were coming from all over the country they were travelling long distances to us and we wanted to be more accessible to them  An ‘active partnership’ with a boarding kennels in Preston (Merseyside) was a developed but soon ran into problems.  We trained their people and then supplied them with Royvon customers but unfortunately this was short lived as we could not control the quality of the training and the methods used.  It was then agreed that any future expansion plans would have to happen organically and could only occur if all management and ownership was under the Royvon umbrella.  

 

Royvon Expands

     Between the years of 2002 & 2005 Darren and his wife to be Hannah searched the country for the next Royvon School. Over 300 premises were viewed in various locations throughout the United Kingdom.  Due to the standard of facilities in Merthyr Tydfil and Darren’s vision for the future, the search for the new premises proved very difficult.   The new school was found on Darren’s 34th birthday on 30th November 2005.  It had everything that was required, good accommodations for the dogs, an indoor and outdoor training area, auxiliary buildings, a place for Darren & Hannah to live and the jewel in the crown, the location – Surrey.  Darren & Hannah had got married the previous August on the incredible grounds at Royvon with a wedding marquee.  Hannah whom was a former planning officer joined the company to help Darren & Sarah fulfil their destiny. Hannah says,

     “After searching the length and breadth of the U.K we really couldn’t have found a more superb location than Esher.  Its 15 miles from the centre of London, 5 minutes from the M25 and is a beautiful and friendly area”  

 

     The premises in Surrey needed drastic redevelopment & refurbishment in order that it was able to maintain the Royvon high standards.  Substantial investment was needed and the project began in April 2006. The premises have been completely altered and improved so that we can provide the best possible service for our dogs and to our customers.

 

     We were aware that the most important part of this expansion was recruiting the right people for the various roles.  Royvon’s core values were paramount when choosing the candidates.  We were fortunate that we had an exceptional response to our recruitment advertisements and we had a global response.   We had candidates fly in from the USA, several from around Europe and many from within the UK.  The quality was exceptional and our finished team consisted of trainers who had worked in Beverly Hills, Athens, Israel, Iraq, and Germany and  throughout the U.K.  All of the team are qualified for their specialised area of work and are dedicated to continual professional development.   

We operate as one big team and team members often visit the other school to gain experience and share knowledge.

 

     As we are such an established organisation, we feel we are in a unique position to promote owner responsibility. Due to recent tragedies and our long term ambition to ensure a healthy dog friendly community we are in contact with government and relevant agencies to try and raise awareness about responsible dog ownership that leads to a law that will ensure that dogs continue to enrich all our lives.

 

     Royvon is now approaching its 50th birthday and with the combined schools the teams now consist of 25 people, including 10 professional dog trainers and we are all dedicated to enhancing the lives of dogs and their owners.