Training Philosophy
Does your puppy bark or lunge at strangers or other animals during walks? Is your puppy constantly barking at people who pass by your house? If so, your puppy may be displaying reactive behavior. Reactivity often involves behaviors like barking, biting, lunging, and growling at unfamiliar people, dogs, and other animals. At Beyond the Dog Sarasota, we specialize in addressing puppy reactivity before it develops into more problematic behaviors as they grow older. Our training programs use scientifically proven research with a combination of classical and operant conditioning to treat your puppy’s reactivity.
With over 20 years of experience across 6 cities, we have extensive experience in treating reactive behavior in puppies. Private puppy training is an effective way to address reactivity, as it allows us to work in the exact environments where the behavior occurs. Whether at home or in your neighborhood, our Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Dr. Echterling-Savage, will personalize each program to meet your puppy’s specific needs. Our team is dedicated to improving both your and your puppy’s quality of life in Sarasota that fosters a lifelong love of learning.
Training Programs
Through the development of a personalized training plan, we will address your puppy’s reactive behavior using a combination of positive reinforcement and classical conditioning. Your puppy will be taught high-level obedience and manners training while addressing reactivity, with a focus on the following goals:
Eliminating barking, growling or lunging towards:
Puppy reactivity can, unfortunately, worsen as they get older. To prevent this from occurring, Beyond the Dog uses behavior modification to eliminate or reduce reactive behavior and aggression. We use behavior modification to change a puppy’s behavior over time using environmental cues, rewards, classical conditioning, and positive reinforcement that encourages good actions and associates them with positive outcomes. Our reactive puppy training program has been developed by our Co-founder and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Dr. Echterling-Savage, who conducted a 2015 study that demonstrated behavior modification is highly effective in correcting dog aggression. Dr. Echterling-Savage emphasizes the importance of addressing puppy reactivity early: “As a pet parent, puppy aggression can feel alarming and overwhelming. However, early intervention is key, and with proper treatment, the behavior can be eliminated.”
How it works:
Our 22-Hour Puppy Reactivity Program consists of 1-hour sessions with your behavior consultant, who will teach high-level obedience and manners.
To best understand and treat your puppy’s reactivity behaviors, we ask that you complete our “Indirect Assessment of Canine Behavior” before training begins. Our team, led by our co-founder and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Dr. Echterling-Savage, will evaluate this assessment to create a customized training program that addresses puppy’s problem behaviors.
Your behavior consultant will then conduct private sessions at your home or in the Sarasota neighborhood. Whether it’s learning socialization skills at St. Armand’s Circle or teaching “place” in your kitchen, our training program uses different environments to provide the highest level of training. While most sessions are one-on-one with your behavior consultant and your puppy, the final session of each week is a dedicated lesson for you. During this lesson, you will be taught how to reinforce the commands and strategies your puppy has learned. Once the training is completed, follow-up sessions will be arranged to support continuous improvement with reactive behavior.
Insurance providers, including Trupanion, offer coverage for reactivity behavioral training when it is led by a CAAB or a Board-Certified Behaviorist. We recommend verifying with your insurance provider to see if they will cover this training program.
This training program addresses mild reactivity while teaching relevant obedience commands and manners, including:
Our 16-hour training program has been designed by our Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Dr. Echterling-Savage, to reduce and eliminate mild reactive and aggressive behaviors in puppies. We use a unique combination of behavior modification techniques, including classical conditioning and positive reinforcement, to help your puppy develop positive associations around triggers while remaining calm and responsive to obedience commands. As our Co-Founder Sean Savage explains, “It is critical to address puppy reactivity and barking before a puppy reaches adulthood. For puppies showing fear-based behavior and low levels of reactivity, a little can go a long way, and training can make a positive, lifelong impact.
Our 16-hour Reactive Puppy Training Program is structured over four weeks. Before training can begin, you will need to submit your completed “Indirect Assessment of Canine Behavior.” Our Co-founder and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Dr. Echterling-Savage, will use this assessment to better understand your puppy’s behavioral history. She will then develop a personalized training plan that focuses on treating your puppy’s reactive behavior.
After creating the training program, our behavior consultant will conduct private sessions with your puppy to help overcome its reactive behavior. Depending on the behaviors being addressed, this training will occur at your home and in your local Sarasota neighborhood. Each session will last for 60 minutes, with the final session of each week being a lesson for you to reinforce the learned behaviors and obedience skills.
Several insurance companies, including Trupanion, will cover behavior modification training for reactive puppies when led by a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist or a Board-Certified Veterinary Behaviorist. We recommend that you contact your insurance company to see if they will cover reactive puppy training.
Our Reactive Puppy Behavior Modification Package offers virtual consultations with Dr. Echterling-Savage, our Co-founder and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB). As one of the few Board Certified Behavior Analysts specializing in Applied Animal Behavior and among only about 50 CAABs nationwide, Dr. Echterling-Savage brings extensive knowledge in treating reactivity and aggression behaviors. Her comprehensive background, including hands-on training, mentoring of all Beyond the Dog’s behavior consultants, and published research on canine behavior, ensures she can deliver high-level guidance to help your puppy make life-changing improvements in their reactive behavior.
During your virtual consultations, Dr. Echterling-Savage will evaluate your puppy’s reactive behavior and design a personalized training plan to manage your puppy’s reactivity. Following the initial consultation, she will provide ongoing guidance, providing you with various scenarios that reinforce positive behavioral modification that ensures long term success. The Reactive Puppy Behavior Modification Package costs $750, including several sessions and ongoing support.
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