Ever wonder what it would have been like for you if your parents pulled you out of school after kindergarten? How would you have learned to read, write or even socialize? Think of all the amazing tools and skills you gained from your parent¹s insistence that you go to school and continue your education. Without that coaching and those countless lessons you would have floundered and failed.

The same concept is true with your dog. Consistency, Attentiveness and Reliability are learned behaviors that must be maintained. Dogs never forgets, but learning does diminish.

To provide your growing puppy, adolescent or newly adopted dog the foundation for a lifetime of success;

Training is a process of teaching and then maintaining desired responses. If responses to cues start to slow down, immediately go back to an earlier step in the training and re-teach the exercise.To effectively keep your dog keen lessons should be taken in sequence over the course of two years .Private training will take less time because of the individual and personal attention.

If behaviors are not rehearsed, they will diminish. It is your responsibility to rehearse with your dog the behaviors you want until they become life long habits for them.

Finally, dogs are fairly simple creatures when it comes right down to it. They behave the way they do for essentially three reasons:

1. The behavior gets them something they want.
2. The behavior prevents something from happening to them that they want to avoid.
3. The behavior is allowed to be practiced.

Many owners tend to believe that "basic obedience training" completed once in the dogs early life is all that's ever needed. This simply is not the case. I am a strong proponent of puppy and obedience classes — in a group and privately. Obedience training provides essential tools to help shape and modify behavior, but obedience training alone does NOT change behavior or create it.

Often we observe people taking an untrained "defensive-reactive", "anxious", or "fearful" dog into obedience training and they walk out with a "defensive-reactive", "anxious", or "fearful" dog that now will sit on command.

Over the years it has been the norm, for many pet owners to take a class with their dogs that generally lasts 6 weeks and then they "graduate".Unfortunately to guarantee reliability with your dog one must continue to be consistent and rehearse to maintain desired responses like:

1. Coming when called in the face of distractions.
2. Sitting for greetings, instead of jumping up on you and other people.
3. Walking on a loose leash instead of pulling against the collar.

You and your dog will never graduate because learning is always diminishing. Generalization is the process of asking your dog to use the behaviors he has learned well in locations other than his home and the training center. Dogs do not easily generalize learned behaviors to other locations. Therefore, generalization itself must be practiced. The generalization process will be a challenge for the dog. This will encourage the dog to stay on cue and keep attentive to you, waiting for further direction or his release.

Associations directly affect how your dog responds to you, your cues and the environment.

1. New associations are being made constantly (new stimuli, new experiences).
2. Existing associations are constantly evolving (new consequences to familiar situations).
3. Dogs and people make associations between things and how these things affect their well being based on past experiences.
4. Dogs and people make associations that are unique to them because they are completely unique in their "genetic blueprint" and their perceptions of the environment.
5. People are not in control of the specific association that a dog is making at any given time.

It is very wise for people to anticipate some of the things a dog will need to interact with or be around in the future. They should take a proactive role and "set up" the situation for a dog to make a good association with as many of these elements as possible.

When a dog faces a new situation, place, or circumstance, people should beware that associations will be made and do their best to make the associations Good ones.

Our unique program offers you schooling that will benefit the life long teamwork with you and your dog.

Intensive 3 week in Home training

To facilitate the learning process, we have developed a very successful as well as unusual system by which your dog attains positive behavior changes while you are at work, with a consistent, yet fun and nurturing trainer.

Your “best friend” becomes Gina Micciulla protégé for 3 consecutive weeks. During that time your dog becomes proficient in whatever behavior you choose, such as walking on a loose leash, sit, stay, down, or coming when called. Whatever behavior you choose for Gina to teach your dog, exercises are incorporated into the dogs daily mid day break , your dog will enjoy using their brain and body during their two hour outing to the park and other public places, combined with training and lots of exercise.

_______________________________________________________________________________

“Thanks so much for working with Fiona.  I think she's doing great - she's even more attentive than before and we're excited to do more practice with her skills.  We're talking about zooming over to the beach on Sunday (just for the day) and, after a hike to wear her out a bit, seeing how she does on a long line to rehearse her recall. (BIG knots!)”. 

-Amy & RJ Hayes 

______________________________________________________________________________

We will also schedule weekly training times during this 3 week program for you at which you learn all of the pertinent material and actually practice it with your dog in preparation for continued “Success”.  Two follow-ups are also included in the package so that we may “troubleshoot” any problems that you may have in the dog’s transition back to their daily routine. Consultation concerning home management and continued consistency of your dog plays a large part in the success of the program.

This package includes:

• 3 consecutive weeks, Monday – Friday daily visits
• 2 hours each daily visit
• In addition 5 private 60 minute sessions with you and your dog , 3 during the initial 3 weeks and two scheduled after completion to maintain desired response and keep you keen too
• cost $1,200.00

______________________

“Xochitl started doing her “STOP” and making herself a POST….so I went in to problem solving mode – I was going to call you but wanted to see if I could figure it out.  The first day I got mad –So, I realized quickly that that was not going to work.  I decided I either needed to give up ever running with her or find my patience and figure it out…

Second try – remember when we were working on leash walking and “walk away”?  – gotta tell you – so far (2 weeks) so good.  I use her leash and the 15 foot long line – it is a true pain in the ass but she really responds – better and better all the time – its still real work but I’m getting longer times in between needing to use it.  Meanwhile I’m getting pretty good runs and having fun with her.

So, other than the fact that third way is positive and reinforcing it also teaches problem solving and I love that – she has no side effects…So, once again – thanks for teaching”.

 -“Molly Butler”

_______________________________________________________________________________

Phone Consultations — Ask the Experts

Need help right away but can't make it to our facility? We can set-up a phone consultation for you with a professional trainer. Phone consultations are useful if you need help immediately but can't make it in for a private lesson. Clients who move out of town find them particularly useful.

The following issues are some of the most common:/strong>

• Puppy Selection — Advance planning is the key to a great relationship with your puppy. Discuss which breeds are best for you; learn what traits to look for in a puppy; find out what supplies to have on hand before bringing your puppy home.
• Crate Training — If your puppy is keeping you up nights, let our experienced trainers help. They've personally trained hundreds of puppies and know what really works.
• Potty Training — This can be one of the most frustrating issues for new puppy owners but it doesn't have to be. Tell us what's happening and we can help you structure your puppy's environment for success.
• Introducing a second dog — Not sure how to introduce a new dog to your existing canine (or feline) household? We can design a plan that works for your family.

503-349-3088

BACK TO TOP