Our Training

We believe in balanced training; the proper application of both “yes,” and “no,” to teach a dog what is expected of them and to build habits that will make them into a dog that you can enjoy for a lifetime. While food may be used briefly in the early stages of teaching your dog, we want them to respond to their handler, not the treat pouch, and as such, food should be phased out as quickly as possible if used to teach a behavior. We teach several behaviors through modeling, allowing us to avoid the use of food altogether, but our end goal is always the same; Equip a dog with the tools and skills they need to understand what is expected of them and equip the whole family with the tools and skills they need to clearly communicate and provide the dog with the clarity and natural outlets that they need to be an enjoyable member of the family.

Teaching: Before correcting a dog for not performing an expected behavior, we must make sure that they understand the expectation first. If you start your new job, and all of a sudden you get chewed out for wearing khaki pants on a Wednesday, without being informed that this was a major transgression, would you consider that a well-balanced and reasonably run workplace? Similarly, if we begin correcting dogs simply because we expect them to know things without teaching them, we are running the risk of permanently damaging our relationship with them, as well as confusing them further, and worsening the issues.

Correcting: True corrections are to be used only after the dog understands what is expected of them, and chooses not to respect the boundaries that we have clearly established for them (and we must CLEARLY establish them first). We may also deliver corrections when the dogs exhibit behaviors that are unsafe and the need to eliminate it quickly outweighs the need to eliminate it “fairly.”