Our Training Philosophy

Our training style is very relationship based and we understand that motivation is the key to success with dogs. There are 2 sides to motivation: teaching your dog what TO do and teaching them what NOT to do.

We use positive reinforcement in the form of treats, food, play and affection to teach obedience and encourage dogs to do the right behavior (sit on command, come when called). By doing many repetitions, we teach the dog that doing the correct behavior earns a reward and is fun. This helps build engagement with your dog and shows them you are fun and exciting.

That’s teaching your dog what TO do. There is also teaching your dog what NOT to do and there needs to be a balance between the two.

Dogs have a mind of their own and often they get distracted, ignore us or form bad habits. When it comes to training things like recall (come when called) it's very important that our dog doesn’t ignore us because it could quickly turn into a dangerous situation. This is where we start to add consequences for not listening when we know they know what we are asking.

We use specialized tools like slip leads, prong collars, and remote collars to condition these consequences. We have trained with these tools for years and are very experienced in how to condition them properly and safely for dogs. When it comes to life and death, you don’t want your dog only listening when they feel like it.

The bottom line: We help you create a strong relationship with your dog based on balance and a keen understanding of how dogs communicate. After working with hundreds of dogs and helping solve a wide variety of issues, we have learned to understand dogs and how to help other owners understand their dogs better too.