Training Method

Good Citizen Dog Training employs positive, reward-based methods and techniques to help you train your dog to display the behaviors that you desire. Using these methods will create the most positive relationship between you and your pet. We take time to help you understand why dogs behave the way they do and demonstrate how to get them to behave in ways that you prefer. Using exercises that are fun for both you and your favorite canine companion, we will help to educate both you and your pet.  You will learn, enjoy training and you will see changes in your pet's behavior from one week to the next. You and your pet will look forward to your daily training routine. Training need not be an unpleasant experience. Through group classes you will come to understand how your dog thinks, what motivates him or her and learn to communicate effectively. Using these training methods will help you to appreciate your pet's potential and  enable you to have a pet who is a pleasant and well-behaved companion. 

With the use of positive reinforcement (praise and rewards) we encourage the desired behaviors and discourage negative and destructive ones. We couple praise and rewards with verbal cues (commands) and hand signals, so your dog will learn to respond quickly whether nearby or at a distance.

There are 4 components to each class – designed somewhat differently based on the age and needs of the dogs.

Socializing - we will work with your dog to make sure it is comfortable with adults, children and other dogs to control fear and aggression and to create a sense of trust and safety with your pet. This is especially important to do with puppies and will be discussed further in the description of Puppy Kindergarten and Puppy II.

Attention & control - we will work to create greater attention and focus from your pet. Once this is achieved you will gain additional control and managability and training will be much quicker and easier. In order to get attention from your dog, you must pay attention to your dog in meaningful ways. We teach you ways to get attention from your dog that you'll both enjoy. These techniques will also help to calm a very energetic or hyper dog as well as build confidence in a dog that is shy or timid.

Basic Obedience - we will review the important elements of basic obedience like sit, down, stay, come, stand, off, heel, leave-it, walking on leash, no jumping & so on.

Behavior Problems - we will discuss how to deal with basic behavior problems in dogs like excessive chewing, biting, digging, timidity or submissiveness, excessive jumping and so on. We will help you to understand why dogs behave in these ways and provide tools to redirect  the negative or destructive behavior into more positive and socially acceptable behavior.