Training Services

Overview

I offer private training at your home or other location as needed. Training is a step by step process of practicing a new way of communicating with your dog. Since your dog is not aware of your master plan, it is up to us together to present your dog in an appealing way….sell it to your dog….so your friend happily co-operates with the process. After years of working with dogs and people, I have discovered that people don’t want punitive methods. They want to be kind but achieve the kind of acceptable behavior that makes living with their dog fun and stress free. Each situation is unique in its way and the training progressions I recommend are tailored to your situation using variations that work best for you. Those choices never involve frightening, threatening, hitting, rolling, pinning or yelling at your dog. My techniques are respectful to you and your dog and involve true patient teaching of numerous techniques based in natural dog behavior and the laws of learning that function for all species. Learning should be fun for you both yet effective.

What is Integrative Training?

By Integrative Training I mean giving you multiple skills and insights to make your dog’s new habits and attitudes a way of life. When the two of you are in-tune with each other you both become more aware of each other’s needs at any moment. You will learn how to keep your dog’s attention and focus even in distracting situations and how to engage in activities that satisfy your dog’s needs in ways that encourage calmness and self control, lower stress and build confidence and engagement while you both enjoy yourselves. The particular activities are chosen to suit you both and may include structured games, confidence building exercises, body work, scent work and more. These have wide reaching effects on your dog’s attitude and well being at the same time your dog is learning to be obedient and mannerly.

What Will You Learn?

The number of sessions necessary for your dog is dependent upon the age, temperament and habits of your dog along with your goals. The general foundation skills include calmness, focus/attention, self control, respect for your boundaries. The specific behaviors you will learn include general manners (no jumping, no door dashing, no tripping you, no begging, no disruptive behavior) plus the general utility behaviors: sit, lie down, stay, come, walk nicely on leash, go to your bed, sit for greeting, structured games. You may request specific behaviors you want to teach your dog. You may also include games of choice, basic tricks and more. If you decide you love training and want to compete in one of the many varied dog sports, I can coach you as well as introduce you to others who do your sport of choice. Basic programs are for indoor off leash behavior and outdoor on leash behavior. 

Initial Session 

For puppies and adults: An initial lengthy training session (up to 2 hours as needed) to assess your training needs and get you started working on a basic training and management plan. You can stop there and continue on your own or you can commit to a training program with us that will work with you step by step until your goal is reached.

About Puppy Training

Puppies go through rapid developmental stages and initially have short attention capacity but they soak up training like a sponge. What they learn young teaches them attitudes and habits that build the foundation you will greatly need when the hit their obnoxios teenage stage. Each stage requires its own specific training and behavior techniques to finally get you through to the adult dog you will cherish throughout its life. I recommend that you plan a whole year of teaching your dog to grow up great! This means that you should allow for a few lessons at each stage of development as appropriate for your particular dog. I will be happy to discuss this with you and estimate what you will need based on your dog’s behavior profile at our first session.

Training Options to Fit your Needs

Single Session: For some, but not all dogs, you may purchase sessions one at a time. I don’t recommend this because it doesn’t commit you to follow through and people tend to get distracted by life’s other demands.

4 to 8 Session Package: This gives you a chance to stay committed, save money and spread the sessions out as needed over a 3-4 month period and still catch the changes in at least two develomental stages if you choose the longer program. This may be all you need if your dog is relatively mild mannered and cooperative. 

K through College Package: This is a long term, economical commitment to seeing your dog through its first year to 18 months of developmental change, giving you the techniques you will need at each step of the way. If your dog is a bold, confident and physically athletic pup, especially of certain breeds who change a lot between puppy innocence and adult assertiveness, you will do yourself a huge favor to commit long term to getting through those difficult stages. Talk to me about these one of a kind packages that bring significant discounts to reward your commitment. 

Adolescent Training – 8 sessions: Probably more dogs are given up during the adolescent stage than at any other time. This is the time when they don’t listen to you, act independent (“you’re not the boss of me”), seem to forget what you’ve taught them, act out with aggressive displays to other dogs or people, want to chase animals, bicycles, etc, start barking at visitors and delivery people and more. If you’ve instilled good habits in your dog from early puppyhood, it will be easier to get through this stage. If you haven’t, then you can still succeed but it will take more work on your part and you will definitely need help. 

Adult Training 4 to 8 sessions: You may have just acquired an adult rescue dog or you may have let time get away from you and failed to train yet or even moved to a new home and found that your dog is not adapting well. Either way, your adult dog will have different needs than a puppy. It will have to unlearn bad habits, learn how to learn from you after a time of never knowing for sure what you really want, and perhaps even get over some terrible experiences (rescues). We will discuss your needs in the first session. 

Behavior Problem Change: There are some typical behavior issues that appear in all untrained dogs. Most of these are covered in the basic training packages. For more complex behavior problems, we will schedule a behavior consultation with in-depth history of health and behavior, examine any incidents that may have happened and determine the next step and basic plan of action to solve the problems. Please go to the behavior page for more info.

Pricing: Pricing starts at $120.00 per hour for manners training and phone consultations. Full behavior consultations start at $250.00 which includes a consultation of up to two hours plus review of your dog’s behavior history.

Multiple sessions can be purchased in some cases session by session. Certain types of problems can only be purchased in packages of multiple sessions. There are discounts available for packages.

Travel fees may be added to your costs based upon mileage.

Call for an accurate estimate.