Training your puppy takes time, and you may have a full schedule or travel plans that get in the way, particularly during holiday periods. In these situations, a Tampa Bay Board and Train Program can be an ideal solution, allowing your puppy to learn essential skills while living with Dr. Echterling-Savage and Sean Savage. In this blog, we will discuss four key factors to consider when asking yourself, “Can I send my puppy away for training?”: your puppy’s social and training needs, follow-up support, the trainer’s philosophy, and their credentials.
Your puppy’s social and training needs
Because your dog is part of the family, it can always be somewhat stressful to send them away for training. However, there are many strengths with a board and train program, particularly when considering how board and train programs teach your dog skills and behaviors that can easily transition to your own home.
Training helps your puppy become a confident and well-adjusted adult dog, and Board and Train programs offer a solution by allowing your dog to live and learn directly with Dr. Echterling-Savage and Sean Savage in their home. This home-based approach helps your puppy practice behaviors in real-life environments, making it easier for their new skills to transfer smoothly once they return home.
Behaviors That Transition Easily to Your Home
For example, trainers can teach the following behaviors in their home so they easily transition to your home:
- Teaching your previously little German Shepherd puppy not to jump on guests as they walk in the front door, and to go to “place” instead. Which is particularly important now that your German Shepherd weighs 80lbs, and accidentally bowls them over.
- Teaching your food-driven Labrador not to counter-surf for his next snack. This can be hard to correct because it is self-rewarding behavior. Your Labrador may believe the reward of food was worth being naughty.
- Teaching your Chihuahua not to resource guard his bed, toys, and dog bowl. This can be particularly important, as resource guarding behaviors often escalate as dogs get older.
- Teaching your shy Husky to be more confident through socialization. This will make trips to the dog park or local shops in Tampa Bay more enjoyable for both of you.
- Potty training and crate training your puppy in the trainer’s home. This ensures that when your puppy comes home, they stay calm in the crate, go potty outside, and feel relaxed and confident in their own space.
How Beyond the Dog Personalizes Your Dog’s Training Plan
At Beyond the Dog, each of our training programs are personalized to meet your dog’s unique needs. We develop a personalized plan by reviewing your submitted “Indirect Assessment of Canine Behavior” and conducting a virtual or phone consultation with our co-founder, Dr. Echterling Savage, to discuss your dog’s behavior and your training goals.
This type of real-world training environment helps ensure your puppy’s good behavior continues once they return home, because they are receiving regular training and leisure time with Dr. Echterling-Savage and Sean Savage. However, to ensure long-term success, your program should include follow-up lessons.
Follow-up lessons help ensure long-term success
At the end of the training program, you should have at least 4-6 hours of follow-up lessons with your trainer. During these lessons, you will effectively learn how to reinforce your dog’s behavior, how to eliminate any problem behaviors, and how to maintain high-level obedience commands.
These lessons are critical to the long-term success of your dog’s training. The lessons give you a chance to practice handling skills, ask questions, and build confidence working with your dog. If needed, follow-up sessions also help your trainer make final corrections in your dog’s behavior after they return home.
Another factor to consider is choosing the right trainer by considering their credentials, experience, and training philosophy. Let’s explore this in more detail.
The Trainer’s Approach
Our trainers use wellness-focused methods to teach dogs what’s expected of them and to reduce or eliminate problem behaviors. This includes the use of operant conditioning to provide reward-based training. We use rewards that include treats and praise to help dogs become happier, more confident, and more reliable learners who develop a lifelong love for learning. We do not use prong collars and shock collars, as these can cause long-term harm.
Now that we have covered our training approach, let’s discuss training credentials to look out for.
The Trainer’s Credentials
When choosing a trainer, it’s important to remember that dog training is an unregulated field. So it’s important to check their credentials. The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT) administers certifications, including the CPDT-KA (Certified Professional Dog Trainer) and the CBCC-KA (Certified Behavior Consultant Canine). These certifications reflect strong professional competence. They require an extensive education, experience, and adherence to ethical standards in dog training.
While these certifications demonstrate they are highly skilled professionals, an even greater certification that shows competence in diagnosing and treating complex behavioral problems is a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB). CAABs are required to hold advanced degrees in animal behavior, such as a Ph.D or master’s, conduct scientific research in the field, and are recognized by the Animal Behavior Society for meeting comprehensive academic and practical standards. There are approximately only 50 Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists in the entire country.
How Beyond the Dog Ensures High-Level Expertise
Beyond the Dog requires our trainers to undertake certification as a Certified Dog Trainer or Behavior Consultant (CBCC-KA, CDBC, or CPDT-KA). Beyond these qualifications, they also mentor and work under the guidance of our co-founders, Dr. Echterling-Savage, a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, specializing in Animal Behavior and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst – Doctoral (BCBA-D), and Sean Savage, a Certified Behavior Consultant Canine – Knowledge Assessed (CBCC-KA), who has an extensive knowledge in obedience and behavior modification training. By ensuring our trainers are both mentored by leaders in the field of animal behavior, we can provide the most effective, humane, and evidence-based training programs to you and your Dog.
Those dogs enrolled in the Tampa Bay Board and Train, Sarasota Board and Train, and the nationally available “Board and Train Retreat” will stay at Dr. Echterling-Savage and Sean Savage’s home. Where they will train with Dr. Echterling-Savage and Sean Savage, and live as part of their family.
We’re here to help
Do you need any help addressing any behavioral challenges for your dog? Or to teach high-level obedience commands and manners? We conduct all of our programs through one-on-one training sessions, and develop a personalized training plan to address your dog’s unique needs. You can schedule a free consultation with our Pet Behavior Team to discuss your training goals and receive a personalized recommendation.
