Archives: FAQ

Here again, I’m always just an email, text, or phone call away. My relationship with you doesn’t come to an abrupt end the day your dog graduates. In fact, I still have contact with many of my previous clients — I LOVE getting photos of the dogs and hearing updates about how they are doing. But yes, I sure am there for you for questions and/or concerns after training is completed!

Absolutely! I return calls 7 days a week up until about 10:30 or 11 PM (never beyond the latest you’ve told me I can call) and am always available through email and/or text. I pride myself on being there for my clients and never, ever, having you feel “left alone.”

Yes, absolutely. Because so many people work Monday through Friday, 9-5, I often joke that, mostly, I work when everyone else is off! Obviously my schedule is more open during the day on weekdays, but I sometimes have evening or weekend appointments available, too.

For private lessons, he should have age-appropriate vaccinations or titers showing immunity. If your dog is old enough, he must have a current Rabies vaccination. For group classes, he has to be all through with his distemper/parvo combination vaccine and be at least 16 weeks old. With in-home puppies who are still in the process of receiving all their immunizations, you must have had your puppy in your possession for at least 2 weeks before I will visit your home. We can do our first lesson over the phone. (We don’t work with the pup on that lesson anyhow!)
I do require that dogs be free of fleas. If not, I will reschedule for when he (and your home) is. We all struggle to keep our dogs free of fleas, and it’s just not fair for me to pick up fleas at one person’s home and potentially bring them to another person’s home (or my own). So the dogs that I work with need to be flea-free and on one of the chemical flea-preventatives. He also needs to be free of any contagious internal parasites like giardia, coccidia, hookworms, roundwords, etc. Again, this is for the protection of all the dogs. Lastly, of course, he needs to be healthy. A dog feeling ill shouldn’t be expected to work, and he won’t be focused enough to get anything out of a training session anyhow. If you have a pup who you need to start housebreaking but is ill, we can schedule a housebreaking lesson via phone, then meet in person when he’s recovered.

You bet! My group classes are in cooperation with the Clarkstown Learning Center in Congers (I’m pleased and proud to have been asked to work with them offering group dog training classes to the community!) The classes are open to everyone, not just Rockland residents! They are offered year ’round and most classes are scheduled daytime, evening, and weekends for your convenience. Also, I purposely keep each class really small so you’re sure of getting individualized attention. No overcrowded classes here that you and your dog get lost in! You can find my upcoming groups here.

You bet! There is no age dog that cannot be taught. The “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” thing is absolutely false! Puppies generally learn quickly and easily because they don’t have deeply ingrained habits yet, but ANY age dog can be taught to be well behaved. Depending on the age and the amount of negative habits that have been learned (and type of dog!), it can sometimes take a little bit longer, but it’s absolutely doable. For example, my favorite example is Willie — a dog in my Therapy Dog class who had never had formal training, and she graduated and earned her Therapy Dog Certification. She was 10 years old when she did it! It’s never too late!

Nope! In fact, you are best off having the very first puppy lesson just before you get the puppy if possible. Your new pup is not required at the first lesson because it is informational; there is no hands-on training with the pup. It’s great to have all the information about what to do during the pup’s first first days — housebreaking, chewing, whining/crying, etc — before any of it happens. It lessens the stress on all of you – pup included! I offer these first puppy lessons either privately (in your home) or occasionally in a small group class (currently called “Raising Your Pup!”).

Ideally, training should start before you even bring him home! Getting yourself ready for what to expect and how to proceed when you bring your new puppy home eases the stress on all of you! If you already have your puppy, then the answer is “Now!” 🙂 Puppy training can and should begin right away. This doesn’t mean you’re going to be teaching heeling and long stays to an 8-week-old puppy! He’s too young for that. But you will want to be working with his mouthing/biting, housebreaking, how to walk on a leash, and working on the beginning of manners (in the home, with strangers, and with other dogs) so bad habits don’t develop. (It’s much harder to break bad habits and replace them with good ones than it is to teach good manners from the start.) There’s much that can be done with a pup early, while still letting him be a pup and with an eye toward not pushing him beyond his age! Positive methods using a ton of motivation are best for any dog – pups especially!

I train dogs using positive and humane methods, with lots of motivation, using all we know about dog behavior. Dogs learn best when things are presented to them in a way they, as dogs not people, can easily understand. Most important of all is good communication; that is, helping people communicate effectively with their dog and teach him in a way that’s completely clear to him and in a way that’s natural for him to grasp. Anything else is a disservice to the dog. Most training problems are a result of a communication roadblock: the dog isn’t getting what you’re trying to say. I can fix that, or better, help you avoid it altogether. Dogs are never brutalized here; they are respected and treated with “firm gentleness,” patience, and kindness.

No! The “old school” method of dog training (some years ago, but there are still some old-school trainers out there) could be heavy-handed and would sometimes result in a dog who basically obeyed because he was afraid not to. Those dogs are so sad to me — working with their tails down or tucked under, always glancing up at their owners with a worried look. That is NOT how I train, and that is NOT how dogs I work with look. I train dogs in a positive, motivational, humane way with an eye toward what is more natural to them — meaning what they, as dogs, can understand best given all we know about dog behavior. They respond to training because it’s positive and fun. They work smiling and with their tails wagging. The way it should be. They very much have their spirit, playfulness, sense of fun, and individuality intact. But they know, in a way they can understand, how you expect them to behave. Dogs are much happier when they know the rules and have the skills to follow them. So nope. No mindless robots here. And no broken spirits — ever.