As well, my fingerprints are on file with law enforcement as free of any criminal history, and you can be sure that you are inviting an instructor free of any criminal activity into the safety of your home. Not many trainers can make this claim and may not have been background checked. I hold a graduate (Master”s) degree and am formally educated at university in the arts, counseling psychology, and animal science. This ensures that the service you receive will be up-to-date, articulate, well-informed, and compassionately and professionally delivered at the highest level. You may ask: “I hear about positive reinforcement” all the time, but what does that really mean? Positive reinforcement means that I encourage and focus on reinforcing your dog for appropriate behavior with no, or minimal, corrections for “mistakes.” Unwanted or undesirable behavior is ignored, and if not reinforced, extinguishes (goes away). Corrections usually come from the environment, not the trainer, so no negative associations are made with the trainer, or with people in general, for the dog, which is a very important aspect of training a dog and socializing a puppy. Positive Reinforcement training has been scientifically proven to be most effective in the long term for training dogs without any resulting “fallout,” or negative, unwanted repercussions resulting from punishment, such as fear, anxiety or aggression associated with the person making the “correction” or applying the “punisher.” With positive reinforcement training, there is no need for punishment. For embedded undesirable behaviors which have become habits for your dog, I will assess and evaluate what environmental or inadvertent reinforcers are causing the behaviors to continue, and I will then develop a protocol to resolve these behaviors. If people in the home or the community need to be safe while these behaviors are being resolved, I can help you develop a protocol that keeps everyone safe while your dog is being trained for new, more appropriate behaviors.

Madeline takes into consideration all members of the family, including other pets; the environment; the behavior of the dog(s) which she assesses at her first visit; and the expectations and goals of her customers. Madeline will work with you on having reasonable expectations within the most reasonable time period as well as behavior evaluate your dog and do a risk assessment for you, if applicable. IT is Madeline’s goal to get you and your dog where you need to be behaviorally and with training in the most economical time frame possible, while also not cutting corners.