Canine Behavior Services offers a variety of training and behavior programs to help you get more enjoyment out of life with your dog. In-Home Behavior Consultations are available in the southern West Virginia area, and are designed to help you resolve ongoing problem behavior issues in a safe, positive, and non-violent manner. Distance consults are also available for clients needing help outside the area.

Private Lessons are a convenient, flexible, time-saving alternative to group classes. They can cover a variety of training goals, and are conducted in the client's home.

Training & Behavior Advising is a service via email or phone that provides balanced, sensible training advice and concrete recommendations for your dog training and behavior questions.

All private instruction and behavior consultations (except for distance services and Agility Confidence Course) are conducted in the client's home. "Local appointment area" is any location within 30 minutes of Shady Spring, WV. Additional travel fee applies for appointments outside that area.

In-Home Behavior Consultations

Even the best dogs can develop problem behavior, and even experienced, caring dog owners can find themselves with a problem dog. Regardless of where your dog is behaviorally, help is available. My goal is to help you safely modify your dog's behavior in a manner that is straight-forward for you to follow, positive and non-confrontational for the dog, and confidence-building and relationship-strengthening for all involved. Among the range of canine behavior issues that can be improved or resolved with a sound behavior improvement program:

• aggression toward family members, strangers, other animals
• separation distress and separation anxiety
• problems related to shyness, fears, and phobias
• adolescence issues
• excessive behavior, repetitive behavior, and compulsions
• dog-to-dog and dog-to-cat problems within the household
• housetraining and other elimination issues

In-Home Dog Behavior Consultation - Appointments last approximately 3 hours, and are available Tuesdays and Saturdays. This is a detailed evaulation of your dog's behavior issues, including likely causes, factors contributing to its maintenance, prognosis for resolution, and detailed recommendations on how to improve the situation. An In-Home Behavior Consult is not simply a counseling session - it includes hands-on training with you and your dog. A detailed Behavior & Training summary report will be emailed to you within 10-14 days after the session. Online and phone support for the behavior(s) consulted upon is available FREE for one year after the consult.

A Behavior Consult Form should be submitted at the time of scheduling a consult appointment. Forms may be submitted via Word file, mail-in form, or copied and pasted into an email:

• Behavior Profile in Word (fill in, save and return the completed Word file by email).
• Behavior Profile html page (use this if you wish to copy the questions and paste your answers into an email to submit).
• Behavior Profile in PDF (for mail-ins - email me for mailing address).

In-home Behavior Consultation: $155. Additional travel fee applies to appointments further than 30 minutes from Shady Spring, WV. In-Home Behavior Consultations require a $50 deposit at the time of scheduling. Please use the button to the right to pay via credit card or your PayPal account, or contact me for a mailing address if you prefer to pay by check.	Deposit - Behavior Consultation Behavior Consultation Deposit $50.00
Follow-up consultations: $50 first hour. For appointments longer than 1 hour, $40 per hour after the first hour, charged in 15 minute increments.Additional travel fee applies to appointments further than 30 minutes from Shady Spring.
(Please note that all prices are subject to change. State sales tax will be added to total for WV residents.)

Private Lessons

Canine Behavior Services offers private, personalized obedience training lessons in the comfort and convenience of your home - and your dog's environment. Why private instruction? A nice aspect of private instruction is that the lessons, the behaviors learned, the instruction techniques, and the pace of learning are all tailored to suit you and your dog, not the "average dog and owner". Private lessons are also an especially nice option for dogs who may be over-stimulated or intimidated by the commotion of group classes, as well as for busy owners who have trouble fitting a traditional group class into their hectic or unpredictable schedules.

How many lessons will it take to train your dog? There is no way to give a precise answer to this, as it depends on a variety of factors, including but not limited to: your dog's age, prior training history, temperament, and established habits; your requirements and goals for your dog; your own personal skill level; and the amount of time and effort you put into practicing between each lesson, and incorporating training into real life. To give a rough guideline, a typical group obedience class will cover most basic obedience exercises in a course of 6 to 8 weeks. However, you may find that you and your dog progress more quickly with one-on-one instruction. Ultimately, because each owner, dog, and situation is unique, I prefer to allow my clients flexibility in the number of lessons they choose to take.

Lessons are conducted in the client's home or, if preferred, in a public park. Limited private instruction appointments are available; please contact me to reserve your spot. Appointments are typically scheduled once a week. Additional travel fee applies for out-of-area appointments.

Dog Training & Behavior Advising

For dog owners looking for experienced, no-nonsense answers to their general behavior and training questions, we offer Dog Training & Behavior Advising: a one-on-one coaching service available either via email or telephone. This service provides balanced, sensible training advice and concrete recommendations for your dog training and behavior problems, and can be an economical alternative to private lessons. Dog Training & Behavior Advising can be especially helpful if you are one of the thousands of dog owners confused and frustrated by conflicting training advice from local or online trainers, other pet owners, and well-meaning family, neighbors and friends. Unlike what many training personalities would have you believe, there is no "one size fits all" in dog training! A Dog Training & Behavior Advising session will help you sort the myths from the reality in dog training and behavior advice. 

Please submit your questions via email, and include:

• Your full name 
• Location
• Email address
• Phone and available days/times (for telephone advising only)
• Your dog's name, breed(s), age, sex, neutered/spayed
• Your dog training and behavior question or questions, being as specific as possible
• Priority of questions, if multiple questions are submitted
  

For emailing advising, responses to your questions will be emailed, at the latest, within 72 hours after payment is received. Telephone advising sessions are scheduled after payment is received.

Dog Training & Behavior Advising - Email: $40/hour. Minimum charge for initial session is $20 (30 minutes email consulting time). Please use the button to the right to pay via credit card or your PayPal account, or contact me for a mailing address if you prefer to pay by check.	Email Advising 60 minutes $40.00 45 minutes $30.00 30 minutes $20.00 Add 15 minutes $10.00
Dog Training & Behavior Advising - Telephone: $40/hour. Minimum charge for initial session is $20 (30 minutes phone consulting time). May be scheduled in 15 minutes increments at $40/hour thereafter. Please use the button to the right to pay via credit card or your PayPal account, or contact me for a mailing address if you prefer to pay by check.	Telephone Advising 60 minutes $40.00 45 minutes $30.00 30 minutes $20.00 Add 15 minutes $10.00
(Please note that all prices are subject to change. State sales tax will be added to total for WV residents.)