​Canine Aggression and Fear Rehabilitation

Many people are surprised to learn that aggressive behaviours (ie. reactivity, dog/dog aggression, dog/human aggression, food aggression, and possession aggression) are predominantly fear-based.  Unfortunately there are too many people subscribing to alpha, pack leader or dominance theories that teach the use of force and/or intimidation to secure one's rank over their dog to make them submit in order to get the desired behaviours.  These techniques typically exacerbate the issues because they not only fail to address the underlying issue (fear), they actually add to them by making the dog more fearful/anxious and destroying the human-canine bond.  These Articles by Puppy Power's founder, Norma Jeanne Laurette, and her partner, Greg Ceci, explain the short-comings of the Dominance theory and also how many "aggressive" behaviours are normal and necessary canine communication for which your dog should never be punished or reprimanded.

​Understanding the way your dog thinks, learns and communicates and using that information to become a predictable, consistent and benevolent leader are all key factors to creating the calm, confident, happy and well-adjusted dog that everyone wants.  Using proven, positive reinforcement-based techniques that do not create distrust, Samantha DeJong, B,Sc, CTB.ccs, IPDTA-CDT will not only show you how to shape the behaviours you want but also how to use them to replace the behaviours you don't want.  When done right, most dogs (and owners!) actually find behaviour modification training enjoyable and the real results are seen as we create a positive conditioned emotional response (CER) to previously fear-inducing triggers.  We let the dogs set the pace and keep them under threshold so that we can teach the dogs not to just tolerate but to feel comfortable/confident around and actually like things that previously scared them/evoked a negative response.  The best part is that the whole time we work on creating these desired behaviours and positive associations, a wonderful bond is formed between the dog and its owner that is built on mutual respect based on trust.

Timid or Fearful Dog Rehabilitation

In addition to taking the Control Unleashed Program to understand how to best work with fearful dogs, the Timid & Small Dog Socialization Classes are the best way to teach dogs to feel safe and comfortable around new dogs and people in a controlled environment that sets the dogs up to succeed.  Click HERE for more information on these classes.  For more difficult cases, a private consultation may be recommended to start things off on the right track and spend some one-on-one time individually assessing the dog, while explaining what underlies fearful behaviour and what we do to change it.

Reactive to Relaxed Classes - Available May through October

R2R Classes are the perfect opportunity to work on over-excitability on walks, leash frustration/leash reactivity, dog/dog aggression as well as dog/human aggression after completing Control Unleashed: the Building Blocks online***.  If your dog is barking and/or lunging at people or other dogs on walks, and you fear that your dog wouldn't do well in a "class" setting, this class is for you. The CU Building Blocks class will help you understand why your dog reacts the way it does, and how to set your dog (and yourself) up for success.  Then the Power of the Pattern class will give you lots of hands-on training in a structured setting for 4 weeks.  After completion of the 4 weeks you can also do pay as you go classes for refreshers as needed. These classes are held outdoors from mid-May until end of October, and are weather-dependent. Troubleshooting specific triggers (bikes, skateboards, etc) can also be arranged upon request.

*New for 2024: Reactive to Relaxed package ($500), which is $20 discount if you sign up for Power of the Pattern ($295) when you sign up for the Building Blocks class ($225)*

From November until mid-May, private lessons will be available to work on reactivity at $150/hour and upon request, set-ups can be created to work on reactivity in controlled private or semi-private set-ups in follow up lessons.