I am currently awaiting certification and will not be holding any Group Classes at this time, I will however help dog owners in need. If you need any advice/tips on dog training, dog behavior, or dog ownership, please don't hesitate to contact me!
Ambassador K-9 doesn't just train your dog, your dog is rehabilitated, using dog psychology, and seeing things from a dog's point of view, not a humans.
To me, understanding Dog Behavior is like understanding their language. It is the key to establishing trust and respect between you and your dog. Without this, obtaining true consistent loyalty is impossible.
In order to address an unwanted or undesired behavior you must first find the root and true cause. This means understanding the psychology of a dog and seeing things from a dog’s point of view. Lets use aggression as an example. No healthy dog is born aggressive. It is possible that a dog is born with certain dominant tendencies, but not aggression itself. It is because of this that I look at aggression not as the problem, but as a symptom of the real problem. The road to getting rid of the aggression would be to find what is causing it.
Now if a dog is dog aggressive, this does not mean that the cause of the problem is “dogs”, but finding what is causing him to react this way when around other dogs. For example, you are walking your dog one day and a loose dog comes out and attacks your dog, from that day one your dog is leash reactive, meaning he tries to attack every dog in sight every time he's on a leash. The attack caused the problem, and the problem itself is your dog is now insecure and afraid of being attacked again, so he makes up for it by attacking everything that can potentially hurt him before they have a chance to attack him. We have to address this by showing him that not every dog will attack him, for us to do this, we have reintroduce him to dogs and associate them with something positive and good feelings, while blocking his brain from reaching the state of mind where he goes into attack mode.
To me, understanding Dog Behavior is like understanding their language. It is the key to establishing trust and respect between you and your dog. Without this, obtaining true consistent loyalty is impossible.
In order to address an unwanted or undesired behavior you must first find the root and true cause. This means understanding the psychology of a dog and seeing things from a dog’s point of view. Lets use aggression as an example. No healthy dog is born aggressive. It is possible that a dog is born with certain dominant tendencies, but not aggression itself. It is because of this that I look at aggression not as the problem, but as a symptom of the real problem. The road to getting rid of the aggression would be to find what is causing it.
Now if a dog is dog aggressive, this does not mean that the cause of the problem is “dogs”, but finding what is causing him to react this way when around other dogs. For example, you are walking your dog one day and a loose dog comes out and attacks your dog, from that day one your dog is leash reactive, meaning he tries to attack every dog in sight every time he's on a leash. The attack caused the problem, and the problem itself is your dog is now insecure and afraid of being attacked again, so he makes up for it by attacking everything that can potentially hurt him before they have a chance to attack him. We have to address this by showing him that not every dog will attack him, for us to do this, we have reintroduce him to dogs and associate them with something positive and good feelings, while blocking his brain from reaching the state of mind where he goes into attack mode.
In order to find the root of any behavioral issue, you have to be able to read body language as well as the energy. When reading energy you must be aware of, the dog’s, yours, and the energy of the surrounding environment, including the people and other animals in this environment. This includes the handler at the end of the leash as well. Being able to do so will help you to be more aware of the dog’s state of mind and how that affects their behavior.
A dog's reliability and behavior (whether a learned or instinctual behavior) is based on the state of mind that the dog is in. A state of mind is what type of behavior the dog at, an aggressive state of mind will mean that the dog is exhibiting aggressive behavior, a fearful dog will be in a fearful state of mind, a balanced dog will have a balanced state of mind, meaning their mind state in natural and unaltered, and less likely to spike between states, whereas a hyperactive state of mind can quickly turn into an aggressive one, or a timid state of mind can go to a downright fearful state.
For example, if we have a dog that has won numerous competitions for both dog tricks and competitive agility, this requires a dog to be focused on the handler. When the dog is performing at his best, it is safe to assume that he is in a balanced state of mind. Now lets say that this dog is used to performing his tricks and agility competitions indoors away from “distractions”. If the dog happens to be aggressive toward skateboards or scared of loud noises, it is likely that this could alter his state of mind during the competition, thus affecting his “normal” reliable behavior.
At this point one would want to teach the dog to perform the same around the distractions that the dog suffers from. However getting the dog to perform at all when in the frightened or aggressive state would most likely be impossible. Teaching shake, sit, down and roll over is great and the dog knows this, however it does not help to address and correct the problem. In order to get the dog to focus on performing agility, dog tricks, or anything else other than the skateboard or loud noises, would require addressing and teaching other fundamentals first.
To achieve consistency is based on achieving balance. This is a fundamental priority to establish before anything else. In order to achieve this you must strive for respect, trust, and loyalty. Understanding dog behavior and each dog individually, will allow you to instinctually focus on which to try to gain first (gaining respect and trust will allow for loyalty to follow). In my experience, achieving this comes easiest when setting boundaries and limitations. For dogs this is pretty much equivalent to manners and respect. Setting this builds focus. Focus is what would be needed to begin to work a dog through what he struggles with. This is why dog psychology is important to truly understanding dog behavior from a dog’s point of view and not ours. Utilizing obedience once establishing balance or in order to reinforce the maintenance of a balanced dog is a great way to take your dog above and beyond.
Often as humans, we tend to make our communication between the dog and us much more difficult then it should be. This language barrier is what prevents us from fully being able to utilize what we view today as “dog training” or “obedience” (human based learned behaviors). Being able to understand a dog’s language, behavior and how to fulfill a dog’s needs prior, can truly help to take the relationship with your dog to the next level.
A dog's reliability and behavior (whether a learned or instinctual behavior) is based on the state of mind that the dog is in. A state of mind is what type of behavior the dog at, an aggressive state of mind will mean that the dog is exhibiting aggressive behavior, a fearful dog will be in a fearful state of mind, a balanced dog will have a balanced state of mind, meaning their mind state in natural and unaltered, and less likely to spike between states, whereas a hyperactive state of mind can quickly turn into an aggressive one, or a timid state of mind can go to a downright fearful state.
For example, if we have a dog that has won numerous competitions for both dog tricks and competitive agility, this requires a dog to be focused on the handler. When the dog is performing at his best, it is safe to assume that he is in a balanced state of mind. Now lets say that this dog is used to performing his tricks and agility competitions indoors away from “distractions”. If the dog happens to be aggressive toward skateboards or scared of loud noises, it is likely that this could alter his state of mind during the competition, thus affecting his “normal” reliable behavior.
At this point one would want to teach the dog to perform the same around the distractions that the dog suffers from. However getting the dog to perform at all when in the frightened or aggressive state would most likely be impossible. Teaching shake, sit, down and roll over is great and the dog knows this, however it does not help to address and correct the problem. In order to get the dog to focus on performing agility, dog tricks, or anything else other than the skateboard or loud noises, would require addressing and teaching other fundamentals first.
To achieve consistency is based on achieving balance. This is a fundamental priority to establish before anything else. In order to achieve this you must strive for respect, trust, and loyalty. Understanding dog behavior and each dog individually, will allow you to instinctually focus on which to try to gain first (gaining respect and trust will allow for loyalty to follow). In my experience, achieving this comes easiest when setting boundaries and limitations. For dogs this is pretty much equivalent to manners and respect. Setting this builds focus. Focus is what would be needed to begin to work a dog through what he struggles with. This is why dog psychology is important to truly understanding dog behavior from a dog’s point of view and not ours. Utilizing obedience once establishing balance or in order to reinforce the maintenance of a balanced dog is a great way to take your dog above and beyond.
Often as humans, we tend to make our communication between the dog and us much more difficult then it should be. This language barrier is what prevents us from fully being able to utilize what we view today as “dog training” or “obedience” (human based learned behaviors). Being able to understand a dog’s language, behavior and how to fulfill a dog’s needs prior, can truly help to take the relationship with your dog to the next level.
Course Requirements
Several needs must be met before your dog can be attend any Ambassador K-9's group training courses. For the safety of all involved, please be sure to complete this list before enrolling/attending having or dog attend a session.
- Any dog that is to be enrolled in any of Ambassador K-9's training courses must be up to date on all vaccines.
- Please inform me if your dog has or has had any aggression issues with people or other animals.
- Puppies must be at least 16 weeks old to attend any of Ambassador K-9's training courses.
- Dogs older than 6 months old cannot attend Puppy Preschool.
- Please bring all training equipment needed for your dog.(Orientation will cover what equipment will be used on your dog)
- Equipment must fit properly and be fully functional with little to no wear to it.
Puppy Preschool
Puppy Preschool Six Week Course: $90
Puppy Preschool is where Ambassador K-9 walks you through proper puppy socialization, Proper desensitization to training tools, help with housebreaking, a proper puppy schedule, and how to handle common puppy misbehaviors such as jumping, chewing, mouthing, improper dog to dog and dog to human behavior, and improper leash behavior. Clients that choose to enroll their puppy in our Basic Obedience Class will only pay $85 for our seven week course!
Puppy Preschool Course Schedule:
Week one: Orientation(Puppy does not attend this class)
Week two: Curbing common puppy misbehaviors: jumping, chewing, mouthing, and improper leash behavior.
Week three: Proper Socialization, Proper dog to dog and dog to human interactions
Week four: Desensitization to training tools
Week Five: Housebreaking and a proper puppy schedule
Week Six: Practice proper behavior for dog to dog and dog to human interactions, Graduation
Puppy Preschool is where Ambassador K-9 walks you through proper puppy socialization, Proper desensitization to training tools, help with housebreaking, a proper puppy schedule, and how to handle common puppy misbehaviors such as jumping, chewing, mouthing, improper dog to dog and dog to human behavior, and improper leash behavior. Clients that choose to enroll their puppy in our Basic Obedience Class will only pay $85 for our seven week course!
Puppy Preschool Course Schedule:
Week one: Orientation(Puppy does not attend this class)
Week two: Curbing common puppy misbehaviors: jumping, chewing, mouthing, and improper leash behavior.
Week three: Proper Socialization, Proper dog to dog and dog to human interactions
Week four: Desensitization to training tools
Week Five: Housebreaking and a proper puppy schedule
Week Six: Practice proper behavior for dog to dog and dog to human interactions, Graduation
Basic Obedience
Basic Obedience Seven Week Course: $75
This is where Ambassador K-9 walks you through a basic obedience course for your dog or puppy and teaches your dog all the basic obedience cues: Focus, Sit, Down, Stay, Come, Heel, Leave It, Get It, and loose leashing walking.
Obedience Seven Week Schedule:
Week one: Orientation(Dog does NOT attend this session)
Week two: "Focus," conditioned reinforcer, Release, and "Get it"
Week three: "Sit" "Down" "Heel" and loose leash walking
Week four: "Stay" "Leave It" "Come"
Week five: Adding distance for cues
Week six: Adding distractions for cues
Week seven: Practicing cues with distance/distractions, Graduation