Dog Psychology & Training

In our opinion, the “Dog Training” world is stuck in a cookie cutter, one size fits all, outdated training style. So many of our clients have worked with other “dog trainers” (in many cases more than one) where all the training is focused on obedience by bribing the dog to achieve a certain physical position (sit, down, stay, come, heel, etc.) without any focus on the state of mind of the dog or most importantly, the human! While we believe that obedience is an important part of training, understanding Dog Psychology MUST be understood by the human before attempting obedience.

One of our blogs titled Dog Psychology Before Dog Training goes into further detail on how important it is for the human to understand the psychology of a dog FIRST and then learn how to apply obedience commands.

Leadership, which is a huge principle of dog psychology, is rarely discussed in the “dog training” world, yet is so important to a dog. There’s a reason so many people have a dog that will only listen if there is food, a treat, a toy or something for them. It’s because the dog is in the leadership position and the human is in the follower position. We will teach you how to reclaim the role of leader and have the dog go back to their natural position as follower.

Our 4-8 week rehabilitation program.

With this option your dog will stay with us for a duration of 4 – 8 weeks (depending on the case) where they will receive continuous, highly structured training as well as love and affection at the correct time.

Steve has rehabilitated so many dogs with bite histories (human and dog), dogs that have been recommended for euthanasia and dogs that were deemed “un-trainable” by other professional trainers, veterinarians and behaviorists. He is a firm believer that no dog is beyond rehabilitation.

A plan customized to your dog’s specific needs.

No two dogs are the same which is why we will customize a plan based on your dog’s specific behavioral issues, individual traits, and your training needs and goals. Along with correcting all unwanted behaviors, this program also covers things such as crate training, treadmill, loose leash walking, waiting at thresholds (doorways, entrances, etc.) waiting calmly for food, place command (staying on a bed, mat or other object until allowed off), socialization with dogs, socialization with people and most importantly everyday real world training with the sights, sounds and smells of a busy city environment.

We bring your dog 95% of the way.

We’ve found that to ensure the highest success rate possible, we bring your dog 95% of the way through the rehabilitation process and then work with you step by step to complete the last 5%. We require private training sessions once a week throughout your dogs stay with us where you the owner are included in the rehabilitation process along with an elaborate go-home session. We’ve found that this provides owners with a clear understanding of what the dog has learned, is learning, their progress and how to reinforce the dog’s new balanced behavior through consistency and structure. By doing this it let’s the dog associate it’s owner with it’s new structured and balanced lifestyle.