Training Zone

Having trouble with obedience, or getting your dog to play well with others? Dogs are social animals and without proper training, they will behave like animals. They will soil your house, destroy your belongings, bark too much, dig holes in your yard, fight with other dogs or even bite you. Nearly all behavior problems are perfectly normal canine activities that occur at the wrong time, place or are directed at the wrong thing. The key to preventing or treating behavior problems is to teach the dog to redirect his natural behavior to outlets that are acceptable in domestic settings.  Training opens up a line of communication between you and your dog.  Effective communication is necessary to teach your dog about what you want him to do. Obedience training is also an easy way to establish your role as leader in the social relationship between you and your dog. When your dog obeys simple instruction such as “come” or “sit”, he is showing compliance and respect for you and happily acknowledging that you are in charge.

Whatever the age of your dog, the most important time in your dog's life to begin training is right now! Your dog's behavior is constantly changing and every moment that you are with your dog, one of you is training the other.  Behaviors are constantly being reinforced while you and your dog are making choice about how to behave based on previous situations.  Some of these choices are deliberate and some subconscious but all are based on the outcomes of previous events in your relationship.  Your relationship with you dog will be more harmonious if you are the trainer more often than the trainee; that is, you are manipulating your dog's behavior more than your dog is manipulating yours.

Our training classes teach you how to positively attend to your dog's individual behaviors and how to be deliberate about reinforcing the behaviors that you enjoy and not reinforcing those that you don't prefer.  We explore various ways that you can reward your dog and explain the use of "no reward markers" that can be used to decrease a misbehavior.  In our classes, you will find that training is a fun and rewarding activity for both you and your dog. It will enrich your relationship and make living together more enjoyable.

About Our Classes

At Aggie Pet Zone, we offer a variety of training classes along with private lessons to help you address behavioral issues and to develop a harmonious relationship with your dog. The curriculums for all of our training classes were designed and evaluated by Shannon Casto, our in-house trainer. As members of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) you can rest assured that we employ proven, safe and effective training techniques.