Paw-in-Hand Obedience

(1) Our dogs deserve to be treated as well as our children, and have the same basic "human" rights as we do to food and water, shelter, social interaction, and love. A dog that knows he is loved will work harder to make you happy!

(2) We as owners have a clear responsibility to provide our dogs not only with training, but with an actual education to enrich their lives and exercise their doggy brains. 

(3) Humans and dogs, despite having a close and complex symbiotic relationship, have an intrinsic tendency to communicate with their own kind in vastly different ways. We are speaking two completely different languages.

(4) It is our responsibility, both as the more mentally flexible species and as the leader of our dog's perceived "pack", to learn to speak dog-ese. It is irresponsible of us to ask our dogs to learn our language, or to punish them when they misunderstand us, or to continue to send our dogs signals and communications that they must find completely baffling. We're the smart ones; we need to take charge of this.

My obedience program is a cruelty-free, low-stress way to get the results you're looking for with your best friend. We start at the beginning, with the real kindergarten basics. Even if your dog is an obedience champion, if he's been trained in a negative way it is affecting him emotionally and putting a strain on your every day relationship. I re-train from the start using positive reinforcement.

Training takes place in the dog's home, his "comfort zone". He's more relaxed when in his own territory, and therefore more receptive to learning new things. But there's also an important social reason for obedience in his home. If you and your dog came to my place to train, my "territory", we would be sending him the message that he is no longer in control of the situation. He's on someone else's turf, someone he doesn't know, and he's not sure what I'm planning to do with him. Contrary to the training ideas most of us grew up with, we want your dog to feel as though he has control over his training. We want him to begin to make conscious choices and to understand the consequences of those choices. The real goal of my program is to show your dog that he is a loved and valued member of the family, not the house slave.

Feel free to contact me for more information.