MEMBER
Association of Pet Dog Trainers
Association of Animal Behavior Counselors
Animal Behavior Management Alliance
American Animal Behavior Society
Open 7 days a week
Closed on national holidays
Located at the
Planet Pooch® Campus
866 Kaynyne Avenue
Redwood City, CA 94063-3016
|
Phone/Fax: (650) 596-WOOF (9663) |
|
Questions or Comments? Send us an email! |
Training Approach & Techniques
Pharos learning "High Five" at 10 weeks
We specialize in working with the dog's natural instincts, drives and individual breed characteristics, using exclusively Positive Reinforcement & Motivational Training Methods, including Clicker Training. We place great emphasis on the pet/owner relationship and focus on building a mutually respectful relationship between pet and person, training for community living rather than strict competition obedience.
In our training we never use punishment or intimidation and will never physically or emotionally harm your dog, and we do not use the old school wolf "Alpha roll" method to show the dog who is "dominant." We do not use and recommend against pinch (prong) collars, choke chains, and E-Collars (shock). Choke chains have been found to cause damage to both the trachea and spine in many dogs. Prong collars hurt and bring out aggression in many dogs. Shock collars cause pain and anxiety, confusion and distrust!
World renowned ethologist and writer, Dr. Erich Klinghammer, Ph.D., director of Wolf Park, Indiana and President of North American Wildlife Federation, opines that:
"... the so-called alpha roll, over practiced by some, is nonsense. The context in which people do it with dogs does not coincide with the situation in which a wolf actively submits to a high-ranking wolf. We certainly do not use it with our hand-raised wolves. There is no way we can administer the intensity of a dominance attack on a wolf that they use with each other on very rare occasions. Establishing dominance is usually a drawn out series of encounters that eventually convinces a wolf to submit and run way a preferred strategy. If I were to go up to a hand-raised wolf that did not know me and attempt to dominate it physically, it would either run away or I would have one helluva fight on my hands - if the wolf could not get away. There is really a big difference between wolves and dogs. To simply extrapolate from wolves to dogs is at best problematical."
"Why is it when we use electricity on a human, it is called torture, but when we use it on a dog, it is called training?"For more information, please read the following article: Choke & Shock Collars, Obedience Training or Physical Punishment? by the San Francisco SPCA. |
|
|
For a humane and very effective training collar, we highly recommend the Gentle Leader® head collar. In this picture Pharos is wearing a Gentle Leader. The Gentle Leader is like a halter you would put on a horse or a cow to lead it around. You get much better physical control, but without the choking and discomfort of a choke chain or prong collar. The Gentle Leader is not a muzzle. Dogs wearing it can still carry a stick, or pick up a ball, bark, drink, take treats or bite! We recommend you take it off before letting your dog romp and play with other dogs, and never leave it on without supervision. For an everyday - while playing with other dogs - safety collar we recommend the KeepSafe™ Break-Away Collar. We want the dog to do things with and for you because the dog wants what you can give him -- not because he wants to avoid what you can do to him. In short, we believe in humane and friendly dog training -- it should be fun at both ends of the leash! |
 |
