Learn From and Be Guided by Certified Canine Behavior Specialist, Dr. Kristyn Echterling-Savage
At Beyond the Dog, we recognize that convenience and accessibility are essential for dog training. If you are outside our service area or prefer to meet with Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist Dr. Echterling-Savage directly, our virtual consultation packages provide you with personalized training programs and expert guidance through three to six week training programs. Explore the options below to learn more about our programs and how to schedule a virtual consultation package.
Dr. Echterling-Savage is a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB) and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) with a PhD in Behavioral Psychology. Among only about 50 CAABs nationwide, Dr. Echterling-Savage brings a wealth of knowledge to each session. Her broad background includes a doctorate in the field, published research on canine behavior modification, and 25 years of hands-on training experience. Dr. Echterling-Savage provides professional guidance to address a variety of obedience, manners, and behavioral concerns. After your initial meeting, she will continue to offer support and troubleshoot behavioral scenarios, ensuring ongoing progress in your dog’s training. By developing a personalized training plan that addresses your dog’s problem behaviors, our virtual consultations offer a personalized training experience that fosters long-term success.
Personalized Puppy Reactivity Virtual Training Course with Dr. Echterling-Savage
For moderate and severe cases over 6 weeks
For mild cases over 4 weeks
- Goal
Our training goal is to treat your puppy’s reactivity with a personalized training plan that uses classical conditioning and positive reinforcement. Your puppy will receive high-level obedience training while we also address their reactivity, focusing on the following:
- Teaching obedience behaviors to reduce reactivity and create positive experiences
Eliminating barking, growling, or lunging towards
- People and dogs, when on the leash
- Car’s trucks, bicycles, skateboards, etc. when on a leash
- Guests in the home
- Dogs or people seen through windows
- Research
- How it Works
Your program begins with a 45-minute virtual consultation with Dr. Echterling-Savage. In this first session, she’ll assess your puppy’s reactivity, discuss your training goals, and design a personalized training plan.
Within 48 hours of this consultation, we ask that you submit short videos of treatment and feeding routines (if relevant). You’ll also complete a tracker and send in additional videos within the next 4–5 days.
From there, you’ll stay connected each week through a mix of live check-ins and video submissions. Every week includes a 30-minute virtual consultation where you and Dr. Echterling-Savage review progress together, make adjustments, and address any challenges. In between consultations, you’ll share short videos and updates on your tracker. Dr. Echterling-Savage will review these in detail. These 15-minute reviews (typically twice per week) allow Dr. Echterling-Savage to provide ongoing feedback and troubleshooting to help ensure training progress..
This structure gives you steady support while you implement the personalized training plan. It’s designed to keep progress on track, make adjustments as needed, and set you and your puppy up for long-term success.
Puppy Potty Training and Manners with Dr. Echterling-Savage
Over 3 weeks of training
This training consultation is designed to develop a personalized potty training plan for your puppy. As well as work on two manners.
- Goal
Our goal is to eliminate puppy house soiling and potty train your puppy. In our potty training consultations, we will focus on:
- Working on two of the following: Chewing, jumping, playbiting and crate training
- Implementing personalized behavior modification to you and your puppy’s unique needs
- Offering guidance and practical demonstrations to effectively communicate with your puppy and reinforce desired behaviors
- Providing ongoing support and troubleshooting to address any challenges or setbacks, ensuring sustained progress and successful resolution of house soiling issues
- Research
Beyond the Dog has helped thousands of puppies succeed with potty training over the last 20 years. We use an approach that combines hands-on training with positive reinforcement that considers factors such as the environment, health, and routine when addressing any challenges. Our personalized program will guide you through the potty training process by implementing proven scientific research as a guide. According to Dr. Echterling-Savage, “Potty training a puppy can feel overwhelming, but with a structured, stress free approach, we make it simple for pet parents to set their puppy up for success.
- How it Works
Your program begins with a 1-hour virtual consultation covering potty training and two behaviors, including play biting, chewing, socialization, and other preventative measures. Dr. Echterling-Savage will guide you through establishing positive changes and provide strategies for real-life situations.
After the initial session, you’ll participate in 30-minute weekly virtual consultations focused on reinforcing skills such as play biting, chewing, jumping, and continued socialization. Throughout the program, you’ll submit updates on your potty training spreadsheet and short training videos. Dr. Echterling-Savage reviews these twice per week, providing detailed feedback, answering questions, and offering recommendations so your puppy can make steady progress. Socialization exercises are submitted and reviewed, ensuring safe and effective practice with other dogs and people.
This combination of live consultations and frequent feedback keeps you supported every step of the way. It helps you and your puppy build good habits, confidence, and a strong foundation for long-term success, all while making training a positive and enjoyable experience.
Full Puppy Manners and Socialization Starter Virtual Training Course with Dr. Echterling-Savage
For 5 weeks of training
This program has been developed to help socialize your puppy and teach appropriate manners across a variety of environments.
- Goal
Our goal is to help your puppy grow into a well-mannered and confident dog. This program focuses on behaviors including:
- Potty training
- Chewing
- Jumping
- Playbiting
- Preventative behavioral measures
- Following
- Socialization
- Polite Greetings in the home and in public
- Interactions with dogs and other people
- How to navigate new social experiences with ease
- Research
Research shows that early socialization is critical for puppies to develop into well-adjusted adult dogs. Puppies exposed to a variety of environments, pets, and people are less likely to develop fear, aggression, separation anxiety, or other behavioral issues as they grow older. By following evidence-based socialization practices, our program ensures your puppy gains the skills needed to navigate the world safely and happily.
- How it Works
Your program begins with a 1-hour virtual consultation with Dr. Echterling-Savage that covers potty training, play biting, chewing, socialization, and other preventative measures to set your puppy up for success.
Following this, you’ll have weekly 30-minute virtual sessions to review and reinforce skills such as play biting, chewing, jumping, and continued socialization. Throughout the program, we ask that you submit updates on your potty training spreadsheet and short training videos. Dr. Echterling-Savage reviews these twice per week, providing detailed feedback, answering questions, and offering recommendations so your puppy can make steady progress. Socialization exercises are submitted and reviewed as well, ensuring safe and effective practice.
This combination of live consultations and frequent feedback ensures you and your puppy feel supported every step of the way.
Personalized Puppy Separation Anxiety Virtual Training Course with Dr. Echterling-Savage
For moderate and severe cases over 5 weeks
For mild cases over 4 weeks
- Goal
Our goal us to help your puppy overcome separation anxiety by encouraging calm, relaxed behavior when left alone. This program is designed to address the problem behavior, including:
- Eliminating excessive barking, whining and self-injury when your puppy is in the crate or left alone
- Stopping your puppy from trying to escape confinement or causing damage to exit points in the home
- Stopping your puppy from soiling the crate as a result of anxiety from being left alone
- Research
Separation anxiety most often develops between three and five years of age, though in more severe cases it can appear with puppies and adolescence. Signs of severe separation anxiety can include excessive, continuous crying or barking in the crate, stress-related urination or defecation, and behaviors that cause self-injury. Separation anxiety can worsen as your dog gets older, making early intervention crucial to avoid long-term problems. As Dr. Echterling-Savage explains “Pet parents’ worries about separation anxiety can be put to rest with behavior modification training and simple modifications to their “daily routine”.
- How it Works
Your program begins with Dr. Echterling-Savage reviewing 1–3 videos of your puppy’s separation anxiety behavior, along with your Indirect Assessment of Canine Behavior. This helps her understand your puppy’s needs even before your first session.
The program then begins with a 45-minute virtual consultation, where Dr. Echterling-Savage will assess your puppy’s separation anxiety behavior, discuss your goals, and develop a personalized training plan. We ask that you submit short videos and updates on your spreadsheet tracker. Dr. Echterling-Savage reviews these in detail, and offer guidance to ensure your dog is making consistent progress. You’ll also have scheduled check-ins via phone to address challenges.
This training program is designed to keep your puppy’s training on track, build confidence, and create lasting improvements in behavior.
Personalized Puppy Cat Chasing Virtual Training Course with Dr. Echterling-Savage
For moderate and severe cases over 6 weeks
For mild cases over 4 weeks
This program has been designed to correct your puppy’s improper play or mild reactivity toward your cat, providing a solid foundation for long-term success.
- Goal
Our training goal is to address your puppy’s touch-sensitive behavior while teaching key obedience skills that directly support this progress, and target behaviors include:
- Becoming stiff and growling in response to being touched, handled, or picked up.
- Showing signs of being agitated or hesitant when being petted, shying away, and displaying whale eyes.
- Growling or snapping when putting on or taking off equipment, such as leashes, collars, and harnesses.
- Research
A combination of genetics, prey drive, and behavioral history can cause a puppy’s cat-chasing behavior. Our training strtegies combine the latest scientific research and our experience to see positive changes in a short time. We use positive reinforcement and counterconditioning to address cat chasing and aggression behaviors.
- How it Works
Your program begins with a 45-minute virtual consultation with Dr. Echterling-Savage. In this first session, she’ll assess your puppy’s cat chasing behaviors, discuss your training goals, and design a personalized training plan.
Within 48 hours of this consultation, we’ll ask you to share short videos of your puppy’s treatment and feeding routines (if relevant), along with a spreadsheet tracker and additional videos within the next 4–5 days.
You’ll stay connected each week through live check-ins and video submissions. Each week includes a 30-minute consultation with Dr. Echterling-Savage to review progress, fine-tune strategies, and troubleshoot challenges. Between calls, you’ll submit short videos and tracker updates. Dr. Echterling-Savage will review these each week. This regular feedback ensures you are supported throughout the program and create lasting improvements.
Personalized Touch Sensitivity Behavior Virtual Training Course with Dr. Echterling-Savage
For moderate and severe cases over 6 weeks
For mild cases over 4 weeks
- Goal
Our training goal is to address your puppy’s touch-sensitive behavior while teaching key obedience skills that directly support this progress, and target behaviors include:
- Becoming stiff and growling in response to being touched, handled, or picked up.
- Showing signs of being agitated or hesitant when being petted, shying away, and displaying whale eyes.
- Growling or snapping when putting on or taking off equipment, such as leashes, collars, and harnesses.
- Research
As your puppy gets older, fear-based behaviors like touch sensitivity will likely worsen and become more severe. This can escalate to a puppy biting. We use classical conditioning to help form new positive behaviors in situations that previously caused fear. Our co-founder, Sean Savage, explains, “Our team works to address touch sensitivity early so that it doesn’t strengthen with age and cause more serious issues later in life”.
- How it Works
Your program begins with a 45-minute virtual consultation with Dr. Echterling-Savage. In this first session, she’ll assess your puppy’s touch sensitivity behavior, discuss your training goals, and design a personalized training plan.
Within 48 hours of this consultation, we’ll ask you to share short videos of your puppy’s treatment and feeding routines. We also ask you to complete a tracker and send in additional videos within the next 4–5 days.
From there, you’ll stay connected each week through a mix of live check-ins and video submissions. Each week includes a 30-minute consultation with Dr. Echterling-Savage where you’ll review progress, make adjustments, and address any challenges. Between consultations, you’ll share short videos and updates on your spreadsheet tracker. Dr. Echterling-Savage will review these in detail, typically twice per week for 15 minutes, and provide ongoing feedback and guidance.
This structure gives you consistent support while you implement the personalized training plan. It’s designed to build create long lasting improvements in your puppy’s touch sensitivity behavior.
Personalized Puppy Fearful Behavior Virtual Training Course with Dr. Echterling-Savage
For moderate and severe cases over 6 weeks
For mild cases over 4 weeks
This program is ideal for puppy owners who want to address their puppy’s fearful behavior while teaching obedience skills.
- Goal
Our training is designed to support your puppy in gaining confidence, learning advanced obedience, becoming comfortable in various social settings, and overcoming all types of fearful behaviors, including, but not limited to:
- Scared to go on walks
- Reluctant to walk beyond a certain distance from home
- Cowering and backing away from people or dogs during walks
- Fear and backing away from cars, bicycles, and other vehicles during walks
- Being scared and avoiding guests in the home
- Being scared and avoiding other family members in the home
- Research
It can be easy to confuse fearful behavior with stubborness in puppies. A puppy who doesn’t want to leave the house or go for a walk may be experiencing fear rather than being tired. Fearful behavior can begin as early as 8-12 weeks and worsen as your puppy gets older. If a puppy’s fearful behavior continues for six months without support, a more intensive training program will be needed to help them improve. We treat fearful behavior through the use of classical conditioning and positive reinforcement techniques. Our training programs are informed by over 20 years of experience working on addressing fearful behaviors and the latest scientific behavioral research. Scientific research that influences our training plans include a study by Riemer that shows that classical conditioning is the most effective technique for treating fear based behaviors in dogs. According to Dr. Echterling-Savage, “It’s critical there is early intervention in treating any fear-based behavior in puppies. By addressing these behaviors early, we can prevent severe aggression from developing as your puppy gets older.
- How it Works
The Personalized Puppy Fearful Behavior Virtual Training Course starts with a 45-minute virtual consultation with Dr. Echterling-Savage. After this first consultation, she’ll assess your dog’s fearful behaviors, discuss your training goals, and develop a customized plan.
Within 48 hours of this consultation, we’ll ask you to share short videos of your puppy’s daily routines (such as feeding, treatment, or other relevant situations). You’ll also complete a tracker and send in additional videos within the next 4–5 days.
From there, you’ll stay connected each week through a combination of live check-ins and video submissions. There will be a 30-minute consultation with Dr. Echterling-Savage each week. Where you’ll review progress, fine-tune strategies, and address challenges as they arise. Between consultations, you’ll share short videos and tracker updates. Dr. Echterling-Savage will review these in detail (typically twice per week for 15 minutes), to provide ongoing guidance and feedback.
This training course has been designed to give you consistent support to overcome challenges and treat your puppy’s fearful behavior, and create lasting improvements in their overall well-being.
Personalized Puppy Resource Guarding Virtual Training Course with Dr. Echterling-Savage
For moderate and severe cases over 6 weeks
For mild cases over 4 weeks
Our Resource Guarding Training Program is designed for puppy owners who want to manage resource-guarding behaviors early. The earlier you address your puppy’s resource guarding, the lower the risk of it developing into more serious aggressive behaviors later in life.
- Goal
By reducing and eliminating resource guarding while teaching your puppy relevant obedience behaviors skills, we aim to create a happier home environment. We will help you manage previously unsafe situations where your puppy may have growled at you if you took away their chew toy or retrieved some stolen food. We will address behaviors where your puppy has growled, snapped, or barked at a family member or another pet who approached them while they were:
- Playing with bones of toys
- Stealing inappropriate food items
- Eating treats or meals
- Relaxing in a comfortable place or guarding a high-value area such as the couch
- Research
A puppy’s resource guarding is influenced by their experiences and environment, including aversive training techniques (such as the use of shock collars) and the behavior of other pets in the home. Additionally, genetics and breed can play a role in resource-guarding behaviors. Once resource-guarding develops, it is tough for owners to avoid unintentionally reinforcing the behavior. Resource guarding behaviors tend to get worse without proper training as a puppy gets older. At Beyond the Dog, we treat puppy resource guarding using function-based training, combining a proprietary blend of classical counterconditioning and operant conditioning. Dr. Echterling-Savage further explains, “The best way to eliminate puppy guarding is to recognize the early signs right away and seek professional help. Once the behavior has been identified, our team can easilt treat the problem behavior.”
- How it Works
Your Personalized Resource Guarding Virtual Training Course begins with a 45-minute virtual consultation with Dr. Echterling-Savage. In this first session, she’ll evaluate your puppy’s resource guarding behavior, discuss your training goals, and create a personalized training plan.
Within 48 hours of this consultation, we ask that you send in short videos of feeding and treatment routines (if relevant). You’ll also send in additional videos and complete a spreadsheet tracker within the next 4–5 days.
You will stay connected each week through a combination of video submissions and live check-ins. Each week includes a 30-minute virtual consultation where you and Dr. Echterling-Savage review training progress, make adjustments, and address any challenges. In between consultations, you’ll share short videos and updates on your spreadsheet tracker. Dr. Echterling-Savage will review these in detail. These 15-minute reviews (usually twice per week) allow Dr. Echterling-Savage to provide ongoing support and troubleshooting to help ensure the success of your training plan.
This structure gives you ongoing support while you implement the personalized training plan.
