Philosophy
Frequently Asked Questions
WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON’T GET THE RESULTS I WANT FROM THE TRAINING? IS THERE A GUARANTEE?
WHO WILL BE WORKING WITH MY DOG?
WILL I GET TO SEE MY DOG DURING THE BOARD AND TRAIN?
DO YOU USE TREATS AND POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT FOR TRAINING?
WHY DO YOU USE PRONG COLLARS?
We use prong collars because we find them to be one of the best tools for gently communicating and connecting with the dog. Even though they’re often portrayed as dangerous or harsh tools, they’re far from that. Do not let their appearance or the ignorant and uneducated opinions of others mislead you into making the wrong, and often detrimental, decision for your dog. Prong collars are actually one of the safest and most gentle ways to effortlessly communicate both during training and after.
WHY DO YOU USE E-COLLARS?
Because they are so neutral, mild, and their use involves very little mechanical mastery, making it a necessity for owners without expert canine handling skills. Modern e-collar training allows for the very best communication and transferring of skills from trainer to owner. While many are concerned that the dog is being “shocked” into listening, the truth is, contemporary, high-end e-collars are based on the same technology as TENS machines used for physical therapy in humans. Which means, your dog feels a mild, benign sensation that is not harming to them mentally or physically. Most dogs work at e-collar stim levels that most humans often can’t even feel. In addition, the e-collar enables many challenging issues (reactivity on walks, jumping, barking, stealing food) to be resolved quickly and easily. It’s also the ONLY way to safely have your dog off-leash and maintain reliability. The ability to keep your dog safe with a reliable way to recall your dog back to you, even at great distances, is something that remains unavailable with any other tool.
WHAT IS A DAY IN THE LIFE AT BOARD AND TRAIN LOOK LIKE?
All dogs sleep inside, in our climate-controlled kennel. We only work with a small handful of dogs at any given time, which allows us to give every dog the personal attention they need, as well as maintaining a calm, relaxed, and quiet environment. First thing in the morning, all dogs go for a long structured walk. After that dogs will have some downtime in the crate. From there we start the training day, with each dog receiving 90-120 minutes of training. While this might not sound like an enormous amount of time, it’s more than enough for dogs to make significant, consistent progress without overwhelming them or burning them out. We don’t allow free roaming or interactions with other client dogs without the supervision of our senior trainers. Only our personal, and 100% safe dogs will be involved, so your dog won’t be at a high risk for injury as they would at the dog park. And most importantly, every moment of the day is training – this means crate behavior, thresholds, feeding, potty breaks, yard-time with friendly dogs, in house behavior, behavior in public, play-time with their trainer, and every other interaction are all a huge part of the overall training process, and why we’re so successful.
HOW DO YOU TRAIN WITH AN E-COLLAR AND PRONG?
MY DOG IS FEARFUL AND NERVOUS – I SHOULDN’T USE AN E-COLLAR WITH HIM, RIGHT…?
Actually, modern e-collar training, combined with our unique approach to it, is the very best solution for seriously and even dangerously fearful dogs. Although counterintuitive, we’ve turned around severely fearful/insecure/nervous dogs when all other approaches had failed.
MY DOG IS REALLY AGGRESSIVE. DO YOU WORK WITH AGGRESSIVE DOGS?
Yes. We specialize in serious aggression rehabilitation. We’ve designed unique protocols that are able to turn around even the most severe cases – whether human aggression, dog aggression, resource guarding, or aggression on walks.
MY DOG IS UNCONTROLLABLE ON THE WALK – PULLING, LUNGING, BARKING, GROWLING – CAN YOU FIX THIS?
Whether you’ve got an unstoppable puller, a super prey-crazed dog, or severe leash reactivity/aggression towards dogs/people/cars/bikes, etc., we’ve created socialized approaches that solve even the most challenging dog walking issues.
I HAVE TRIED OTHER TRAINERS BEFORE AND DIDN’T GET THE RESULTS I DESIRED – WHAT MAKES YOUR PROGRAM AND APPROACH DIFFERENT AND MORE EFFECTIVE?
We often work with dogs who have been failed by other training programs. Unlike other techniques and approaches that only focus on developing rehearsed behaviors, bribing with treats, or merely managing/bandaid-ing the problem, we have developed a unique approach that fundamentally changes the dog’s state of mind. Once we address the dog’s state of mind, the sky’s the limit for what we can create. By cultivating new habits, teaching the dog to make better choices, building confidence, teaching doggie meditation, training calmness instead of excitability, and employing our unique duration work, we are consistently successful with dogs that others are unable to help.
I CAN’T AFFORD YOUR PROGRAMS, BUT I’M IN A BAD SITUATION WITH MY DOG – WHAT CAN I DO?
I PURCHASED A TRAINING PROGRAM AND WOULD LIKE A REFUND, AM I ELIGIBLE?
We have a very strict no refund policy. Your payment for services and commmitment to your training plan supports our two non-profits that save the lives of dogs in need and veterans in need of service dogs. When you pay for services with us, you are reserving space that we no longer advertise as available to new clients. The only clients eligible for a refund are those who we are unable to provide the services that they paid for due to the fault of one of our trainers, or our company. We do not ever offer refunds for those who change their mind about services they have not yet received, relocate out of our service area, or are unhappy with their dog’s progress. We will always try to accommodate our clients by offering an alternative as a courtesy, but we cannot approve refund requests for any reason other than our own inability to provide and complete the service that you paid for.