Common behavior problems include : housesoiling, chewing, barking, jumping up, separation anxiety, aggression towards people or dogs, fearfulness, storm phobias, or just general unruliness.

Puppy Love is uniquely qualified to help you with your dog's behavior problems.

Our head trainer, Kay Stephens BS,DVM,MS, is a veterinarian with advanced training in animal learning and behavior.Dr. Stephens has been sucessfully solving behavior problems in dogs since 1992. 

Research has shown that about 30% of dogs with behavior problems have medical issues contributing to the problem, or will benefit from medication, and only a veterinarian can address both your dog's psychological and medical issues.

Our associate trainer, Kathrine Mancuso, has a BA in Psychology. 

We use a proven, science based, and common sense approach to solving behavior problems that you can use at home.

We know that solving behavior problems shouldn't be confusing, ridiculously expensive, or scary to you or your dog.

Wondering about the "Dog Whisperer" method ? Read what experts say at the bottom of this page.

You should know that most aggression problems (such as food guarding, disliking grooming, toy guarding, barking or lunging at strange dogs) are caused by the dog's anxiety and poor training, NOT by "dominance" issues. You can not treat anxiety with punishment, it will always make it worse.

Treating an aggressive dog for "dominance" will almost always make the problem MUCH WORSE and is very dangerous. Using methods such as "alpha rolls", collar hanging, striking the dog, or shock collars is very likely to result in getting bitten by your dog. When a TV show tells you "Don't Try This At Home", they really mean it !!!!!  ********************************************************

 Puppy Love prices are reasonable and based on the type of problem your pet has.

An initial evaluation for most behavior problems will run $85 per hour, and usually last 2 hours. This initial evaluation includes a written evaluation, and initial training and management recommendations. Sometimes, one meeting is enough to get you on the road to solving your pet's problems. It all depends on your pet and you.

Follow up sessions are one hour long and are $45. 

 Here's a few do it your self at home tips for a few common problems :

1. Housetraining.

Dogs "imprint" on a type of surface by about 8 weeks of age. So if you get a puppy that has been raised to "go potty" on newspaper, your puppy is already imprinted to potty on a paper on the floor. Bad news if you would like the puppy to potty outside in the grass. 

First, don't let the puppy make any mistakes. Every single time your puppy potties on the floor, that habit becomes stronger and harder to stop.

Second, don't let the puppy wander around the house unsupervised. Keep the puppy in a crate or puppy play pen unless you are actively watching him.

Three, don't punish the puppy for going potty in the house. If the puppy had an accident in the house, that meant you weren't watching him closely enough. Punishing the puppy will make him afraid of you or afraid to potty in your presence.

Four, actively reward your puppy for going potty outside. That means going outside with the puppy, praising him when he potties and rewarding him with a treat, petting or play.

Five, teach your puppy to ask to go outside by ringing a bell. This is easy to do and will give your puppy a clear way to tell you he needs to go outside.

2. Jumping up on people.

Dogs only do things that they get rewarded for doing. Dogs don't do things that have no pay off or reward. That's just a simple fact of dog psychology.

First, remember your dog has been rewarded for jumping up many, many times since he was born. He was rewarded for jumping up on his mother by being allowed to nurse. He was rewarded for jumping up on people by being petted and picked up when he was a tiny, cute ball of fur. He is probably being rewarded by you now for jumping up because you probably pay attention to him when he jumps on you.

Second, using punishment (such as a toe pinch, knee bump, collar pop, etc.) to stop jumping up is usually ineffective for a couple of reasons. Jumping up is a submissive behavior and punishing submission just doesn't work. For punishment to work correctly, the punishment must happen just as the dog starts to jump up, not during or after. Most people just don't have good enough timing to correct the dog as the jumping starts.  Punishment is a good way to ruin your relationship wth your dog.

Third, the solution is two fold. Stop rewarding your dog when he jumps up by taking away the reward when he jumps up --your attention. Then, teach the dog a way to get your attention that is appropriate--such as sitting politely. Lastly, train the people in your family that everyone has to help train the dog not to jump up.  We cover all of this in great detail in our classes. This method works, but must be applied correctly with correct timing to be most effective, and we can show you how to do this.

You can also get some great problem solving ideas at :

www.clickersolutions.com

www.clickertraining.com

www.behaviorlogic.com

www.abrionline.org

or call or email us !