Understand...Once you understand how your dog learns, the "why" behind many of their behaviors becomes much clearer. You'll begin to see the motivation behind many of their behaviors, as well as understand learning from a dog's point of view. This idea is key to getting those behaviors you want out of your pet.
Learn... As pet owners, you begin to learn how to teach and communicate more effectively with your pet, while your dog is actually "learning how to learn" from you. By learning effective, positive training methods you can train your pet faster and they will retain more.
Teach... "Train the Trainer!" Our goal is to teach you how to train your pet using a highly effective and positive training approach. Once you are armed with the know-how, you can teach your pet nearly anything! Many of our clients have gone on to train other dogs and members of their family on their own.
Grow... Using these tools and methods you'll see your dog grow into a happier, more confident pet, displaying the behaviors you have wanted to see. The end product is an amazing growth and strengthening of the human-animal bond, with you as a more confident trainer capable of leading your dog to success.
Our Philosophy
The heart of our training philosophy lies in a comprehensive, WHOLE pet approach. We use positive training and reinforcement to help build a strong pet-owner relationship and improve communication. We employ the same methods used to train everything from aquatic sea mammals and dangerous zoo animals to teaching professional and Olympic athletes. We pride ourselves on the use of innovative and fun teaching methods that are at the same time highly effective and time efficient.
Where do we start?
Positive training and proper communication is a vital part of our training philosophy. We have learned that most problems come from a lack of proper communication with your pet. We also help our customers to understand the behavior of their animals in regards to how they learn (reinforcement, etc). Once our students understand their pets and how they see the world many of those unexplainable behaviors begin to make sense. And once we have an understanding we can begin to make change.
How do we view the pet-owner relationship?
We do not view the pet-owner relationship in the manner of "dominance" but from the point of confident leadership, or in the sense of a structured family. There is no need for fear or painful punishment, as we teach our students how to instruct their pets and how to be a kind and confident leader that their pets wish to happily follow. This leadership is earned through learning how to effectively communicate with your pet, as well as how they are communicating with you. We also will discuss how to set rules and boundaries, how to enforce them in a consistent and fair way, and how to incorporate the learned behaviors into everyday situations. Using a positive approach we can teach you to how to work with your pets and instill a structure in an efficient and effective method that will work for the long-term.
What does this mean for problem behaviors?
When it comes to problem behaviors we believe in looking at the WHOLE animal.its history and background, environment, and current situation when developing a training plan. Each animal has its own unique story and past that brings it to the pet it is today. Looking at the entire picture allows us to treat not just the problem behaviors or "symptoms", but the emotional "whole" animal. Often times we are able to clear up many "symptom" issues by treating the underlying emotional or behavioral problem.
Ultimately we teach people how to teach their pets. We fully expect our students to carry the lessons they have learned forward to other animals or other teaching situations. Training is an ongoing practice, one that does not stop when your session is over. With our fun training methods you will enjoy working with your pets and your pets will enjoy learning. As your pets learn how to learn and think on their own you will find they will enjoy the training time making each new lesson easier. Teaching you how to train your pet not only strengthens what they are learning but it strengthens the bond between you, your family, and your pet. We train to build a stronger pet-owner relationship.
Please remember...It takes time, patience, dedication and compassion; what every pet needs and deserves.