Does your dog know the meaning of commands, but only does them when he feels like it?

At Teacher’s Pet, our goal is to help you have a fuller, more satisfying relationship with your dog.

We believe that we have an obligation to our dogs to communicate with them as clearly as possible, so that’s what we teach our clients to do.  We also respect a dog’s natural intelligence and even their ability to reason, which is why we believe it is right to teach them to take responsibility for their own behavior.

Dogs learn by experience. This is the basic idea behind what behavior scientists call behavior modification and operant conditioning. Based on this, Teacher’s Pet has developed a simple and effective technique for teaching your dog basic rules. It’s called the “Out” Correction™. Most of our clients  learn this and see it start bearing fruit the very first time we meet.

In the leash work we teach the appropriate use of positive reinforcement as well as a powerful technique called “passive correction.”  Dogs learn to take responsibility for being attentive so you don’t have to keep reminding them. We seldom use treats. We don’t use clickers.

Our holistic approach teaches you to be the kind of dog owner that your dog longs for. The goal is to have your dog view his or her world as a safe, sane, predictable place where he or she has certain responsibilities and respects you as the authority. We teach you how to set down appropriate rules and how to enforce them in a clear consistent manner. Obedience training is done by first obtaining the dog’s clear understanding of what is required and only then holding him responsible for following through. Thoroughness and consistency produce a dog who views the process as fair and just. We do use collar corrections. In spite of what you may have heard, there is NO effective, positive way to tell your dog not to do something.