CPT’s in-home private lesson and board train programs can address many types of dog training issues and goals, including housebreaking, household manners, basic pet obedience, advanced off-leash pet obedience, and behavior modification. Moreover, each client’s plan is customized. Therefore, we focus on the issues most relevant to each dog and paramount to each dog owner. The following is a story of one of CPT’s many thousands of dog training successes.
Rocky is a 7.5-month, male Australian Labradoodle. His owner is a highly experienced Australian Labradoodle breeder who lives in Junction City, OR. Rocky is one of her personal dogs. However, despite her 20-plus years experience in the professional pet training community, on her own she was unable to overcome several dog training obstacles that affected her enjoyment of Rocky and, more importantly, his quality of life.
Since she knew Rocky would not be an easy dog training subject, she wanted to locate a highly educated, experienced, and accomplished trainer who works for a reputable company. In that quest, she consulted forums of breeders from around the country. A breeder in Snellville, GA highly recommended CPT, as we had trained many of her clients’ puppies and dogs and acquired multiple service dog candidates from the breeder. In addition, the Georgia breeder was well known and highly respected within the forum. Consequently, Rocky’s owner elected to board train Rocky at CPT’s Eugene, Oregon dog training location.
The primary barriers affecting Rocky were general and state anxiety issues that prompted shyness amidst unfamiliar people, general neophobia, and barking upon exposure to unfamiliar noises or objects. Therefore, CPT’s dog training plan focused on relationship building, basic obedience, and an exposure therapy strategy consisting of counterconditioning, systematic desensitization, and modeling.
CPT board trained Rocky from July 20 – August 14, 2018. Upon the completion of Rocky’s board train, he could:
• travel to parks, urban areas, and retail stores without trepidation,
• meet new people without exhibiting shyness and concern,
• act confidently without flinching when an object dropped,
• remain quietly in the yard without barking when yard workers deployed noisy equipment,
• walk calmly and confidently in heel position when a loud truck or motorcycle passed, and
• perform all basic obedience commands on and off-leash in both pristine and distracting environmental settings.
Rocky’s counterconditioning and systematic desensitization program included teaching him a replacement behavior (“Touch”), in lieu of barking, upon exposure to noisy yard equipment. Previous to his training Rocky would uncontrollably and shake when hearing loud or unfamiliar noises. Now, he is much quieter, calmer, and more confident.
After the conclusion of Rocky’s board train, Rocky’s owner published a Facebook post that said:
“A+ for Chrissy and her training! Will recommend to all our clients! … Rocky greatly improved in socialization and commands… we are totally impressed! Give her a call… well spent $… best trainer in Eugene hands down!”
CPT appreciates all client testimonials. Nevertheless, a resounding endorsement from a professional breeder means a lot! I believe readers will agree that Rocky’s story qualifies as an unequivocal CPT dog training success!
Notice how Rocky can now relax of his own volition with only minor biometric signs of stress. Exposure Therapy Training starts with extrinsic methods that accelerate the desensitization process. Nevertheless, to maximize the practical utility of the training we wish that the dog become intrinsically relaxed, where he does not require handler assistance. Conjunctively, the CPT board train program uses model dogs that transfer calm behavior to the client dog, which accelerates progress.
