Equipment Information

Harness and Leash:

We recommend harnesses for all dogs - with the leash attached to the body harness, generally to the clip on the dog’s back - in addition to training calm walking behavior with rewards; or you can attach the leash to the front clip over the dog’s chest - this can help decrease pulling, but the side effect is that is sometimes affects the dog’s normal walking movement.

If you look at the dog’s front chest, the T-shaped harnesses are more likely to negatively affect dog’s normal movements, while Y-shaped do not.

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Attaching a leash to a regular collar puts too much pressure on a dog’s neck. Their tracheas can easily be damaged if they pull too much, or even with a single hard lunge, or accidental jerk on the leash by the handler.

We never recommend choke chains, prong/pinch collars, shock collars, or other types of equipment designed similarly. All of these tools work by applying pain to the dog. There are many people who are dishonest or lack this knowledge who will not tell you these tools hurt dogs. For your dog’s sake, health, and better behavior, please do not listen to them. If you already currently are using one of these tools, don’t worry, you can switch to a leash and harness immediately and easily.

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Longer Leashes:

The typical dog leash is 6 feet long. We prefer using longer leashes (10 feet or 15 feet). This allows a dog to walk at a more normal pace and have some freedom to move side to side as dogs tend to sniff areas this way when not restrained.

It does take some handling ability in order to make sure your dog does not have too much leash length and cross in front of cars or approach other dogs when he shouldn’t. You will need to practice allowing and pulling in the leash to control how far away your dog is allowed to move to keep your dog safe.

Dogs can also walk off-leash if it’s legal (there are no leash laws in the area), and it’s safe (your dog won’t get hit by a car, you taught a solid recall - coming when called behavior, and so on). You are ultimately responsible for your dog at all times.

  

    • You can enroll at any time.

    • The courses are self-paced.

    • Active members receive unlimited help through email, and have the ability to send short videos of their dogs for coaching and consultation advice as needed.

    • Dog Training + classes allow you to bond strongly with your dog, get the responses you need, and then use your new skills in daily life situations.tion text goes here

    • Anyone who wants to learn more about dog behavior and training, and to teach 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.n text goes here

  • Description text goeYes.

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

    Positive reinforcement/reward-based methods are endorsed by:

    The Academy for Dog Trainers

    Fear Free Pets (Veterinarian Behaviorists)

    American College of Veterinary Behaviorists

    American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB)

    Pet Professional Guild (PPG)

    Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT)

    Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT)

    International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC)

    American Humane

    Animal Behavior Society (Applied Animal Behaviorists)

    Animal shelters and rescues

    Zoos and Aquariumss here