Dog training is an unregulated industry. This means that anybody who reads a book, or owns a dog can call themselves a dog trainer. Scary, huh? The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSB) has created a guide on how to choose a dog trainer which can be found here .
Below you'll find our top 3 reasons for choosing Train Play Love.
Education
Sara Russell is the only trainer in Cobourg to have both graduated from the Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Behavior and Training and to also be certified through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers.
Continuing education is mandatory in order to maintain certification through both Karen Pryor Academy and the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. This ensures that trainers remain the most up to date with education and training.
Experience
Growing up, Sara always loved animals and knew that one day she would turn her passion into a career. Sara brings with her over 13 years of experience working professionally with animals.
After working at the Toronto Humane Society for just over a decade helping rehabilitate animals with mild to severe behavioural challenges, Sara switched gears and began working with pet owners to help prevent animals from being surrendered due to behaviour challenges.
Sara’s passion also extends to teaching other animal care professionals and trainers on low stress handling, implementing positive reinforcement training into shelter enrichment programs, motivations behind behaviours and behaviour modification techniques.
Training methods
We strictly adhere to using the Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive (LIMA) based methods to train and modify behaviours. This includes reinforcing behaviours we want to see repeated while setting animals up for success. We do not employ any physical punishment, fear or intimidating tactics to deal with training or behaviour challenges.
Tools we use may include:
- Food
- Play/toys
- Praise/ Attention
- Clicker
Tools we do NOT use:
- Leash corrections (leash popping or yanking)
- Physical corrections (hitting, poking, jabbing)
- Prong collars
- Electronic collars (e-collars), shock collars
- Spray bottles
- Scaring or startling the animal (shake cans, air horns, etc.)
If you have more questions about our training options, feel free to contact us.