Colleen’s Canine Catering

Academy

Welcome to Colleen’s Canine Catering Training Academy! I am beyond ecstatic that you have decided to trust me in this very exciting and important stage in your dog's life! I truly see training as a bonding experience. Dogs love to learn new things. Much like us! Learning a new skill is very exciting for a pooch, once you begin training, they will look forward to the next new thing that you will teach them everyday! Training however, is a full-time commitment. If you choose to train your dog, you MUST practice the skills constantly because consistency is key!

As a trainer, I can only introduce the methods of how to do these skills, but who your dog spends the most time with is the person that is most responsible for their behaviors. It is super important that you understand this going in. I recommend committing to at least two days a week if you are signing up for CCC Academy.

CCC Academy holds sessions privately in the comfort of your own home. This is very beneficial as it is where your pup spends most of their time and where training will be done the most by you as well. I work alone, in private with your pooch because I find that they retain information much better this way. I like to compare it to kids with their teachers and guardians. If you join your child in class, they are likely to act differently, not listen to the teacher and give you their full attention instead of focusing on the lesson at hand. Dogs are the exact same way! However, it is super important that you are practicing as well and with that in mind, each session, I record and send you everything you need to know. This way you can look back on your own as many times as you would like to really make sure you are doing it right. You can also see how your dog responds to the training when watching the videos-learning their body language/behaviors is key when training. I will always communicate everything you need to know. Since I am virtual, never hesitate to send me videos or messages with questions when you are training on your own! I want success for your pooch!

By signing here, you are promising to commit to training your dog outside of the sessions that your dog is receiving while with CCC; and if you are not doing so, and there is no improvement due to lack of commitment on your end, CCC has the right to end training sessions with your dog as training is meant to be positive and rewarding!

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Why Training is so Important/Beneficial

This is a positive thing! You are spending quality time with your dog each time you train, learning your dog’s body language/behaviors, building a bond/special connection with them, teaching each other how to communicate with one another. This is so important because it helps your dog to learn what is and is not okay- learning their boundaries! While you are bonding, you are also gaining trust between both of you, another key factor to maintaining a good relationship with your pet. On top of this, dogs are energetic, curious creatures that thrive on mental stimulation. Training is a great way to mentally engage your pooch which in the long run can benefit their health.

 A dog that is trained is safe- an untrained dog can lead to mental boredom due to no stimulation which can lead to destructive behaviors. Destructive behaviors can be unsafe for you, other dogs or for them which leads into my point of behavior development. Training your dog will help the development of good behaviors and manners which will stick with them for a lifetime. Dogs should be able to socialize, if they have proper manners it is likely that your furry friend will make human and dog friends much easier than a dog that is untrained. For example, it is important that your dog has gentle greetings to new people and dogs, or that they play nice otherwise it could turn others away.

It gives them confidence. Put yourself in your pups shoes… or paws… the world can seem like a big, intimidating, confusing and sometimes scary place. Everywhere they look, there seems to be a new experience. Whether this be an unfamiliar sound or sight or even a new setting which may feel nearly impossible for them to predict and on top of that, humans are expecting them to listen to every command thrown at them. By guiding your dog and teaching them how to approach/behave in these situations, they will not respond with fear or anxiety, instead, they will respond with CONFIDENCE!

Training is fun! Finally, it is worth remembering that training your dog is not a chore. It is an important responsibility, while yes, there are times when it feels really tiring and/or frustrating- it is important never to let those emotions overcome the training, stay patient with them. Remember that the reward in the end is SO worth it for everybody involved.