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Canine Obedience and Communication

The Paw-In-Hand Obedience Program is the Canine Communications basic obedience program.  Training takes place in your home.  Each session will last between 1 and 1 ½ hours, and I recommend one training session every two weeks. 

Because the training is one-on-one, I encourage you to adjust the content of the program to your liking.  You may add in behaviors you'd like your dog to learn, and remove behaviors from the program that you may not be interested in.  The Paw-In-Hand program teaches 12 basic behaviors:

Watch:  teaches the dog to give you eye contact.  If you don't have his attention, how's he going to learn from you?

Sit:  butt on the ground.  A good, all-purpose way to gain quick control.

Down:  ankles and elbows on the ground.  Essential to teaching many more complex behaviors.

Stand:  all the way up.  Great for grooming.

Heel:  keeping pace, the dog's shoulder lined up with your leg.  No more pulling on the leash!

Stay:  your dog remains where he's placed until you release him.  Important for safety and teaching self-control.

Place:  teaches your dog to find and plant himself on a specific spot until you release him.  Very handy for polite behavior around guests and open doors.

Give It:  put that down immediately.  If you're reading this, I'm willing to bet you can think of all kinds of uses for this one!

Leave It:  look, but don't touch.  Great for dropped food, cat chasers, car chasers, diggers, trash thieves, etc.

Find It:  locate and fetch a specified object.  Nice for missing car keys, great for hide-and-seek.

What Can We Expect From This Program?

The Communicative Obedience Program is nine weeks long, give or take, with an hour-and-a-half session each week.  Your dog will learn the commands "come", "watch", "sit", "down", "stand", "stay", "heel", "give", "get it", and "find it".  He'll learn polite behavior around doors and guests, and gain a rudimentary understanding of manners in human society.  He'll learn to follow your verbal commands as well as hand signals.  You'll have fun homework to do after each session to solidify in your dog's mind the things he learned during the training session.

The first session is an Evaluation in which I can meet you and your dog and we can discuss the training program.  This is my time to listen to what you have to say about your dog's unique situation, and your time to ask any questions you may have.  The Evaluation costs $ 25, and may last anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour-and-a-half.  At this time it's important for me to observe your dog in his "natural habitat", doing the things that he usually does. In the following training sessions, however, I ask that whatever distractions are usually present (i.e. cats, TV, children, etc.) be removed to give your dog a chance to learn and to give you your money's worth.

You will find my training style different from that of most other trainers.  First, I am not the one doing the training, YOU are!  It is my job to teach you how to teach your dog.  You will participate in every step of his education.  Why?  Primarily because your dog will develop strong emotional ties to his teacher, and since he's your dog, I want him to tie to you.  He will understand that you are putting effort into working with him, and he'll appreciate it!  Next, we are trying to teach him to obey you, not me.  When I leave at the end of a session, he needs to know that his real trainer is still there, and that it's your expectations--not mine--that he needs to live up to.  Last,when you're an active participant in training, you can ask questions about anything we're doing, which will lead you to a better understanding of your dog and dogs in general.

Usually, a session begins with a brief discussion and review of the previous lesson (5-10 minutes). Next comes the actual training, in which I'll explain the technique and make sure you understand the "what and why" of it (30-60 minutes).  For the remainder of the session, we may discuss training principles, do some Q&A, or practice one of several entertaining "exercises" you won't find with any other trainer.  The goal of these exercises is to help you better understand your dog's feelings and motivations.

Because my training is one-on-one, your dog receives all of my attention, all the time. This way, I can observe your dog's unique learning needs and adjust my teaching methods to match those needs. The program is so flexible that I've never trained two dogs in the same way. A particular method that works wonderfully for one dog will completely confuse the next one. Dogs are as unique as people. They need the kind of flexibility that only individual training can offer.

The cost for each obedience training session is $ 35. You will have a hard time finding a comparable price for the kind of work I do. I believe every dog should have access to cruelty-free training, regardless of the owners' financial capabilities.

Every Dog Deserves a Chance

In addition to my basic obedience program, I offer a cruelty-free problem solving program called Every Dog Deserves a Chance.  Chance was a beautiful chocolate lab with a heart of gold.  His self-appointed goal in life was to act as a doggy psychiatrist.  Every dog loved Chance, even those who disliked all other dogs, and Chance had an amazing effect on every dog he worked with.  With Chance around, suddenly thunderstorms weren't as scary, strangers weren't as threatening, and the compulsion to chew a hole in the couch vanished.  He was a canine Miracle Worker.  I believe every dog deserves a Chance; someone to listen to them when they have something to say and answer them with understanding, acceptance, and guidance.  EDDAC is my attempt to fill Chance's pawprints, and I try my hardest all along to ask myself, "What would Chance do?"

EDDAC can address big problems and small ones.  Owners have contacted me with problems from biting to digging to jumping to depression.  Together, the owner and I decide whether we're dealing with a potential emergency that may constitute a direct threat to the dog's health--as in biting and jumping--or if we're talking about an annoying but not life-threatening problem.  If the dog is in an emergency situation, damage control is the first step.  I may ask them to modify their fence to keep the dog from getting over or to keep company out of the house until the biting is under control.  Afterwards, we can work with the real cause of the problem to eliminate the undersirable behavior.  Maybe, unbeknownst to the owner, the dog has a serious lack of confidence that makes him nervous around strangers.  Maybe he's bored to tears and goes over the fence to find some adventure.  If we want to know what's wrong, the only one to ask is the dog.  Deepening communication is what EDDAC is about.

So what happens when you call me for an EDDAC session?  Just like the basic obedience program, EDDAC begins with an evaluation.  I need to see the dog in his own environment to diagnose the problem.  After the evaluation, we can discuss what course of action can be taken, and I can give my "prescription".  This can include dietary changes, a trip to a vet, modifications to the dog's environment, a series of desensitization sessions, relationship exercises, basic obedience work, and anything else the dog may need.  The price of EDDAC sessions may vary according to personal risk and travel expenses (to the vet's office, for example), but will not exceed $ 50 per session.  A price will be agreed upon during the evaluation. Sessions may last anywhere from an hour to an afternoon, depending on what needs to be done.  This too will be discussed during the evaluation.

If you have questions about your dog's unique situation, please contact me.  I can never hope to be as amazing as Chance, but I owe it to his memory to try my best.  Chance never gave up on a dog, and neither will I!