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No doubt it was a mighty strange request. Veteran Orangeburg dog trainer and breeder Jerry Mount was asked by his nephew to straighten out not only his good friend's unruly pet, but also the drug-abusing pal himself.

And, since that nephew is Richard Davis, the creator and star of the wildly popular "Flip This House" -- now seen on The Learning Channel as "The Real Estate Pros" -- the television cameras were along for the ride.

Davis, the owner of Trademark Properties in Charleston, created the home improvement hit show a year or so ago for the A&E channel. With Davis now in litigation with A&E Networks over compensation issues, the latest installment of the program began on TLC in April. Due in part to the number of copycat programs "Flip This House" has spawned, Davis has turned "flipping," -- buying a property on the cheap and fixing it up for a quick resale -- into a household word.

"Straightened Out," the episode that features Mount and his Orangeburg kennel, first aired June 9 and will be repeated at 7 p.m. today and again a few hours later on Sunday at 2 a.m.

"This guy (Davis) grew up with, one of his best friends, went off on a tangent and was about to lose his house. Richard said 'I'll help you under these conditions -- you go to my uncle's and he'll train you and your dog,'" Mount said. "I trained the dog and I trained him, too, for 30 days."

Mount, whose sister is Davis' mother, has operated the Boyleston Pond Road kennel his father started since 1969.

The premise of the program is that, while Davis' boyhood friend, and the wayward dog, were being rehabilitated out in the Orangeburg countryside, Davis's firm would renovate the James Island home he was about to lose. The profits made from the quick "flip" or resale of the house by Trademark Properties were then split 50-50.

"We ate at Ryan's (Steakhouse) every day for 30 days," Mount said. "They even filmed us at Ryan's and showed him eating a salad. Then, at the end of the 30 days, they came up here and filmed."

The footage from Ryan's did not make the final cut, but several scenes were shot with Mount at the kennel, located off Highway 4.

"That dog was wild and crazy; part Chesapeake and part yellow Lab," Mount said. "I trained him in obedience a lot faster than I usually do it. ... They filmed a lot of things on the property. It took a lot of my time."

In the year since the episode was filmed, Mount says he understands that Davis' friend is still doing well.

"So far everything has worked out good. He's still on the wagon and he's still got his girlfriend and that racoon," said Mount, referring to another of the friend's many pets that was filmed. "It's tough to get off of drugs. He was a high school buddy of Richard's, both were soccer players."

Even Mount seems to be enjoying his proverbial 15 minutes of fame.

"A couple of million people watch that show," he said. "I got calls from Atlanta. I've had eight to ten calls already. I train dogs from all over the country. They ship them to me from New York and Texas, mostly retrievers. And, a lot of people see that show all over the country."

T&D Government Writer Tucker Lyon can be reached at tlyon@timesanddemocrat.com or by calling 803-533-5545. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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