When I was out with a dog, people would hound me saying they wanted a dog like mine. They would buy a dog from the same breeder and get it trained. Seeing these people months later, the dog looks the same but it wasn't acting like my dog. Sometimes I was just taking care of someone else's dog and it was not my own, but I would get the same reaction. Then I learned there is something special about the dogs that were in my care in by how I interacted with them. I would not just take them as they were with their bad habits...not know how to behave and how to make a connection with their owners.
After my own dog passed away, I stepped away from dogs and became interested in another animal challenge- owning, riding, and training Icelandic Horses. This breed is more people-oriented like dogs and not spooky like most horses with no natural predators on their island home of Iceland. Icelandic Horses have been bred and raised to be more opinionated, self reliant, and independent than regular horses. You cannot use harsh methods to force an Icelandics to do something. If you are a fair and consistent leader that can motivate them, they will do anything for you. Even for me to have others...ride them.
After a while, I realized was my training methods could help other with their own animals. Then I started group or private dog classes as a test. I eventually added 2 other assistants to get more hands on with the dogs to help owners more. Results were good to owners who were struggling but took too long and not really good enough for me in the end. Then someone ask if I would do board and train. I said no I don't provide that kind of service. I want to teach owners to do it completely themselves. I was not sure that kind of training would actually work or could be maintained.
But then I thought about the Icelandics, I train them as my own and have other people ride them in lessons. I instruct people to ride but I teach the horses the cues that the horses understand and follow. I use a dumb down approach of me 1st training, then having my husband and assistants see if they can do it, an advanced beginner student. Each time the communication is more unclear with a less skilled rider but the horse still understands. Could I do it with dogs? Some of the principles are the same. Others are a bit different.
This woman sent her husband to one of my classes with good success with their dog Belle. I was interested in teaching more advanced off leash but some of the foundational obedience principles were not crisp enough to build on. She still kept asking for me to take the dog to train and believed this would be the best form of training. They were going on vacation and the dog needed a place to stay. This family trusted no other person than me with their dog with their 1st trip away from their dog. As I do have a soft spot for dogs I meet and especially Belle, I agreed to a test.
The results were better than I thought and could be passed on as well as maintained to the owners to even go off-leash. The same high standards that I wanted met. The same kind of results in the shortest amount of time. Training is not done in an hour but in minutes throughout the day. When this dog first came to us, it was the biggest puller, jumper, distracted dog ever from being trained by their children as a puppy. All that changed.
Since then, my husband and I have worked with a number of breeds, different ages, etc. with great results even just in a few days. I love when owners tell me that their dog is definitely getting better than they have ever seen in years. Then we are so glad to help many owners and decided to expand on this service officially. The rest is now history being written.
After my own dog passed away, I stepped away from dogs and became interested in another animal challenge- owning, riding, and training Icelandic Horses. This breed is more people-oriented like dogs and not spooky like most horses with no natural predators on their island home of Iceland. Icelandic Horses have been bred and raised to be more opinionated, self reliant, and independent than regular horses. You cannot use harsh methods to force an Icelandics to do something. If you are a fair and consistent leader that can motivate them, they will do anything for you. Even for me to have others...ride them.
After a while, I realized was my training methods could help other with their own animals. Then I started group or private dog classes as a test. I eventually added 2 other assistants to get more hands on with the dogs to help owners more. Results were good to owners who were struggling but took too long and not really good enough for me in the end. Then someone ask if I would do board and train. I said no I don't provide that kind of service. I want to teach owners to do it completely themselves. I was not sure that kind of training would actually work or could be maintained.
But then I thought about the Icelandics, I train them as my own and have other people ride them in lessons. I instruct people to ride but I teach the horses the cues that the horses understand and follow. I use a dumb down approach of me 1st training, then having my husband and assistants see if they can do it, an advanced beginner student. Each time the communication is more unclear with a less skilled rider but the horse still understands. Could I do it with dogs? Some of the principles are the same. Others are a bit different.
This woman sent her husband to one of my classes with good success with their dog Belle. I was interested in teaching more advanced off leash but some of the foundational obedience principles were not crisp enough to build on. She still kept asking for me to take the dog to train and believed this would be the best form of training. They were going on vacation and the dog needed a place to stay. This family trusted no other person than me with their dog with their 1st trip away from their dog. As I do have a soft spot for dogs I meet and especially Belle, I agreed to a test.
The results were better than I thought and could be passed on as well as maintained to the owners to even go off-leash. The same high standards that I wanted met. The same kind of results in the shortest amount of time. Training is not done in an hour but in minutes throughout the day. When this dog first came to us, it was the biggest puller, jumper, distracted dog ever from being trained by their children as a puppy. All that changed.
Since then, my husband and I have worked with a number of breeds, different ages, etc. with great results even just in a few days. I love when owners tell me that their dog is definitely getting better than they have ever seen in years. Then we are so glad to help many owners and decided to expand on this service officially. The rest is now history being written.