Thank you for choosing the team at Happy Tails to train you and your dog! This is an awesome opportunity to build on the relationship between you and your dog.
Private lessons provide one-on-one training designed to combine your dog’s personality, training aptitude and your skills with your goals to accomplish your overall mission. In each private lesson at our training facility, one of our certified professional trainers will teach you how to train your dog for obedience commands and handle unwanted behaviors.
For private lessons to be successful, you and your dog will be required to practice daily in between lessons. A commitment to a minimum of three to five 15 to 30-minute sessions per day is necessary for this type of training approach to be effective and to progress in future sessions.
Results are based on your efforts, time commitment, and your training abilities. Results will vary based on your understanding and application to use the balanced scale of communication to effectively communicate your expectations. When one or more parts of the balanced scale are misused or misrepresented, the process will be less effective, and goals may not be achieved.
In rare cases, your trainer may recommend a resident training program instead. This will most likely be based on behaviors that we see during lessons or a lack of ability on the owner’s part to properly learn how to use the tools or communication.
During this process, you’ll need to be teachable, have an open-mind, be able to change bad or old habits and practice what you’re learning each week. We expect that you will have challenges along the way (which is why you have the private lessons with us). Our goal is to make you a decent handler after your first lesson, a good handler after the second lesson, a great handler after the third and amazing after your last! This is a reference guide to prep you for what’s to come and we’ll also ask you to refer back to it even after your dog completes their last private lesson with us!
We do offer the option for lessons to be in-home if you live close to our office. There is an additional $100 fee per at-home lesson (availability subject to location and schedule availability).
Many of the frustrations we have with our dogs and most of their “issues” have little to do with them not knowing/listening to commands and more to do with lack of leadership, lack of rules, structure, and little to no accountability. Your trainer will most likely be asking you to make a lot of lifestyle changes. These may be imperative to achieve the goals you’re looking for. If you or a family member are unwilling to change, you may need to lower your expectations.
COMMANDS WE TEACH DURING LESSONS
YOUR DOG MAY LEARN THE FOLLOWING COMMANDS DURING YOUR LESSONS (this is customizable):
Memorize the words in BOLD:
- Heel
- Sit (with an implied stay)
- Place (with an implied stay)
- Crate
- Let’s Go (not an official command but we use “let’s go” for motivation – join me in the direction I am going)
- No (stop what you’re doing)
- FREE (this is the word we use to release a dog from a command)
- Stay
- Drop (spit out what is in your mouth AND surrender it) – WATCH THIS VIDEO!
- Come
- Down (with an implied stay)
Commands are designed to tell your dog what to do. Training doesn’t “fix” your dog… it simply opens the line of communication so we can effectively communicate what we expect them to do. They will make mistakes…forever! But you will be able to clearly communicate expectations after your residency is complete.
TRANSITIONAL LEASH™
Your trainer may discuss the use of a Transitional Leash™ to enhance your control and communication with you dog!
Click here to learn how to put the leash on – WATCH THIS VIDEO!
THE BALANCED SCALE OF COMMUNICATION
You will hear your trainer talk about “The Balanced Scale”. This is how we train dogs – using a balanced scale of communication that combines praise, motivation and correction.
First, we “teach and motivate” dogs to do what we expect. We “praise” them verbally (“good girl!”) and physically (petting) to reward them and communicate that we are happy with what they are doing. Once they understand the expectations, we hold them accountable to perform them when we tell them to do them. This is when we issue “correction” (if they know what they should do but they choose not to do it). Typically this is because of distractions. When dogs are unsure what to do or perhaps confused on what we are asking of them, we typically “motivate” them to help them using “Let’s Go!” to get then to move toward us or move with us.
- Praise and reward are how we get dogs to repeat what we want MORE of (so don’t pet or baby talk the WRONG stuff!)
- Correction is how we get LESS of something (“No”)
- Motivation is how we help them when they aren’t sure what to do (Let’s go!”)
In the weeks that follow your dog’s resident training program, you will need to learn how to effectively use “The Balanced Scale” to earn mutual trust and respect between your dog and the members of the family.
A few key parts of using the balanced scale of communication properly:
- Clearly state the command (make sure you emphasize the word)
- Give effective, meaningful praise (we ONLY physically pet the dog when they have done what we’ve asked PERFECTLY – without using motivation or correction)
- Always (…. let us repeat ALWAYS) push the button on the remote simultaneously when you say “no” (no verbal-only “no’s” … yet)!
- Motivate and encourage them when they show confusion or lack of understanding. Correct them when they “blow you off”.
YOUR E-COLLAR
Your trainer may incorporate an e-collar in your sessions. It’s helpful to get to know you’re e-collar before you start to use it.
Click here to learn more about your e-collar – WATCH THIS VIDEO!
*WARNING* Your e-collar may cause pressure sores if it’s worn incorrectly or too long.
Click here to read how to prevent pressure sores!
HOMEWORK AFTER EACH LESSON
After each lesson, practice! Practice! Practice! While you’re in training, you’ll need to work diligently to get the results you are looking for. It take time, patience, consistency and effort. We recommend 3-5 short training sessions daily (with downtime in the crate in between). A sample schedule could be doing a 15-30 minute lesson at 6AM (before work), 12PM (on a lunch break), 5PM (after work), 7PM (before/after dinner) and 9PM (before bed). We understand that type of schedule may no be doable for everyone each day… the more lessons you do, the quicker you’ll get results and the better you’ll skills will be as they develop. Practice makes perfect and practice takes time and effort.
CREATE RULES & STRUCTURE, GIVE FEEDBACK, MANAGE THEM … FOREVER!
USE IT OR LOSE IT
Once you complete all of your private lessons and you get back into your normal routine, it is important to maintain the communication you’ve learned and use it for life.
- Make obedience, rules, structure and communication a part of life … forever! Not just the next few weeks!
- Outside of your obedience lessons, maintaining good behavior needs to be part of your every day routine – forever!
- As soon as you start slacking, your dog will too! Your dogs previous behavior issues may resurface!
- Your dog will only be as good as the standard you hold them to! If the aren’t behaving, it’s because you aren’t communicating expectations and holding them accountable for their actions (sound like having kids?)
- “Training”, communicating expectations, managing behaviors and setting rules never ends – it’s a lifestyle!
Training doesn’t guarantee an automatic good dog for life once your lessons are over. We start the process, set the foundation and the rest is all up to you. Once your dog completes their lessons at Happy Tails, the work to maintain what your dog learned and make them even better falls on owners. In the weeks to follow you will learn a little more during each private lesson … and then the next step is continued education programs and maintenance programs.
BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION PROGRAMS
If your dog is enrolled in a Behavior Modification Program (these are dogs with fear issues, insecure or shy personalities, aggressive tendencies, reactive, etc) – we need to move slower and more methodical with them. These programs are intended to assist dogs and their owners with socialization and behavior modification when related to people/animal/object fear, anxiety or aggression. Behavior modification entails modifying a dog’s behavior for the purposes of increasing or decreasing wanted and unwanted behaviors. The behavior modification covered may include the areas of socialization therapy, confidence building and/or address people/animal-related insecurities, fear and/or aggression. Owners will be instructed of structural and lifestyle changes as well. These are the MOST important.
These programs are designed to start managing and controlling (not fixing) minor to severe behaviors as it pertains to a dog’s stress response that sometimes or often results in using aggressive tactics – but Happy Tails makes no guarantees to ‘fix’ these issues.
WE DON’T CHANGE OR FIX PERSONALITIES. WE DO NOT FIX ANXIOUS OR AGGRESSIVE DOGS.
If your dog has displayed aggression in any form, there is no guarantee that your dog won’t lunge, growl, bare teeth, snap or bite again (in fact, they most likely WILL display aggressive behaviors again if they are put in the same situation that they previously reacted with aggression or similar situations where they can’t handle the pressure).
Your trainer will also help you to understand what your dog’s limitations are and how to help advocate for them to set them up for success. Failure to understand your dog’s limitations, stress signals and body language may result in setbacks.
Once your dog has completed their resident training program, it is imperative for owners to work at home to change behaviors as instructed by our trainers. Your willingness to incorporate lifestyle changes, training and obedience as a way of everyday life is crucial for success. After your dog’s residency is complete and your follow-up lessons are done, it is encouraged that you take part in group classes for the rest of your dog’s life. This program is laying a foundation that will forever need to be maintained back at home.
CLICK HERE: WATCH THIS VIDEO: Understanding a dog that is fearful, insecure, shy and/or aggressive (whether in an extreme manner or in a mild way), is the first step to helping them get better. Why are they barking and lunging? How do you help them? Why are they running away in fear? How do you build their confidence? How do you advocate for them when you know they’re stressed out? Understanding our dog’s stress responses and understanding what leads to dogs who lash out or bite is so important. For dogs who have these personalities and/or behavior issues, this video is SO KEY to understanding how to understand them, advocate & help them.
CLICK HERE: TO DOWNLOAD & PRINT YOUR STUDY GUIDE TO FOLLOW ALONG
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CANCELLATION POLICY
We require 48 business hours notice to cancel or change an appointment. We reserve that time for you while other’s are on a wait list. Please be sure to give us plenty of notice if you need to cancel or change an appointment so we can open up that time for another client. Please note – our trainer schedules book about 2 months out so a last minute cancel or change request will most likely book 2 months out. Thank you!
VISIT OUR SISTER COMPANY FIT DOG CANINE FITNESS & WELLNESS
Every Happy Tails Client that completes a Resident Training Program or a minimum of 8 Private Lessons will receive 10% off for life at our sister company Fit Dog Canine Fitness & Wellness. Fit Dog offers services to aid in the mental, physical & emotional well-being of dogs. Canine Fitness Training focuses on all 5 aspects of canine total health: Strength, Flexibility, Balance, Cardiorespiratory and Mental Endurance. Contact Fit Dog today if you’re interested in scheduling one-on-one strength and conditioning sessions with our Fit Coach or canine water treadmill sessions! Follow Fit Dog on Instagram or Facebook at @fitdogmi.