My training specialties are: walk and train, basic manners and foundation behaviors, improving vet and grooming visits by helping your dog tolerate and enjoy handling, and training for mental engagement. Read below to learn more about each area.

Training by Video

Get started on training your puppy or adult dog by video. We can cover many basic puppy raising and foundation training topics via video, from how to deal with puppy mouthing and jumping to training important cues such as sit, down, and come. Training tires your dog out more than you realize. It’s great enrichment and mental stimulation and will help build your relationship with your dog. Short training sessions with your dog are a great way to break up your day, get off those Zoom meetings, and spend a few minutes with your fur baby. For our sessions, I provide video or live demos, instructions and feedback as you practice with your dog. You can also submit videos to me during the week for feedback. When we are just starting out, one-hour sessions seem to work best. After we’ve worked together some, we may agree that 30-minute sessions will be suitable.

“Walk and Train”

I will take your dog out on neighborhood walks (on-leash) or hikes in East Bay Regional parks (on- or off-leash, depending on recall), and incorporate training before, during and/or after the outing.

This is a great option if your dog doesn’t do so well in groups or is reactive on leash, is fearful, or if you want to get your dog some exercise on the trails but can’t take him out yourself. If your dog is fearful of things like metal plates in the sidewalk, garbage trucks, strangers, bikes, scooters, or other dogs, we will do confidence building exercises during our training.

These are private or semi-private walks or hikes (2 dogs max – e.g., if you have two dogs, or your dog has a best buddy, I may be able to accommodate both dogs at the same time, after an initial assessment). During these sessions, I will work on teaching and/or strengthening a variety of behaviors that we determine together. For example, come, sit, down, go to your spot, loose leash walking, and heel.

Basic Manners

Get started training basic manners (also called “foundation behaviors”) as soon as you bring a new fur baby – of any age — into your household. These include basic cues like sit, down, stay, go to your bed or crate, come (recall), walking nicely on a leash, and giving you attention. They may also include “potty training” and management of normal puppy behavior like chewing/nipping and jumping up on people.

Cooperative Care: Vet and Grooming

Many dogs become scared of the vet or groomer and don’t like to be “handled” or touched on the paws, ears or mouth. They may try to nip or bite the person touching them and need to be muzzled or restrained in order to attend to their basic healthcare needs. I can do a series of training sessions to help your dog become more comfortable with being handled so routine grooming or visits to the vet are safer and more pleasant for you, your dog, and the vet or the groomer. This will likely require some regular work on your part, but if you’re willing to do the work, you can make significant progress with your dog’s willingness to be handled. This is an important part of every day care for your dog and I encourage you to include this in your training plan.

Mental Stimulation and Inside Games

Perhaps your dog is older, has suffered an injury, or you don’t have the physical ability to take your dog on long walks…you can still do fun things at home with your dog to tire him out. I will teach you games to play with your dog at home and introduce you to different training tools that will help you build a stronger relationship and mentally engage your dog despite any physical limitations (yours or his).