About Me:
When I first started my dog training journey, I was heavily involved in animal rescue. I’m sure you can imagine that the dogs that we typically received in were not examples of well behaved dogs.
They were dogs that had never been given any structured attention, dogs that had never been taught to sit. They were dogs that were 5 years old and still not trained to do their “doodies” outside.
They were dogs that behaved aggressively towards other dogs or people, they were dogs that were abused by humans, and they were dogs with extreme separation anxiety after they were bounced around from home to home after being posted on Facebook.
I fostered a lot of these dogs myself, and was forced to try to troubleshoot these behaviours without any formal training. When a 180 pound disaster of a Cane Corso was surrendered into my care as a foster, I had to step it up. It then was a matter of life and death for that dog. But I saw the beauty in his eyes. The real true nature of who he was, so I decided he wasn’t going to die without me giving it absolutely EVERYTHING I had. I knew then, I needed to become the trainer.
In the early stages of my training education, I went to many workshops that were put on by trainers who took a really hard, no-nonsense approach to training. They were able to get really quick results, and put out before and after videos that looked amazing. But one thing I started to notice over time, was that the dogs looked like their spirits were broken. They looked afraid to make a mistake. The only thing they were learning was what NOT to do, but were never taught or rewarded for the desire behaviour. They were left in a state of utter confusion.
Their tails were tucked between their legs as they arrived at the workshops.
They looked like the way I felt when I was in an emotionally and mentally abusive relationship. Anxious, nervous, walking on egg-shells, wondering what you’re about to do next that is going to upset your person.
That’s when I started to take a step back, and say you know what? I’m not comfortable with this. I’ve been through it, I don’t want my dog to go through that. There has to be another way.
At that point, I joined a trainer certification program that was a year in length, and I didn’t know when I signed up, but they appeared to be from the “Force Free” or “Positive reinforcement only” school of thought.
I saw a whole other way of looking at things, and learned a lot from my assigned texts. I had some fun doing formal obedience classes, but here I found the opposite problem to what I had encountered in my previous courses.
Here, I found that the methodologies they were suggesting to bring about behaviour change, were mostly focused on the humans changing their schedules and providing more exercise, but that they never really held the dog accountable for their actions. So it was A LOT of work for the humans, but no accountability for the dog, and could take the dog’s entire lifetime to replace the unwanted behaviour with the desired one. This wasn’t going to help challenging dogs and their owners who are at their wits end, and dealing with daily anxiety surrounding their dogs’ behaviour.
There had to be a happy medium in the middle somewhere.
I started exploring other workshops and courses, where the relationship was a primary focus in training. THIS is where I fell in love with training. This is where I started being able to blend everything I learned from both sides of the training spectrum, and apply it in a useful, meaningful and most importantly, FAIR way.
I went to NYC for an apprenticeship with Dream Come True K9, and this was like my Hallelujah moment. Relationship was important. Teaching was important. Being fair to the dog was important. Communicating in a way the dog can understand was important. They were doing all of the teaching and relationship building that I learned from the force free school, but that was missing from the more punishment based training I learned. But they were also able to bring about behaviour change by holding the dog accountable. Once the dogs fully understood what was expected of them, and what behaviours are not desirable or permitted, they most often made the right decision when given a choice.
This is where I have found my real training mojo and found a way to honour who the dog is as a unique being, and bring about cooperative behaviour change in the dogs and their humans. It requires work from both parties in order to be successful.
I was able to rehab that 180lb Cane Corso who bit me, growled at me, challenged me, was reactive to other dogs, also aggressive towards some humans. I learned that some of his behaviours came from a fear of physical corrections or manipulations, and some of them that originally started out in insecurity and fear, had eventually just become habitual. We worked on our relationship. We did humane and ethical e-collar training. We both learned together how to break our habits that were not serving us in a positive way, and replace them with new behaviours. He learned that he has a choice, and that I was going to advocate for him. He learned that I understood he didn’t have an interest in meeting strangers on the street, and that I wasn’t going to force him into that position. He learned that I understood and honoured who he is, and our relationship became more meaningful than I could ever have imagined. He was my heart dog. Literal blood, sweat, and tears went into his rehab and earning his trust. He made an equal effort to be better, and do better, because of our relationship. This is what I want for my clients. A mutually beneficial relationship for human and dog.
Here is my commitment to my Canine Clients:
I hope this gives you some insight as to who I am as a trainer, and who I am as a person.
If you want a better relationship with your dog, based on trust, mutual respect, and clear communication, please reach out to book.
If you'd like to see more on my education, Please click HERE
Melissa
They were dogs that had never been given any structured attention, dogs that had never been taught to sit. They were dogs that were 5 years old and still not trained to do their “doodies” outside.
They were dogs that behaved aggressively towards other dogs or people, they were dogs that were abused by humans, and they were dogs with extreme separation anxiety after they were bounced around from home to home after being posted on Facebook.
I fostered a lot of these dogs myself, and was forced to try to troubleshoot these behaviours without any formal training. When a 180 pound disaster of a Cane Corso was surrendered into my care as a foster, I had to step it up. It then was a matter of life and death for that dog. But I saw the beauty in his eyes. The real true nature of who he was, so I decided he wasn’t going to die without me giving it absolutely EVERYTHING I had. I knew then, I needed to become the trainer.
In the early stages of my training education, I went to many workshops that were put on by trainers who took a really hard, no-nonsense approach to training. They were able to get really quick results, and put out before and after videos that looked amazing. But one thing I started to notice over time, was that the dogs looked like their spirits were broken. They looked afraid to make a mistake. The only thing they were learning was what NOT to do, but were never taught or rewarded for the desire behaviour. They were left in a state of utter confusion.
Their tails were tucked between their legs as they arrived at the workshops.
They looked like the way I felt when I was in an emotionally and mentally abusive relationship. Anxious, nervous, walking on egg-shells, wondering what you’re about to do next that is going to upset your person.
That’s when I started to take a step back, and say you know what? I’m not comfortable with this. I’ve been through it, I don’t want my dog to go through that. There has to be another way.
At that point, I joined a trainer certification program that was a year in length, and I didn’t know when I signed up, but they appeared to be from the “Force Free” or “Positive reinforcement only” school of thought.
I saw a whole other way of looking at things, and learned a lot from my assigned texts. I had some fun doing formal obedience classes, but here I found the opposite problem to what I had encountered in my previous courses.
Here, I found that the methodologies they were suggesting to bring about behaviour change, were mostly focused on the humans changing their schedules and providing more exercise, but that they never really held the dog accountable for their actions. So it was A LOT of work for the humans, but no accountability for the dog, and could take the dog’s entire lifetime to replace the unwanted behaviour with the desired one. This wasn’t going to help challenging dogs and their owners who are at their wits end, and dealing with daily anxiety surrounding their dogs’ behaviour.
There had to be a happy medium in the middle somewhere.
I started exploring other workshops and courses, where the relationship was a primary focus in training. THIS is where I fell in love with training. This is where I started being able to blend everything I learned from both sides of the training spectrum, and apply it in a useful, meaningful and most importantly, FAIR way.
I went to NYC for an apprenticeship with Dream Come True K9, and this was like my Hallelujah moment. Relationship was important. Teaching was important. Being fair to the dog was important. Communicating in a way the dog can understand was important. They were doing all of the teaching and relationship building that I learned from the force free school, but that was missing from the more punishment based training I learned. But they were also able to bring about behaviour change by holding the dog accountable. Once the dogs fully understood what was expected of them, and what behaviours are not desirable or permitted, they most often made the right decision when given a choice.
This is where I have found my real training mojo and found a way to honour who the dog is as a unique being, and bring about cooperative behaviour change in the dogs and their humans. It requires work from both parties in order to be successful.
I was able to rehab that 180lb Cane Corso who bit me, growled at me, challenged me, was reactive to other dogs, also aggressive towards some humans. I learned that some of his behaviours came from a fear of physical corrections or manipulations, and some of them that originally started out in insecurity and fear, had eventually just become habitual. We worked on our relationship. We did humane and ethical e-collar training. We both learned together how to break our habits that were not serving us in a positive way, and replace them with new behaviours. He learned that he has a choice, and that I was going to advocate for him. He learned that I understood he didn’t have an interest in meeting strangers on the street, and that I wasn’t going to force him into that position. He learned that I understood and honoured who he is, and our relationship became more meaningful than I could ever have imagined. He was my heart dog. Literal blood, sweat, and tears went into his rehab and earning his trust. He made an equal effort to be better, and do better, because of our relationship. This is what I want for my clients. A mutually beneficial relationship for human and dog.
Here is my commitment to my Canine Clients:
- I will always be fair
- I will TEACH you the behaviours that we want and expect to see.
- I will educate your humans on canine leadership skills and clear communication
- I will never compromise your spiritual, emotional, or physical well-being to meet your humans’ financial budget (We will find a way to make it work).
- I will hold you accountable for inappropriate actions, in the least invasive way possible, that you are capable of understanding.
- I will teach your humans how to keep your relationship in focus, and as a top priority during your learning process.
- As long as your humans are willing to put in the work, I will continue to offer my support in person, or through phone or email for the duration of your life with them.
I hope this gives you some insight as to who I am as a trainer, and who I am as a person.
If you want a better relationship with your dog, based on trust, mutual respect, and clear communication, please reach out to book.
If you'd like to see more on my education, Please click HERE
Melissa