Our Training Philosophy

            Dogs are a very social animal needing interaction and affection from people and or other dogs.  Many dogs are allowed to develop bad habits from either loneliness or boredom.  We believe that dogs should be started on a training program as early as possible (we started obedience training with one of our dogs at 8 weeks old).  Once a dog knows who is the pack leader and what can be expected of him or her, they know how to fit in better.

            We trained our current dogs for Search and Rescue.  This requires a high level of obedience.  While we demand that our dogs adhere to commands, We do not require that they do it sharply like you might see in competition, but we also required them to learn a much wider variety of obedience and agility commands than dogs used in various competition rings. 

            We like training dogs, but we believe that owners will like the results better if the owner and dog train together.  You and your dog will develop a stronger bond, making your dog a more devoted partner.

            We train dogs using a combination of getting the dogs attention on the handler, and then rewarding for positive behavior.  This means the use of a standard training collar, but no pinch collars or shock devices.  (We are not saying that these things should never be used, but most of the time, they are used improperly if you don’t know exactly how to use them.)

            At the current time, we will do basic obedience training only.  This is the basic commands that make your dog a well mannered citizen and a good companion for you.  This would include sit, stay, lie down, heel, come when called, wait,  go to bed, and general manners like waiting at a door for you to open and exit 1^st before the dog.

            We offer a basic 9 week class for dog & owner, and one hour private sessions to work on specific obedience problem.

AKC Canine Good Citizen

            The AKC Canine Good Citizen Test is the final test for all of our basic obedience classes.  It can be a nice certificate to hang on your wall for most dogs.  But now some insurance companies are requiring proof that dogs of some breeds are not aggressive before they will sell you homeowners insurance.  The CGC certificate is being recognized by many insurers as that proof.

             Anyone wishing to take the test without taking one of our 9 week classes, is welcome to participate when we are giving a test.  Just give us call.