Hi Humans,
I hope you had a pawesome weekend! I know I have! It was a great, sunny weekend here in San Francisco, so I decided to go SF’s well known “Dog Connector’s Meetup” – an event where people and their dogs come to meet, connect, and ask “The Pooch Coach” lots of great questions about dog training.
If you don’t live around here and didn’t hear about The Pooch Coach – her name is Beverly Ulbrich, and she provides private and personalized empathic dog training and behavior problem solving. Anything to do with aggression, fear and shy dogs is her cup of dog-tea.
Saturday’s event brought together many beautiful people with their sweet dogs, all standing in line to ask Beverly questions about their dogs and treats (“make him wait for it”!), socializing with other dogs (“your dog is shy. My Kompis was once shy. now she’s the queen of the party!”), and dogs’ back problems (“everyone, spoil your dog with a dog massage!”). It was truly pawesome.
And here are a few words from the Pooch Coach to all of you, about the benefits of private dog training.
There are many reasons why private, personalized training is better than group classes for both you and your dog.
Behavior Issues
First of all, if your dog has any behavior issues, you need personalized focus. You also need an expert behaviorist, not simply a dog trainer. Beverly understands the psychology behind dogs and their actions and has worked with every type of behavior problem imaginable: from aggression to separation anxiety to fear. And she will help ensure your dog does not develop any behavior issues by carefully reviewing with you every step needed to avoid future problems.
Obedience and Safety
Then there is obedience and safety training. The main difference between a dog trained in a typical classroom (or with private trainers who are actually group trainers) vs. privately with The Pooch Coach is the level of safety and performance attained. A dog in a classroom learns “sit”, “down”, basic stay, and sometimes to walk on a loose leash (in a circle in the training room). All of this is done with a treat in hand, using hand motions and repeating commands if necessary. So, at home, the dog looks for a treat and, when there isn’t one, typically ignores you. Outdoors, at the park or near a busy area such as a street, it gets worse – and even dangerous. Even with a hotdog in your hand, you might not be able to keep your dog from lunging away and getting hurt. Instead, a dog trained with Pooch Coach methods learns to respond to all commands without treats, without hand motions, and without repeating commands.
How we do it
We use positive reinforcement training methods and typically use treats when first introducing a new command or behavior, but then we wean your dog off of treats… and we use many other things as rewards as well. We work on real life situations in the Bay Area – training your dog not to ever go out your door without your permission or, even more importantly, to never cross a street without your permission. Test a dog from a class – tell him to sit on a corner and then toss a cookie or a ball into the street – he will jump right after it. A dog trained with Pooch Coach methods would hold fast – waiting for an owner’s command before stepping into the street. So, if your dog ever gets off leash, he won’t step off of a curb if you aren’t there to tell him it’s OK to do so. Talk about life-saving! These important aspects of protecting your dog and ensuring your control over him in critical times is our focus. A Pooch Coach dog will back off of a yummy chicken bone on the ground after one command – and not go back to it. We usually teach this life-saving command in the first lesson – even with 9 week old puppies!
Optimal Results
There is much more to training than having a dog follow a treat in your hand. You want your dog to understand what you’re saying at all times and know that commands are not optional. This will be the key to his overall safety over the years. You want your dog to trust and respect you, just as you trust and respect him. And this is what you can count on if you work with The Pooch Coach.
Did you catch The Pooch Coach on DOGTV’s DOGSTAR? watch it now!
