We have been open a few weeks now for boarding and I have concluded that the dogs that have trained with us do much better than dogs that have not. They are better behaved less stressed and happier. Most of our dogs have never seen the kennel and some have never been boarded, but you would never know that. I believe the difference is with our training. We not only teach the dog to sit, down, stay and place with distractions, we also build confidence. Structured training builds the dog’s confidence. We also build confidence environmentally as well. We have the bottomless bottle pit, the noise maker, wheel chair and umbrella. We teach the families we work with about dog psychology. They learn why we don’t pet when the dog paws at us or give affection when the dog is scared. All of these things build confidence. Confident dogs accept kenneling better than your normal spoiled pet that gets everything he/she wants. Our dogs learn that excessive barking is not tolerated. Contrary to what some owners believe, they are not talking to us when they are barking. They are yelling and demanding when they stare and bark at you. Nuisance barking is addressed in our training and it spills over into a balanced well- mannered dog.
Dogs who have not trained with us are shaking, barking, will not eat, and generally stressed. Pretty typical for dogs who run the household. Suddenly they are not in control and they don’t know how to deal with it. They have never been through the stress of training, learning, and experiencing consequences for their behavior. It is amazing what some structured training does for a dog.
Our training programs start with the basics. We just teach the dog not to have a tight leash and to follow us. As the dog catches on we teach come, sit, and heel. We then work on the place and down command. Once the dog comprehends the positions we then add distractions. Distractions can be food, toys or another dog. As the handler gains their confidence with their dog they graduate to group polishing class. You can definitely tell the new guys from the experienced dogs because they struggle. Group polishing class separates the men from the boys or women from the girls.
In addition to the basics we also teach how to interrupt unwanted behavior; barking, chasing cars, running away, jumping on people, attacking the vacuum, you name it. So do your dog a favor and sign up for some training. If you can’t let your dog run around because you have no control, give us a call. We want every dog owner to have off leash reliability. Your dog will love you for it.
