How do online dog training classes work?

  • ? self-paced, enroll any time, help by email, etc.

  • includes benefits: allows you to bond strongly with your dog, get responses you need, and then be able to use new skills in daily life situations as needed.

Who should sign up for Dog Training Plus?

  • Anyone who wants to learn more about dog behavior and training, and to train their dogs new behaviors. This includes pet owners/guardians, and people who work with animals such as veterinary assistants/technicians, animal shelter and rescue staff members/volunteers, foster carers, dog walkers, pet sitters, groomers, kennel and dog daycare staff, and others.

  • We provide written materials, videos, consultation advice and coaching review of videos.

  • Note: this is not a program to certify people desiring to become professional dog trainers.

Why should someone pay for dog training when there are free videos online?

  • quality, professional-certified humane info, info tailored to your dog, ability to get questions answered, etc. other videos may not include all pertinent information, etc

  • The value of Dog Training Plus is ~???, and you can have access to all of the content for just $45 per month, or $450/year.

  • Dog Training + also provide true, professional, real life dog training. We are not actors, reality shows, entertainers, or professionals in some other career first - Dan Raymer’s background work includes kennels, dog daycare, veterinary assistance, pet sitting, dog walking, animal welfare - shelter/rescue, dog training and behavior consulting.

Do positive reinforcement training methods work?

  • yes…

  • Citations, welfare, vet organizations etc provide best methods

  • In fact, they exclusively work, since force or aversive (positive punishment and negative reinforcement) methods cause additional problems - meaning they do not actually work.

Isn’t using treats just bribing the dog?

  • no

Do some dogs need different training methods?

  • Positive reinforcement training/reward-based methods include many different techniques such as antecedent arrangement, management, lure-reward, capturing, shaping, targeting, removing or preventing reinforcement, differential reinforcement of an incompatible behavior (DRI), desensitization (DS), counter-conditioning (CC), creating positive conditioned emotional responses (CER+), habituation, establishing and abolishing operations, etc. - therefore within the overall principle of positive reinforcement learning there are a wide variety of methods to use to modify a dog’s behavior over time. Due to this, there is no reason to fall back to aversive/force-training methods, which can cause additional behavior problems such as frustration, fear, and aggression.

  • There are no dogs who want or need to be harshly corrected (shocked, jerked on a collar - choke/prong/regular, hit, etc.). If you have used or are currently using non-positive reinforcement methods, we are happy to help you transfer to reward-based strategies instead.

Is Dog Training + designed for dogs with aggressive behavior?

  • Our current classes are not truly designed to cover dealing with dog aggression - especially not severe forms with damaging bites. We do work with dogs displaying reactive behavior (on leash for example) - for dogs who have not harmed others - but bark, pull, lunge, and may snarl/growl at others on leash. While some of the training techniques may be the same, dealing with aggression is complicated and we recommend seeking in-person training consults from a CTC (Certificate in Training and Counseling from Jean Donaldson’s Academy for Dog Trainers). Please feel free to contact us for a referral in your area.

  • We can help with certain behaviors people sometimes consider aggressive - for example, growling, puppy nipping, play biting, barking/pulling/lunging on leash towards other dogs, other forms of aggression with non-severe bites (no or little damage, such as bites that do not break skin).

  • And we have (are building) an aggressive behavior prevention class.

  • Take this section out for now.

Have any additional questions? Please let us know: Contact Page.