Your relationship with your dog will never be the same.
What We Do
Dog Training
If you’re struggling with your dogs’ behaviour at home or in public, our Dog Training sessions are for you.
All Dog Training sessions require an Initial Assessment. These are designed to assess and understand your dog’s behaviours before determining the best course of action to address your specific behavioural concerns.
Manners & Obedience training is for issues such as:
- Pulling on the lead.
- Jumping on visitors.
- Not listening.
- Not coming back when called.
- Having trouble settling down.
- Begging for food.
- Whining or pawing at you for attention.
- Lacking obedience and general manners.
- Teaching them to sit nicely at the public places.
Behaviour Modification training is for dogs struggling with:
- Separation anxiety.
- Excessive barking.
- Destructive chewing / digging.
- Timidity, fears and phobias.
- Growling around food, toys or people.
- Hyperactivity.
- Over-excited greetings.
- Fence jumping.
- Reactivity towards other dogs, people or even the vacuum!
Choose How You Want Us to Care for Your Pet!
We correct problem behaviors… and help you grow closer to your dog. Our dog-friendly training approach is grounded in science and psychology. This way, you’ll eliminate problems at the ROOT… And understand WHY your dog is reacting the way they are. Explore our program options below, or reach out and we will help you find the right fit.
Does your dog drive you crazy with problem behavior? Perhaps he’s jumping on your guests or begging at the table — issues you can tackle with a skilled trainer. But maybe things are more serious, and you’re not sure where to turn. It might be time to hire a behavior consultant or animal behaviorist.
We work with clients to help manage, modify, and prevent problem behavior in pets. We’re specially trained experts in the principles of animal behavior and animal learning with a set of science-backed tools, such as behavior modification. We will help identify the cause of your dog’s problem behavior and then create a customized treatment plan, teach you how to carry it out successfully, and follow-up to help with any headaches you may be experiencing along the way.
Similar to professional dog training, the field of animal behavior is unregulated, and, unfortunately, anyone can call herself a behaviorist, regardless of her training, ability, or background. It’s important to look for professionals with the proper knowledge and experience. Consider people who are experienced. In addition, there are levels of expertise in the field, from trainers who work with dogs with behavior issues, to behavior consultants.
Ready to Connect with YOUR Dog?
We’re here to help you make the best choice for your pup. Reach out via our application form and we are happy to help!
Give Your PUP a weekly doze of Fun with the Mates
Do you want a healthy Relationship with your dog ?
In our unique Service and Therapy Dog training program, we’ll work with you and your dog to transform you into a life-altering team.
FAQs
No. I understand this may be counter-intuitive, but even if we see the behavior, we are only seeing one tiny slice of time, in one specific situation, and involving the consultant or trainer, which impacts everything.
Plus, triggering the behavior in order to assess or train is unnecessary and unkind. This would be like assessing someone who can’t swim by throwing them off a boat in the ocean. This isn’t helpful, when the person can just tell us they can’t swim and we can talk to them about it to discover what’s wrong.
Just like we don’t need to see that person drowning, we don’t need to see your dog respond to a trigger to learn what is going on.
Now, obviously we can’t have a long conversation with your dog. But, we CAN talk to you. That is VERY informative to us, because YOU are the one who lives with the behavior, knows its history, and has seen its myriad different manifestations. So, whether we are in person or over zoom, the first session will revolve around a thorough, targeted interview with the family.
We will need to take an in-depth history, analyze what we learn, and from there, develop your intervention plan. Our goal is to really dig deep, learn what’s driving the behavior, and isolate all of the contributing variables. This way, we know what exactly we need to address and how we need to proceed. Then, we will talk about support, management, and other foundational pieces that need to be in place before we begin actual “training” work.
By the time we’re done with all of this, we will know what training approach is going to be best for you and your dog and can make accurate recommendations that will drive what we do for the rest of your program.
Of course, we could work with your dog directly, and she would respond well to us. But that would accomplish very little, because all she would be learning is how to respond to OUR handling. And our skill, speed, timing, and handling are expert — that is why you are reaching out to us for help. Your pup needs to learn to respond to YOU, with the way you will handle her.
You’ll get the best results if we keep things as real-world as possible…and that means keeping us as far out of it as we can — while still giving you ample guidance and support.
So, we will coach YOU to understand deeply what your pup is experiencing and what her needs are, how to meet them, and how to connect with her. We will coach YOU what steps to take and when to take them to change the way she is responding in a situation.
This way, you will be able to work with your dog and get REAL results that will last even when we are not there…because you and your pup will be starting from a solid foundation of teamwork.
If we are doing behavior work, this is even more true. Behavioral work is different from regular training, because it is not necessarily skills-focused. Think about it this way: if you have a kid who is having emotional outbursts in math class, you could hire a math tutor to teach him better math skills. Would that actually address the behavioral outbursts? Not likely – even if the outbursts are happening because the child is frustrated at not being able to do the work, an outburst is different from an appropriate response, such as asking for help. There is likely a deeper problem going on than a simple lack of math skills. To help this child, he probably needs to see a child psychologist or a child behaviorist.
When we are working with serious behavior issues with dogs, it is the same. We’re not focused on teaching skills (although that may play a part) — we are focused on addressing your dog’s emotions.
To do that, we need to work primarily with YOU, because you are the one who is going to have to help your pup on a day to day basis. And that means YOU need to be the one to handle your dog during the work.
The majority of our clients see improvement after just a few weeks of focused work, are satisfied with this program, and continue fine-tuning on their own to get full results.
Exact results will depend on your dog’s profile and history, your commitment and implementation, and other variables.
Most of our clients have worked with other trainers before and haven’t gotten the results they’ve been looking for. If you’ve done any of the following — E-collar training, board and train, basic obedience classes, or watched famous dog trainers on TV — this training is fundamentally different. We go deeper, the training is entirely science-based, and there is an emphasis on truly understanding and partnering with your dog.
As with any other service-based profession, when you hire a service provider you are paying for so much more than the time we spend directly together. Your fee covers the prep work done beforehand, driving time to and from the training location and the gas it takes to get there, time spent sending notes and preparing online materials so that the information you need to succeed is easily accessible to you, and the cost of the equipment needed to create any of those materials or to deliver training.
As a small business, the prices charged also cover our business operating costs (insurance, licensing, marketing, etc…), so that we are able to provide this service.
Furthermore, Horizon emphasizes bringing the highest levels of up-to-date knowledge based in real standards of education, training, and credentialing. All of our trainers hold or are actively pursuing the highest possible standards in professional credentialing and certification, and this represents a substantial amount of time and financial commitment.
When you hire a professional, you are paying for their time, education and expertise. You are here because you can’t fix your problem yourself. You’re looking for qualified insight, from someone who has the education and experience to be able to teach you. That is what we provide, and providing this requires all of the above.
So, at the end of the day, only you can truly answer this question. Our methods are proven, science-backed, and far deeper than standard dog training. Plus, what you’ll learn will fundamentally shift the way you approach working with your dogs, forever — and you’ll be able to apply that to future dogs. What is that worth to you?
Here is what we can promise:
- We will be honest and transparent with you about the likely outcomes and inform you during the first session if we do not believe we can help you.
- We will deliver cutting-edge techniques based on the highest levels of current, scientifically-sound research.
- We will use only methods that are dog-friendly, maximally positive, minimally aversive, and pain-free. We will never ask you to do anything that might damage your relationship with your best friend.
In return, we ask that you schedule your sessions promptly, utilize all features and benefits (including online resources) made available to you, and do the homework/follow the instructions given to you precisely.
This is necessary to get the highest level of results.
We do not offer a traditional guarantee because it is not honest or ethical to do so. (In fact, we are prohibited from doing so by certain higher-level certifications we hold.) Your dog is a thinking, feeling being capable of independent action, and your situation contains variables that are outside our control and possibly even our ability to predict.
