Imagine this: you stroll through a meadow while your dog
romps in the sunshine. A rabbit bolts and your dog starts after it. You give a one-word command and he wheels around, bounding
cheerfully back to sit expectantly at your feet.
Another command from you and your dog heels sedately at
your left side. You stop. He sits attentively. You tell him to lie down and stay and you walk off to investigate something.
You give the release command and he frolics off to continue your companionable outing together. No leash. No shock collar.
No food bribes. No panic. You have full confidence that your dog is under control.
At Scotch Pines
Dog Training we believe that true obedience must extend beyond the six foot leash. Because gates get left open and
leashes slip. Because real life, even in your backyard, is off leash. Our goal is to instill off-leash reliability whether
your dog is walking with you along a mountain trail or a city street, whether there are other dogs or children about, or even
whether a cat zips by.
Our group classes provide the training your dog needs to earn such confidence and
freedom.
Dog training is fun, rewarding and exciting! It can also be
a lot of hard work and frustration. You have hired us to guide you through the steps of training your dog. Our goal is well
trained dogs and happy owners!
Our training is a foundational method, we begin at the most basic and gradually add on more obedience, more commands,
more complex training until the dogs reach off leash obedience and hand signal command reliability!
The class summary
by week is as follows:
Week 1: Getting your dog's attention focused on you (the side effect of this is *drumroll please* no
more pulling on the leash!) Correcting jumping up. Addressing barking
Week2: Beginning the command
and position for heel (left side walking on loose leash). Introducing the automatic sit and the command down. Addressing chewing/destructive
behaviors
Week 3: Perfecting the heeling, expecting automatic sit when owner stops. Heeling
is now with leash tossed loosely over the shoulder, no hands on leash. Continuing down placement. Introducing command stay!
Addressing counter surfing and dumpster diving
Week 4: Dogs are now proficient in sit stay
up to 18 feet distance with distractions! Down command is now expected without placement. Heeling is almost flawless at this
week. The best command of all starts this night: COME!!
Week 5: Introduction to coming when called with distractions (guinea pigs/bunnies/etc).
Long distance sit stays and down stays of 2 and 5 minutes. Dogs are almost ready to begin off leash week!
Week 6: First night of off leash! The dogs
now meet "The Goat" and walk the first time off leash around the goat with a safety line (just in case..) and 5
solid weeks of training to keep them right in place. Off leash "come" is first covered this night.
Week 7: Off leash heeling, staying and coming
when called is practiced and reviewed. Down from a distance begins this week. Dogs are now coming and going into the heel
position without guidance!
Week 8: The safety line starts getting shortened this week. Dogs are now on hand signals completely for
heel, stay, down and are learning the hand signal only command for come.
Week 9: Dogs are never going to be robots and that isn't what
we want but by graduation our dogs are now trained!!
Dogs learn by repetition, consistency, praise, patience and correction. In class we will teach
the balance of these components and the value of each. Please come to class with a strong understanding of patience, kindness
and perseverance!
Training collars are used in class. Electrical shock collars ("e-collars/sensation collars")
are NOT allowed in our classes. Abuse of any animal is not tolerated
and you will be asked to leave immediately with no refund given.
We do not teach treat training for the same reason we don't recommend paying your child to
be obedient. Treats are great for parlor tricks (roll over, play dead, etc) so please leave your treats at home for non essential
tricks.
